In this remarkable joint-effort, the Joburg Zoo tends to abandoned ground hornbill eggs and once they’ve hatched, rears them until they are ready to be placed in captive populations.
The hornbill lays two eggs but only rears one, so field workers at the Kruger National Park and the Associated Private Nature Reserves set to work where they removed one of the two eggs. This has no detrimental impact on the wild population and ensures the continued survival of the species. The rescued eggs are then taken to the Zoo.
Curator of birds, Lara Jordan and her team, feed the chicks every two hours.
Jordan said over the years, the Zoo has “tried various rearing techniques in an attempt to produce birds that are wild enough to be released.”
One of the techniques that Jordan had found effective in limiting human imprinting on the birds is to mimmick the parent bird’s humming to encourage the fledglings to open their mouths and feed.
“Successfully reared birds are sent into captive populations as part of a programme aligned to African Association of Zoo’s and Aquaria,” Jordan said.
The southern ground hornbill is a charismatic bird, culturally referred to as thunder, or rain birds and are a flagship species for the savannah biome.
The bird is also considered vulnerable throughout Africa and is endangered in South Africa, with only 1 500 left, and half of that number is protected in the Kruger Park.
This makes the survival of the bird a top priority for the zoo and its partners.
