{"id":1753,"date":"2014-08-22T15:02:02","date_gmt":"2014-08-22T05:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?p=1753"},"modified":"2014-09-01T11:38:27","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T01:38:27","slug":"aiding-endangered-offspring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?p=1753","title":{"rendered":"Aiding endangered offspring"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Kakapo<\/a>One thing zoos are very good at is neonatal care \u2013 a critical function when it comes to species conservation. The degree of intervention depends on the species and situation. In some cases, newborns need 24-hour care to ensure their survival. Others simply need a predator-free haven to survive.\r\n\r\nKakapo chick Heather One would never have made it without intensive intervention by a team of dedicated vets and nurses at Auckland Zoo.\r\n\r\nThe kakapo, one of the rarest and heaviest parrots in the world, is endemic to New Zealand. These flightless, nocturnal birds breed only every three to four years, with breeding depending on fruiting of rimu and other native New Zealand berry-producing trees.\r\n\r\nWith less than 130 in the world, kakapo are listed as critically endangered. The biggest threat appears to be predation by rats. Of 21 chicks born between 1981 and 1994, nine were likely killed by rats, although it is difficult to rule out the possibility that some of these may have died and subsequently been eaten by rats.\r\n\r\nIn 1990, a Kakapo recovery program \u2013 a partnership between the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC), New Zeland Aluminum Smelters and Forest and Bird – was established to ensure the survival of the species. Kakapo were transferred to several islands including Little Barrier Island (Hauturu o Toi), Codfish Island and Anchor Island, in a number of successful translocations.\r\n\r\nOne of those birds is Heather, now 33 years old. She was moved to Little Barrier Island where she lives with five adult males and three other females. This breeding season she produced two female chicks \u2013 Heather One and her sister, Heather Two (they will be given official names later).\r\n\r\nBut things don\u2019t always go smoothly. Heather One, the first chick to hatch since Kakapo were reintroduced to Little Barrier Island in 2012, hatched on March 12. By the age of ten days she was critically ill. It is believed that a combination of mother Heather\u2019s inability to obtain enough ripe natural food, together with harsh weather conditions associated with Cyclone Lusi, almost killed the chick.\r\n\r\nAt one point the wind, blowing around 60 knots, prevented rangers from viewing the chicks in the nest for two days. By the time they arrived, Heather One was extremely underweight, at just 40 grams, struggling to breath and failing to grow. But with so few of her conspecifics remaining, her survival is critical.\r\n\r\nConcerned about her condition, ranger Leigh Joyce collected Heather One from the nest and stayed up all night watching the chick.\r\n\r\n\u201cShe was a tiny ball of fluff in my hand,\u201d Joyce said. \u201cWe spent the night monitoring her and getting some fluid into her. Luckily she picked up, we thought \u2018great, we\u2019re not going to lose her tonight\u2019\u201d.\r\n\r\nBut Heather One needed intensive care. In an indication of just how important this bird is, she was flown by helicopter to Auckland Zoo.\r\n\r\nThere she was diagnosed with pneumonia. Heather One was placed in an incubator, given supplemental oxygen and antibiotics, and crop-fed by carers.\r\n\r\nThe latter involved inducing a feeding response by stroking the bird\u2019s beak and inside of her mouth before inserting the crop needle. The chick had no problem feeding.\r\n\r\nShe spent three weeks in an incubator before being moved into a makeshift nest in a crate.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s incredible to see how she\u2019s pulled through in the five weeks she\u2019s been here,\u201d Auckland Zoo\u2019s senior vet James Chatteron said. \u201cIt was touch and go for a while, but kakapo are incredibly hardy birds.\u201d\r\n\r\nBut the outcome would have been very different without the availability of extensive resources.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had the combined skills of our vet team, keepers with kakapo experience, the expertise of DOC\u2019s Hauturu kakapo ranger Leigh Joyce, and invaluable support from the South-Island based Kakapo Recovery team providing Heather One with around-the-clock care,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really been an amazing team effort to get her health back on track.\u201d\r\n\r\nBy this time she weighed almost 1kg \u2013 close to average for her age \u2013 becoming more active and vocal each day.\r\n\r\nFollowing her treatment, Heather One was transferred to the zoo\u2019s Invercargill facility to complete her hand-rearing and integration with another two kakapo chicks, prior to their transfer to Codfish Island.\r\n\r\nAuckland Zoo\u2019s veterinary department, housed within the New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine, continues to provide veterinary care for Kakapo Recovery Group. Last year the Zoo treated two sick adult Kakapo, enabling both to be returned to the wild.\r\n\r\n\u201cThese cases are perfect examples of conservation medicine in action at Auckland Zoo,\u201d said Chatterton.\r\n\r\nIt is hoped that through the breeding program the population of kakapo can be increased so that at least 150 females will be present at three different sites across the country.