The Secret Life of the Zoo captures the hatching of endangered bird

11 December 2017

 

The Javan green magpie is one of the world’s most endangered species with only around fifty remaining in the wild, which places it on the verge of extinction. The reason: these beautiful songbirds are trapped for the illegal bird trade and vast swathes of their native forest have fallen silent.

Chester is the first UK zoo to successfully breed the species to give a vital boost to its global population, with the eventual goal of returning birds to their natural habitat.

Now, for the first time, TSLOTZ cameras capture the moment magpie chicks are successfully hatched – as well as the courtship ritual between confident two-year-old Metina and her modest would-be suitor Permata who, at ten months, still has to earn his dating spurs. But as the tiny chicks emerge, their fragile lives are still vulnerable and there’s no absolute guarantee of survival.

Notes:

The Javan green magpie is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) but bird experts are warning that the situation may have worsened in recent months amid fears that the magpies may now be close to extinction in the wild – with no recent sightings reported.

The breeding of several new chicks in Chester since 2015 has given a huge lift to conservation efforts to save the birds.

 

Green magpie facts:

 

• Scientific name: Cissa thalassina
• The birds are native to western Java in Indonesia and inhabit dense montane forests
• The bright green plumage is attained through the food the birds eat – insects, frogs and lizards
• Cikananga Conservation Breeding Centre, which Chester Zoo supports both financially and technically in Java, bred its first Javan green magpie in 2013
• In 2015, six pairs of Javan green magpies were flown to Chester from Indonesia in a bid to save them from extinction
• The first chick to be bred in Chester hatched in 2015

 

The Secret Life of the Zoo - tx. 8 pm, 13 December, Channel 4

There are only around 50 Javan green magpies left in the world, and two of them live at Chester. Keepers are desperate to breed youngster Permata with older female Metina, but the problem is that he still has his juvenile blue feathers.  Will he mature and be able to help breed the next generation?   

Chester’s bachelor pad of lemurs is about to be in for a shock with a female on her way to their island.  In the lemur world females rule the roost, so their peaceful existence may be coming to an end.   

The zebras also have a newcomer to their herd.  Female Okoth joins them and starts to make a play for power, which isn’t to top zebra Florence’s liking.

And the zoo’s three komodo dragon sisters are in need of some space from one another.  Keeper Isolde has an unusual plan to take them for outside walks.