The Calgary Zoo has announced the arrival of a new whooping crane chick, the first chick born at the facility in three years.
Officials say in a release that while eggs are sent to recovery partners in the U.S. every year, this is the first time a chick has hatched at the zoo’s breeding facility since 2010.
“The whooping crane chick is doing extremely well,” said area curator, Colleen Baird. “It is strong and showing signs of healthy development.”
The chick was hatched from a total of six fertile eggs.
The remaining five will be sent to other facilities in North America and will continue to build the wild population of whooping cranes.
Whooping cranes a currently listed as endanged on the IUCN Red List and are one of three bird species in Canada on that list.
As the chick matures, the zoo’s animal care team will determine if it will be part of the ongoing whooping crane breeding program at the breeding centre or relocated elsewhere.
The zoo has seven breeding pairs of whooping cranes at the breeding centre and one non-breeding pair on display.
