Watch Ibis Hatching in Zoo

12. April 2011

Prague Zoo has prepared another part of its on-line series. This time, you can watch the hatching of the Northern Bald Ibis, a migratory bird which was wiped out in Europe 300 years ago.

The hatching can be watched at http://tn.nova.cz/lihnutiwaldrapu.html. “The Waldrapp Hatching Project will acquaint spectators with the breeding of this rare species of migratory bird, the Northern Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita), also known under the German name of Waldrape, which is at present classified as a critically endangered species. Prague Zoo has been breeding this species for decades,” said Miroslav Bobek, director of Prague Zoo.

Cameras in the aviary

The Northern Bald Ibis does not nest in trees as other types of ibis birds do but on cliffs, where it builds a simple nest out of twigs. “Two cameras were placed in the ibis aviary,“explained  Miroslav Bobek. “Internet users will thus have the unique opportunity to watch what is happening in the nest – from the process of laying eggs to the hatching of a young ibis chicks and the first weeks of parental care.”

Important breeding

The female is expected to lay two to four eggs in the first half of April. The incubation period is 25 to 26 days, followed by hatching. The offspring than stays in the nest for approximately two months – the length is dependent on parents, who regularly return to the nest with food. “Our first colony of these rare birds dates back to 1985 and although their breeding had to be interrupted for a few years, following the floods in 2002, the zoo has already seen 130 of their hatchings,” said Antonín Vaidl, bird curator from Prague Zoo.

Very rare birds

There are more Northern Bald Ibises in zoological gardens than in the wild. The present natural habitat is limited to a stable population in Morocco, a half tame colony dependant on people in Turkey and the only migrating population in Syria, only discovered in 2002. “Luboš Peške, one of the key figures of the African Odyssey Project, has been lately dedicating his time to satellite observation of the Northern Bald Ibis,” says Bobek. “It was him who after marking our storks with a transmitter did the same to Waldropps in Syria.” Thanks to its breeding success, Prague Zoo will contribute to the creation of Central European population of ibises nesting in the Austrian Alps.

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