Rare maccoa ducklings hatch at Chester zoo for first time
It said the successful breeding of four maccoa ducklings formed part of growing efforts to safeguard Africa's most threatened species.
The maccoa population in the wild is estimated to be only 5,000, and recent surveys found only 14 in Kenya and fewer than 100 in Tanzania.
The ducklings are now in Chester zoo's Heart of Africa zone, a 22.5-acre habitat supporting endangered African species. The habitat is home to 57 species of animals including giraffes, zebras and ostriches.
Andrew Owen, the head of birds at Chester zoo, said: 'These ducklings are very special as they're the first of their kind to ever hatch here at the zoo, making it a really historic moment for our team.
'This success gives a real boost to the future of the species and these vital new additions will contribute to the safety-net population in zoos. These birds are facing rapid decline in the wild, so every hatchling really does count.'
The zoo is just one of seven in Europe, and 12 globally, that care for the ducks and it hopes to play a vital role in their survival.
Maccoa ducks are found in nutrient-rich freshwater wetland and lakes. They can be seen diving for food and are known for features such as stiff tails and deep-blue bills.
They are listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) red list of threatened species. Water pollution and climate change has led to their habitats degrading and the species' rapid decline.
Bird conservationists at the zoo say their successful hatchings will help the long-term protection of the ducks.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
5 days ago
- BBC News
Highland red deer tracked by GPS in behaviour study
Researchers have fitted GPS collars on red deer in the west Highlands to help track their movement and devices will be fitted on 22 stags while GPS ear tags have also been placed on six calves to help monitor them as they travel through the landscape with their mothers. The study, involving sporting estates and conservation organisations, is a partnership between the charity Affric Highlands and Durham hope their findings will help with efforts to keep deer populations healthy and sustainable and with the restoration of native habitats like woodlands. Dr Eilidh Smith from Durham University said they would be tracking and mapping red deer movements to assess their seasonal migrations and home range added that this would build knowledge of how they respond to human activities such as fencing, culling and commercial Williamson, field officer for Affric Highlands, said red deer were a vital part of Scotland's upland landscapes and rural economies – but "increased populations have led to challenges in balancing ecological health, biodiversity, and land management objectives."She said strengthening understanding of how the animals moved across estates and habitats was "key to recovering ecosystems and improving deer health."
The Guardian
6 days ago
- The Guardian
‘It's death by a thousand cuts': marine ecologist on the collapse of coral reefs
The Kenyan marine ecologist David Obura is chair of a panel of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the world's leading natural scientists. For many decades, his speciality has been corals, but he has warned that the next generation may not see their glory because so many reefs are now 'flickering out across the world'. Why are corals important? Multiple reasons. They are home to a huge amount of biodiversity, which provides food and environmental services. They also serve as coastal buffers, protecting coastlines from storms and swells. In many ways, coral are like underwater forests. The algae living inside corals are photosynthetic and grow very much like trees. Together, they are the ecosystem architects, and if you lose those, you lose the entire ecosystem. What is happening to coral reefs? There are sudden collapses and also long linear declines. It depends on the circumstances. Climate change and pollution are really changing the background environmental conditions that coral reefs need to survive in. And then through fishing and other exploitation, a lot of their biomass is being extracted. There are so many of these different pressures happening at the same time that it's a death by a thousand cuts. In the end, you lose the interactions and the complexity that characterises a coral reef. Half of the total area of live coral has been lost already. Many reefs no longer support the diversity and abundance that they used to. When scientists talk about a tipping point for coral reefs, what do they mean? Tipping points occur when the characteristics of a given system cease to exist. In the case of coral reefs, that happens due to a loss of the diversity and abundance of different species. At a certain point, this leads to the breakdown of the functions and the ecosystem processes of the entire system and if you don't have any of those, then you don't have a coral reef any more. For people who are not experts, what are the signs of a collapsing reef system? Firstly, less colour, because there's less coral and other brightly coloured invertebrates. Instead, drab algae tend to dominate, and other invertebrates, such as sponges. Then in the water, you see