There are a few new arrivals at the Calgary Zoo and it’s a first time for the facility too.
Earlier this month, a pair of greater rhea chicks hatched.
The chicks are now about three weeks old and are the first chicks hatched at the zoo on record.
Colleen Baird, general curator at the zoo, says that the male greater rhea has been taking on his traditional role of caregiver quite well.
“Within greater rhea flocks, the males take on the dominant parenting role, by building nests, incubating eggs and caring for the newly hatched chick.”
The greater rhea is a flightless bird from South America and is related to the ostrich and the emu.
They are near-threatened and are part of the zoo’s Species Survival Plan.
Wild populations of the birds are continuing to decline because of hunting, habitat loss and fragmentation.
