Pelican chick gets a chance at life
MONTECASINO - The Montecasino Bird Gardens recently welcomed two eastern white pelican hatchlings into the world.
One chick hatched with its proud parents and the other hatched after being artificially incubated by the Bird Garden’s staff.
The second egg was pulled from the nest for artificial incubation due to the low survival rate of pelican chicks that do not hatch first. This is usually due to starvation of the younger chick after being dominated by the older chick.
According to Deidre Jameson, property manager of Montecasino, eastern white pelican numbers are declining due to overfishing in certain areas as well as the birds being exploited for their meat. Their skin is turned into leather and their pouches used for tobacco bags. Breeding in captivity is thus becoming more important, but is notoriously very difficult and therefore rare. Pelican eggs are often infertile or break during incubation.
“To our knowledge, Montecasino Bird Gardens is the only institution in South Africa that is breeding these birds in captivity and we are thrilled with our new hatchlings,” Jameson said. “The chick that is being hand reared is currently on five feeds per day. The diet consists of small pieces of fish and fluids to keep it hydrated. We will give the chicks names when we know their sex and when the chicks’ personalities are a bit more evident.”
Details: www.montecasino.co.za
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