Fort Worth Zoo announces first hatching of African fish eagle chick
An African fish eagle chick has hatched at the Fort Worth Zoo, the first-ever hatching of that species in the zoo’s 117-year history, zoo officials announced Thursday.
The species is “notoriously difficult to breed and hatch in professional care,” and the zoo is among an “exceptionally small” number of institutions to succeed with the task in recent years, officials said.
The chick weighed 76.5 grams when it hatched. It is roughly the size of a tennis ball, and over six weeks has grown to its full size of 25-30 inches tall and 5-8 pounds. In a few more weeks, the chick will develop its full white and brown adult plumage.
Because the parents of the eagle chick were first-timers, zookeepers elected to raise the chick by hand, according to a statement. To ensure the chick didn’t imprint (irreversibly bond) with zookeepers, staff wore reflective shields and protective clothing during feeding, and used an adult eagle puppet so that the chick would associate food with the adult eagle.
For now, the chick is housed in a protective space in its parents’ habitat and zookeepers are caring for the bird until it grows large enough to fly and fledge its nest.
Only four other zoos on the continent house this species of eagle, officials said.
