Bird park honking with pride over rare new arrival
Groundbreaking research is being conducted at the Umgeni River Bird Park in Durban after it welcomed a new member to its flock in the form of a black-casqued wattled hornbill chick.
The two-month-old chick is the first captive-bred bird of the species in KwaZuluNatal.
It is notoriously difficult to breed these birds in captivity and just five have hatched in South Africa, with 26 known of globally.
Tarryn Bristow, curator for birds, and Grant Agett-Cox, education and marketing manager, plan to write a paper on the hornbill, monitoring everything about the chick.
However, because of the low success rate in rearing these birds, they are not out of the woods yet as the chick is still a fledgling, a stage that lasts three months.
Little is known about the blackcasqued wattled hornbill’s breeding patterns in the wild. Females block themselves off from the world in a nest built out of mud, dung and other organic matter.
The success for the breeding pair at the bird park can be attributed to Bristow, who adapted the female’s diet to mimic the change in nutrition that occurs naturally in the wild.
“During changes in the seasons, the females take in more protein in their diet before the mating season,” said Bristow. “So I decided to replicate this natural occurrence with her.” – Caxton News Service