less abundance and diversity of fish. What you hear is also very different: on a vibrant coral reef, there are so many sounds, it is just like walking through a forest and listening to all the insects and birds. But a degraded, simpler reef has fewer animals making sounds, and they sound deathly quiet. Finally, the three-dimensional structure breaks down. This may only take 10 years or so and then all the complexity is gone. Where is this most pronounced? It is easier to say where it is not pronounced. The last major holdout is perhaps the 'Coral Triangle' in the Indonesian-Philippine archipelagos. It shows some resilience, though even there some places are strongly impacted because of local threats or climate change. In almost every other region, you're seeing declines in coral cover and diversity and a loss of abundance and diversity of fish and invertebrates. That weakens the general health of the reef systems, and makes them more vulnerable to diseases and microbial activity, which are very harmful to coral species. The most pronounced losses are probably in the Caribbean because it's a smaller sea; a regional basin surrounded by land-based impacts. That's also true of the Persian-Arabian Gulf, where there are many places that may no longer be called coral reefs. Whole regions are now vulnerable to ecosystem collapse and specific corals within them are increasingly endangered. How close are coral reefs to a tipping point or has this already happened? There's a huge amount of discussion about that. Should we consider a tipping point at a small local scale, or at the level of an island or a coastline, or a region or the whole world? Certainly it is already evident at a local scale; many reefs across the world have passed a point of no return. At the regional scale, I think the Caribbean may have tipped as an integrated coral reef system, even though there are locations that are still very vibrant, like the Mesoamerican barrier reef and some of the islands. All the coral reef regions that have so far been assessed on the red list of ecosystems have been classed as threatened, which means there is a high risk they may collapse within a 50-year period – unless the right actions are taken. How much global heating do scientists estimate coral reefs can withstand? We have recently revised the temperature threshold. Up to 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said the tipping point for coral reefs would occur when warming is between 1.5C and 2C above preindustrial levels. But in 2023, we revised that to between 1C and 1.5C. The world is already close to that upper limit and it will certainly come within the next 10 or 20 years as a result of committed climate change – which comes from cumulative emissions that have already gone into the atmosphere. So have we already gone past the tipping point for coral reefs in global terms? Perhaps. What are the consequences? The most obvious is the loss of the physical presence of coral reefs, their diversity of species and their functions. That has an effect on people because reefs protect coastlines and are habitats for fish that we eat. They are natural capital – assets that support our lives. When we lose coral reefs, we lose a lot of the foundations of societies and economies that depend on them. Which fish depend on coral reefs? Most affected are fish that eat or live in corals. They are mostly small, ornamental species, such as butterfly fish, damsel fish and things like that. But more importantly, corals provide the structure that sustains a much wider diversity of fish that eat algae, plankton, invertebrates and many other sources. All are impacted when the structure of the reef simplifies. Are there any redeeming impacts? Not at all. When coral cover goes down, it gets replaced by algae. Sometimes this can lead to an increase in herbivorous fish, because there's more food for them. That may be good for fishing in the short-term, but any benefits disappear quickly as the three-dimensional structure of the reef declines. Will this also affect people who don't live near coral reefs? They'll feel it in many different ways. First, psychologically – instead of going on holiday to see beautiful coral reefs or getting messages from friends about their amazing colours and biodiversity, they will hear news of loss and decline. Second, there will be an economic impact. People won't get fish on their plate from coral reefs, and tourism and coastal economies that depend on reefs will decline. More broadly, the loss of corals will herald wider, systemic threats because corals are a canary in the coalmine for climate and other compounding threats. It means there will be a lot of other hidden tipping points, of other beautiful landscapes or the ecosystems that rural communities and even cities depend on. We've basically been using nature for free. If we had incorporated the cost of really caring for nature in our economies, we wouldn't be in this situation right now. Is there any way to restore corals? Not yet at scale. Many techniques are being trialled, and many show promise – but they cannot replace what we are losing. There are now fewer and fewer healthy coral systems, more and more isolated from one another. The water is just getting too hot