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News from Loro Parque, Tenerife - September 2008
The last month's highlight was without any doubt the hatch of a Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereus).
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Five day old Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo chick
(Calyptorhynchus funereus)
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This species has been held for many years in the Loro Parque Fundación. In 2002 we managed to exchange one of our two available males with a female. Finally we had a pair, and the birds very quickly got used to each other. However, because the female was only two years old, we couldn't count on breeding.
Eggs were laid for the first time in 2006, not in the nest-box however, but on the ground. After putting them in the incubator it turned out that both eggs were infertile. Then in 2007 the eggs were laid for the first time in a nest-box, with an open upper part, and they started to incubate. Both clutches of two eggs were again infertile.
The 2008 breeding year started in the same way. As before, a clutch of two was produced, which at first were thought to be infertile. The clutch of two eggs were left initially there for incubation. A nest-check showed the surprising result, that one of the two eggs was for the first time fertile. Nevertheless we left the clutch with the breeding female, but on the 18th day of incubation, the female was no longer sitting on the clutch to incubate. At first we waited, but after noticing that she hadn't returned to the nest-box in the last 2 hours, we decided to put the clutch in the incubator for further incubation. Now the eggs were cold, however in one of the eggs the embryo was still alive, and there was movement, as we found out several hours later. The 23rd of August a Yellow-eared Cockatoo chick hatched for the first time in the history of Loro Parque, with a hatching weight of 19.8 g.
The chick surprised us with its intensive yellow down, which is very dense, just like chicks of domestic chickens. It is a very lively and active chick, whose shape of face shape is similar to a young Gang Gang Cockatoo. It begs intensively and till now has been growing very well by hand-raising.
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The Hyacinth Macaws (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) belong to the parrot species in the Loro Parque Fundación that mostly start to breed in the second part of the year. Altogether five pairs have started to breed up to now, two pairs having had infertile clutches, and three chicks having hatched and currently growing in the Baby Station of Loro Parque, or with their parents. Another six eggs are at the moment in the incubator or being incubated by their parents. At least two of them have turned out as fertile. And with a little luck, 2008 could be a good breeding year, especially because two pairs of the Hyacinth Macaws that until now haven't had a clutch are very busy with their nest-boxes.
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Currently the construction work for our new and over 1,000 m² big walk-through free flight aviary in Loro Parque is going forward at full speed. In this aviary, which will be inaugurated on the 17th of December 2008, a mixed group of birds from the Australian/Asiatic region is planned. Besides the main focus of Lories and other par-rot and parakeet species, there will also be pelicans, laughing Kookaburras, Bali starlings, pheasants, egrets and others belonging to the colourful new bird community. With 23 m height, and including the natural trees and bushes growing there, this aviary will be the new highlight in the bird-keeping of Loro Parque, and will set new benchmarks.
In the area of the Parrot Show in Loro Parque, a new sales outlet of the Loro Parque Fundación has been created in the style of a jungle camp, and which promises an eventful shopping. Lots of plants and a terrarium with chameleons give the visitor a feeling of an exotic world. The sales revenue of all products, such as T-shirts, books or even postcards, will be used 100% for the conservation of threatened parrots by the Loro Parque Fundación.
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New shopping outlet of the Loro Parque Fundación in Loro Parque
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Dr. Matthias Reinschmidt, Curator, Loro Parque Tenerife
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