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News from Loro Parque, Tenerife - December 2011
In the late summer, we had submitted our Ruppell's Parrots (Poicephalus rueppelli) to an intensive veterinary examination, because for several years they had not bred successfully. During the endoscopic examination we certainly could not find any abnormalities that would go against a breeding success. Therefore we decided to separate the old pair, and to re-pair them with other birds. This was probably the right stimulus for a pair almost 20 years old which, being brought together again after the new pairings, laid three eggs, all fertile. We left the chicks with the parents, which are now raising them with special care, and soon will fledge them.
When we opened our free-flight aviary Katandra Treetops in Loro Parque two years ago, various parrot and other bird species were moved to this aviary, including the New Guinean Victoria crowned pigeon (Goura victoria), which is primarily a ground-dweller and the largest pigeon in the world. With their striking head adornment and their intensive blue-coloured plumage, but also because of their trusting nature, they belong to the most prominent residents of the enclosure, and the visitors always watch them when they strut without any fear between them on the paths.
We first started to keep this bird species with two males only, because we could not obtain females from any other zoological institution. In the last year, we were able to acquire from a private breeder a young hand-reared female, which we include in the aviary. This provoked strong fights between the two males, which had previously been one heart and one soul, to gain the favour of the female. Quite fast, we had to take the losing male out of the aviary, to achieve peace again.
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Young Ruppell's Parrot.
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A while later the pair began to build the nest, initially disoriented, here and there until they found a suitable location in a large fig tree. The nest was built at about four meters height, and an egg laid, which was also incubated eagerly but was not fertile. In the following months the process was repeated several times but, in spite of the intensive and careful brooding, never achieved hatching. This changed in November, when for the first time a young Victoria crowned pigeon hatched in the nest. This was eagerly fed and cared for by the parents, but also well guarded because in the aviary there are also quite able nest predators, which would certainly taste this appetizing meal. This was not the case, because the parents guarded their chick very well.
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Young Victoria crowned pigeon (Goura victoria) in the nest together with its mother. (Photos: Ulrich Brodde)
Now the young Victoria crowned pigeon has left the nest and follows its parents at every turn. This looks very cute, because the young pigeon is already feathered, but it is like a miniature version of its parents, because it is only about one third as large as them. After it becomes independent, we plan to socialize it together with the individually held male pigeon that had to leave the aviary, and if it should turn out to be a female we can set-up a second pair.
As a further addition to the parrot population in Katandra, six Eclectus Parrots from New Guinea (Eclectus roratus polychloros) were introduced. Now a total of eight individuals of this species can be observed in this large aviary, and can be distinguished by their colours, their striking flight and their loud cries to draw all the attention to themselves.
Dr. Matthias Reinschmidt, Zoological Director, Loro Parque Tenerife
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