Another Bustard chick hatched from eggs of artificially reared couple in Jaisalmer

Another Great Indian Bustard (GIB) artificially hatched couple has naturally given birth to a chick, making it the second in one month period, officials said on Saturday.

For the first time on April 1, two artificially hatched birds naturally gave birth to a chick in Jaisalmer’s GIB breeding centre under the captive breeding program run for the conservation of extremely endangered birds.

Ashish Vyas, divisional forest officer and in-charge of Desert National Park said that the second captive breed chick successfully hatched on April 27 at Sam breeding centre in Jaisalmer. He said that the chick is healthy and is under the round-the-clock observation of experts.

He said the birth was given by the female GIB Toni, who had been named after the famous American novelist Toni Morrison in 2019.

Also Read: Bustard chick hatched from eggs of artificially reared couple in Jaisalmer

Officials said that the second birth in a month raised hopes that soon there will be an increase in the number of GIB.

“It has now been established that captive breed GIBs are able to reproduce normally,” said Vyas, adding that the next challenge in this project is to rehabilitate GIB habitats for release of these GIBs and their successful rewilding so that they can survive in the wild.

According to forest officials, Jaisalmer’s GIB breeding centre had collected 30 eggs from the wild of which six were damaged, 24 chicks were successfully hatched from the eggs and two of them died. At present, there are 22 artificial GIBs.

The Rajasthan state bird, also known as Godawan, has been listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list, 2011, and Schedule-I, which is the highest level of legal protection under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Wildlife Institute of India (WII) surveys show that the number of GIBs has reduced by 75% in the last 30 years. According to WII, currently, the GIB population in India is fewer than 150.