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Posted: 1st July 2013

Hope for rare bird species
Southern cassowary
Southern cassowary lays eggs

A pair of rare southern cassowary birds at Edinburgh Zoo have offered hope for the species after showing promising breeding signs.

The third-largest bird species, the southern cassowary is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. They are particularly difficult to breed due to their highly aggressive nature.

Edinburgh Zoo was the first collection to successfully breed cassowaries in the UK, but it has been 27 years since the zoo had cassowary chicks.

For the first time, 10-year-old cassowary Sydney has allowed a male companion, Billy, to share her enclosure. Since being placed together in April this year, the pair have shown hopeful breeding behaviour.

The first egg was laid in May, and there are now six eggs in the nest, which is incubated by the father. It is as yet unknown whether or not the eggs are fertile, but keepers have hailed this as an enormous step forward in the breeding programme.

Colin Oulton, team leader for birds at the zoo, said: "Their incubation period is around 56 days, so we will just have to wait and see if any hatch out.

"As this is Billy’s first clutch we want to assess his natural parenting skills, so plan to let him incubate naturally, rather than remove the eggs to an incubator."



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