\r\n\r\nDOCS Kakapo Recovery Program manager Denise Vercoe said that the fact that breeding occurred so soon following translocation of a small number of birds to Little Barrier Island is a positive sign.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe island could play a significant role in the long-term security of the kakapo population,\u201d\r\n\r\nMeanwhile across the Tasman Sea, a seven-month old koala joey made her public debut at Taronga Zoo. The joey is named Bai\u2019yali after the D\u2019harawal Aboriginal word for stringybark \u2013 a species of eucalyptus preferred by koalas \u2013 in honour of NAIDOC week.\r\n\r\nBai\u2019yali is the first of three koala joeys expected to emerge at the Zoo this breeding season. According to keeper Laura Jones, new mother Tilly had taken to her role.\r\n\r\n\u201cShe\u2019s proving to be a very relaxed and nurturing mum,\u201d Jones said. \u201cShe\u2019s doing all the right things and the joey is thriving.\u201d\r\n\r\nThanks to Bai\u2019yali\u2019s health and Tilly\u2019s excellent mothering, the Zoo has taken a hands-off approach with the joey, simply providing a safe and suitable habitat.\r\n\r\nKoala populations in some areas of Australia remain under threat largely from urban development and habitat disruption and destruction. Extinction of local populations has already been documented. Data from the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) suggests there may be as few as 43,000 koalas in the wild.\r\n\r\nAn estimated 80 per cent of koala habitat in Australia exists on privately owned land. For this reason, the AKF is lobbying for legislation to protect koala habitat and is calling on the Government to provide incentives for private landowners to manage habitats for koalas and other wildlife species.\r\n\r\nThe breeding season occurs between August and February \u2013 a period which often coincides with increased activity (including fighting between males) and increased stress. In the wild, females generally start breeding from around three to four years of age, producing up to one offspring each year if conditions are right.\r\n\r\nGestation is brief \u2013 just 35 days. Joeys measure around 2cm long at birth and weigh around 1 gram. At this point they are hairless, earless and blind. They feed from nipples in the mother\u2019s pouch during this period, beginning to emerge from the pouch at the age of six months.\r\n\r\nTilly\u2019s younger sister River is carrying a male joey which has not yet emerged from the pouch, although he may do so shortly.\r\n\r\n\u201cHe still just fits inside mum\u2019s pouch,\u201d Jones said.\r\n\r\nBai\u2019yali continues to reach important milestones, including gaining weight and developing her juvenile pelt. She has begun to sample eucalyptus leaves but is expected to feed from Tilly for at least three months.\r\n\r\nAnne Fawcett\r\n\r\nPictures Auckland Zoo and Taronga Zoo","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One thing zoos are very good at is neonatal care \u2013 a critical function when it comes to species conservation. The degree of intervention depends on the species and situation. In some cases, newborns need 24-hour care to ensure their survival. Others simply need a predator-free haven to survive. Kakapo chick Heather One would never […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1797,1527,959,1529,1528],"class_list":["post-1753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clinical-zoo","tag-clinical-zoo","tag-kakapo","tag-koala","tag-neonatal-care","tag-offspring"],"rise-blocks_total_comments":1,"rise-blocks_categories":[{"term_id":29,"name":"Clinical Zoo","slug":"clinical-zoo","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":29,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":13,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":29,"category_count":13,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Clinical Zoo","category_nicename":"clinical-zoo","category_parent":0}],"rise-blocks_excerpt":"One thing zoos are very good at is neonatal care \u2013 a critical function when it comes to species conservation. The degree of intervention depends on the species and situation. In some cases, newborns need 24-hour care to ensure their survival. Others simply need a predator-free haven to survive. Kakapo chick Heather One would never have made it without intensive..","blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","full":""},"categories_names":{"29":{"name":"Clinical Zoo","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?cat=29"}},"tags_names":{"1797":{"name":"Clinical Zoo","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=clinical-zoo"},"1527":{"name":"kakapo","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=kakapo"},"959":{"name":"koala","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=koala"},"1529":{"name":"neonatal care","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=neonatal-care"},"1528":{"name":"offspring","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=offspring"}},"comments_number":"1","wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","cvmm-medium":"","cvmm-medium-plus":"","cvmm-portrait":"","cvmm-medium-square":"","cvmm-large":"","cvmm-small":"","full":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1753"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1785,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1753\/revisions\/1785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}