Wild Place Project chirps with joy as endangered chick hatches

Keepers kept a close eye on the chick and parents for a few weeks to track its progress. Credit: Bristol Zoological Society

There’s delight for Keepers at the Wild Place Project at Bristol Zoo as a Sumatran Laughingthrush was successfully hatched.

This is the first chick they have managed to hatch in captivity at the project after years of trying.

After hearing sounds coming from the nest last month, Keepers trained a camera and later spotted the tiny chick.

Keepers kept a close eye on the chick and parents for a few weeks to track its progress andare delighted as the chick begins to fly.

Some estimates suggest that there could be fewer than 10,000 left in the wild. Credit: Bristol Zoological Society

The Sumatran Laughingthrush is an endangered species native to Indonesia. Its estimatedthat there are less than 10,000 Laughingthrush’s living in the wild, and the Keepers at WildPlace Project hope this new chick will help with their important breeding program.

Joe Norman, Animal Team Leader at Wild Place Project, is delighted with the new hatchling: “We have had a pair of them here for some time. We didn’t have any luck initially but we persevered with them and now we have been successful.”

He added: “We are hoping the parents have become an established pair and will keepbreeding in the coming years and help to ensure the future of this species.”

Despite being native to Indonesia, the new chick is very much a Bristol baby, with its parents being hand reared at Bristol Zoo Gardens and Chester Zoo.

There are just 97 Sumatran Laughingthrushes being looked after in the captive population across Europe, so every new chick is significant.

Those visiting in the hope for a sneak peak of the baby endangered Laughingthrush will have to patient a little longer, as the birds are currently kept from the public to ensure they are feeding successfully.