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'Oriental treasures' find new home
By Lu Feiran |
May 11, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
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SOME living "oriental treasures" are now in Shanghai. Ten endangered crested ibises, five female and five male, are adapting to life in their new home at Shanghai Wildlife Park.
One female has already laid an egg and park officials are hopeful that everything goes well.
The birds have started breeding sooner than expected.
On April 30, the 40th day after they arrived in Shanghai, animal caretakers found that two crested ibises had laid eggs. However, one egg broke when it fell on the ground, while the other was abandoned in the grass.
Carers with the park took away the abandoned egg and trying to hatch it artificially. The park has two hatching machines from South Korea. While a new baby bird is expected next month, officials are concerned about whether an artificially raised chick will be accepted by the family.
Park officials said hatching a crested ibis egg requires strict controls on temperature, humidity and lighting. Even if a chick hatches safely, it may be isolated by other birds.
"We once tried to hatch and raise a flamingo artificially," said park official Luo Danhong. "But after it was sent back to its original group, it wasn't accepted by the family until six months later."
Crested ibises once were considered extinct 30 years ago, because at that time, less than 10 crested ibises were known to exist in the world. But now, 1,617 crested ibises are living in China. As a first-class protected animal in China, the birds are considered more precious than pandas.
Park officials said the crested ibises in their care range between two and seven years old. The birds are known for their slender and elegant forms. They have a black and red beak, bright red face and head, and white feathers. During the mating seasons, the feathers on their backs, wings and necks turn grey-black.
They once were widely found in China, the Korean Peninsula, Japan and East Siberia. But due to the over exploitation of natural resources, the number of the birds dropped sharply in less than a century.
Crested ibises started to vanish in the late 1970s. In 1981, only seven wild crested ibises were spotted in northwestern China's Shaanxi Province. Protection measures started at that time with the establishment of the Hanzhong National Crested Ibis Reserve.
The reserve said it required a very strict natural environment to ensure the birds would be safe and able to reproduce.
"No pesticides are allowed to be used in the farms around the reserve," said Chen Youping, an official with the reserve. "There is also no hunting, land development or lumbering allowed."
He said local people proudly regard themselves as keepers of crested ibises.
Chen said the birds' mating period, from March to June, is the toughest time for reserve officials.
"Crested ibises are timid, so we monitor under the trees day and night during the period to prevent any possible disturbance," he said. "Sometimes we run out of supplies because of bad weather and we have to dig some fungi to eat."
Villagers in Yangxian have also helped out. Some catch shrimp, fish or loaches - the favorite foods of crested ibises -- when they are working in the field and give the food to reserve officials. They also tie blades around tree trunks to prevent snakes from creeping up to the nests.
The reserve is also returning crested ibises to the wild. To date, more than 900 have been released.
One female has already laid an egg and park officials are hopeful that everything goes well.
The birds have started breeding sooner than expected.
On April 30, the 40th day after they arrived in Shanghai, animal caretakers found that two crested ibises had laid eggs. However, one egg broke when it fell on the ground, while the other was abandoned in the grass.
Carers with the park took away the abandoned egg and trying to hatch it artificially. The park has two hatching machines from South Korea. While a new baby bird is expected next month, officials are concerned about whether an artificially raised chick will be accepted by the family.
Park officials said hatching a crested ibis egg requires strict controls on temperature, humidity and lighting. Even if a chick hatches safely, it may be isolated by other birds.
"We once tried to hatch and raise a flamingo artificially," said park official Luo Danhong. "But after it was sent back to its original group, it wasn't accepted by the family until six months later."
Crested ibises once were considered extinct 30 years ago, because at that time, less than 10 crested ibises were known to exist in the world. But now, 1,617 crested ibises are living in China. As a first-class protected animal in China, the birds are considered more precious than pandas.
Park officials said the crested ibises in their care range between two and seven years old. The birds are known for their slender and elegant forms. They have a black and red beak, bright red face and head, and white feathers. During the mating seasons, the feathers on their backs, wings and necks turn grey-black.
They once were widely found in China, the Korean Peninsula, Japan and East Siberia. But due to the over exploitation of natural resources, the number of the birds dropped sharply in less than a century.
Crested ibises started to vanish in the late 1970s. In 1981, only seven wild crested ibises were spotted in northwestern China's Shaanxi Province. Protection measures started at that time with the establishment of the Hanzhong National Crested Ibis Reserve.
The reserve said it required a very strict natural environment to ensure the birds would be safe and able to reproduce.
"No pesticides are allowed to be used in the farms around the reserve," said Chen Youping, an official with the reserve. "There is also no hunting, land development or lumbering allowed."
He said local people proudly regard themselves as keepers of crested ibises.
Chen said the birds' mating period, from March to June, is the toughest time for reserve officials.
"Crested ibises are timid, so we monitor under the trees day and night during the period to prevent any possible disturbance," he said. "Sometimes we run out of supplies because of bad weather and we have to dig some fungi to eat."
Villagers in Yangxian have also helped out. Some catch shrimp, fish or loaches - the favorite foods of crested ibises -- when they are working in the field and give the food to reserve officials. They also tie blades around tree trunks to prevent snakes from creeping up to the nests.
The reserve is also returning crested ibises to the wild. To date, more than 900 have been released.
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