The zoo arrivals that cause the greatest stir are usually the young rhino, lions and other large mammals. Little attention is paid to the smaller and more secretive family affairs of our exotic birds at London Zoo and Whipsnade Zoo. Nevertheless, breeding and often hand rearing temperamental birds species is no mean feat and is an important contribution to our conservation breeding work.
London Zoo ZSL’s central location for small bird breeding. We have a very wide array of species: some that are highly endangered, others that are bred nowhere else in the UK. We also breed some non-endangered species that have very threatened relatives. The lessons we learn from breeding these may well be very useful in the future if we get the chance to breed their endangered relatives.
Some young can be left to be reared by their parents, which is generally best. This is especially important for the initial few days after hatching, when chicks’ digestive systems are not fully developed, so they need very soft regurgitated food that their parents give them.
Some captive birds, however, do not seem inclined towards parenting, and in these cases we take the eggs or chicks away to hand rear them. This is quite a feat- requiring 6.30 am to 9 pm stints of regular feeding. We are developing new ways of reducing this burden on staff without compromising the growth of chicks, with some success.
Toucans are immensely popular, but can be difficult to breed. Only a hanfdful of collections in the UK have succeeded in breeding Toco toucans. We hold the studbook for the ESB breeding programme for this species.We have a compatible and prolific breeding pair, but other birds we have tried together have proved less successful, which demonstrates how hard it can be to match pairs of birds for successful breeding results. Find out about our other studbook species.
Amazilla Hummingbirds
Very few places in Europe keep hummingbirds, and the hummingbirds at London Zoo are the only live hummingbirds on show in the UK. This is partly because they can be extremely sensitive to environmental conditions. We received some of our birds from the hummingbird foundation, which ZSL supports. So far,, although we have had no eggs laid, we have had successful matings and our female regularly builds nests. We are constantly researching husbandry and breeding techniques for this species and other birds in our care and hopefully the ‘hum’ of baby hummingbirds is not far away for us. Find out about the Blackburn Pavillion
Sunbirds
We have a couple of species of these brilliantly plumed birds at ZSL London Zoo which have nested every year since their arrival. Due to the specialized feeding requirements we have found that hand rearing gives us better results and have successfully handreared them. Although the species we have are not threatened, the expertise we have gained could prove invaluable in the future if we ever need to step in and help with an endangered species. Find out about the Blackburn Pavillion
Socorro Dove
This species is actually Extinct In The Wild from its native Socorro Island off the coast of Mexico. Zoo breeding populations are therefore absolutely vital for it’s survival, though there are still only about 100 purebred birds in captivity. We have had some success in breeding this secretive bird, and have had several broods in the past, whose decedents we hope to send back to Socorro Island in the near future. Find out about the Blackburn Pavillion
Montserrat Oriole
This species is highly threatened. Luckily, we have managed to breed them well in our London Zoo in the Blackburn Pavilion. In order for them to obtain enough food to rear their chicks in the busy main flight of the Pavilion we have trained this bold and intelligent species to receive food from keepers with special yellow targets containing their favourite food, waxworms. Some of the London Zoo-bred birds can also be seen in the Clore Rainforest. Find out about the Clore Rainforest
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Black Hornbill
These birds are another species for which we hold the studbook and so manage the breeding efforts of several European organisations. When breeding the female is sealed into her nestbox with mud, leaving only a small slit through which the male can pass food to her. When the chicks are ready to leave the nest, she and her mate will break the seal away with their beaks allowing all the birds to escape their confines. Find out more about black hornbills
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Hooded Pita
These have been one of our breeding success stories in the Blackburn Pavillion. A relatively common species in the wild, our skills and knowledge with this species could well help some of its endangered relatives in the future. We have successes in both parent rearing and hand rearing this species, something which we are very proud of since they are traditionally a difficult species to breed. Our first breeding pair reared a brood in only the second year of trying. Our second pair, though good at laying and incubating the eggs, are not so good with the chicks, so we had step in to hand rear them. Find out about the Blackburn Pavillion
Humboldt Penguins
Penguin Beach at London Zoo is extremely popular, as is the ‘Meet the Penguins’ experience you can do. Letting the parents rear their chicks saves much effort from us, but we need to hand-rear some chicks to produce some people-friendly penguins that will be great to meet. Find out about Pengun Beach.
