BOOM IN THE BUSHVELD

 

MABULA GROUND HORNBILL PROJECT ‘CAPTIVE BREEDING PROGRAMME’

 

To ensure the safety of a species that is dramatically declining in the wild there must be breeding birds in captivity. 

In Africa until the 2004/2005 breeding season this just had not happened.

Of course there were a few successful pairs in USA, UK and Europe, who had been breeding for years, but in South Africa it had not happened.

 

San Diego Zoo sent Wendy Ranger who spent hours pairing birds in Pretoria Zoo, and maybe previously the birds were too young or incompatible, but after a shuffle about there was a race between Umgeni River Bird Park in Durban, who hand-reared, and Delecia at Loskop whose birds parent-reared.  They were all 10 year old harvested chicks from Kruger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                        

 

                  Dawn with Sebastian at                     Delecia with her female at Loskop

                  Umgeni River Bird Park     

 

In the Northern Hemisphere summer

of 2004 it was the turn of the UK,

and at Marwell Zoo Jane Lockyer

hand reared their first chick – she

thought this was easy! But it took

two more years to safely hatch the

next which is in the incubator now. 

Then in 2006, at Cricket St. Thomas,

Jane Finch double clutched and hand

reared 4 chicks.  There is now a close

link between the Mabula Project and

the two Janes, because of the dramas            Jane Lockyer from Marwell, Ann Turner

and difficulties of keeping these chicks        from the Mabula Project and Jane Finch

alive through the initial 18 days, and                         from Cricket St Thomas       

the release back to their parents.

 

The San Diego Wild Animal Park of course lead the way……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The parent-reared San Diego 2005 chick.

 

Once the genetics have been finally sorted out there is a plan for captive bred overseas ground hornbills to be sent back to Africa to join the Mabula wild release programme.

 

The alfa pair at Mabula, with the hand-reared chicks learning about living

in a complicated social group, foraging and predators, before wild release.

 

On fledging the hand/parent-reared juveniles join the Mabula group before they are paired with older birds for ‘soft’ releases, or single augmentation with non-viable groups that has been tested for 6 years now.

 

The Genetic sampling is now on a major roll, led by the Mabula Project, searching for blood samples from the captive birds around the world,  and the collection of blood from fledglings in wild nests and feathers and egg shells -  with precise GIS locations, which then go into the care of the Research Centre at the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria, and our Genetic centres in USA and Europe.

 

If a disease killed the populations of Ground Hornbills in the high density protected areas of Africa it is the captive programme which would save the species.

 

August, 2006

 

For more information on Captive Breeding Protocols and Wild Release contact:

 

Email: project@ground-hornbill.org.za

Telephone:  +27(0) 837434270