and too polluted, and there is too much extraction, all of which is punching big holes in the mosaic of reefs along our coastlines. Restoring coral reefs in this context is an uphill battle, and existing technologies are too difficult, and too expensive to apply at scale. What restoration does do is engage people in visible and tangible efforts to care for reefs, and this may deliver the greatest benefit, to finally build commitment to conserve coral reefs much more broadly. What about experiments to artificially grow coral? Is there any hope of a technological solution? There are a lot of trials, and many innovations. I'm a scientist, so I think we always need research into new techniques, otherwise we'll never discover them. But the thing that I am adamant about, particularly coming from Africa, is that money that would go into community development and local resilience and building up low-income communities should not be going into the pockets of researchers and consultants doing artificial coral restoration. Research funding could and should be available, but we have to be very conscious of the rights and the equity issues around hi-tech fixes – who benefits and who doesn't. Putting aside scientific knowledge acquisition, how do you feel about the state of the world's corals? Angry, more than anything else. I want to point my fingers at the people who are responsible so they change what they're doing. It's not the billions of poor people around the planet; they face local challenges and environmental degradation, but they don't have a global footprint. The global footprint that is causing a decline of corals and so much else is from the much smaller number of high-income consumers and economies. Until that is understood and they transform what they're doing, we won't be able to resolve the challenges at the bottom end of the income pyramid. You, in the global north, have to change what you're doing in order for there to be an option for better futures, rather than just giving up and letting the worst futures come about. This is my mission now – to make waves for change. Tipping points – in the Amazon, Antarctic, coral reefs and more – could cause fundamental parts of the Earth system to change dramatically, irreversibly and with devastating effects. In this series, we ask the experts about the latest science – and how it makes them feel. Tomorrow, Carlos Nobre talks about his fears for the Amazon rainforest's future Read more
Daily Mail
24-06-2025
- Daily Mail
More than 500 bird species face EXTINCTION in the next 100 years thanks to climate change, scientists warn
From the bare-necked umbrellabird to the helmeted hornbill, birds come in all sorts of weird and wonderful shapes and sizes. But hundreds of species could go extinct in the next 100 years, researchers have found. A new study predicts that climate change and habitat loss could cause more than 500 bird species to disappear in the next century. And even with complete protection from human-caused threats, about 250 species could still die out, they warned. 'Many birds are already so threatened that reducing human impacts alone won't save them,' Kerry Stewart, lead author of the research from the University of Reading, said. 'These species need special recovery programmes, like breeding projects and habitat restoration, to survive. 'We face a bird extinction crisis unprecedented in modern times. 'We need immediate action to reduce human threats across habitats and targeted rescue programmes for the most unique and endangered species.' The team examined nearly 10,000 bird species using data from the IUCN Red List – the world's most comprehensive source on the status of plant and animal species. They predicted extinction risk based on the threats each species face. Analysis showed large-bodied birds are more vulnerable to hunting and climate change, while birds with broad wings suffer more from habitat loss. Some of the species at risk of extinction are birds found in the UK, including the Balearic shearwater - of which there are around 5,800 remaining individuals. The great bustard, the world's heaviest flying bird, was one of Britain's most beloved species but was hunted to national extinction in the 19th century. Thanks to conservation efforts, a population of around 100 birds has been reestablished in the UK - but it is still at risk of disappearing forever. The beloved Atlantic puffin, a common sight off UK coasts during breeding season, is also one of the 500 species at risk of extinction. Other species included on the list are rare visitors which occasionally stop in the UK on their migratory routes, including the sociable lapwing and the yellow-breasted bunting. Globally species including the Itombwe owl, found in the forests of east-central Africa, the imperial woodpecker, which is endemic to Mexico, and the yellow-bellied sunbird-asity, found in Madagascar, are also at risk. The research also identified which conservation actions will best preserve both the number of bird species and their ecological functions. Professor Manuela Gonzalez-Suarez, senior author of the study, said: 'Stopping threats is not enough, as many as 250-350 species will require complementary conservation measures, such as breeding programmes and habitat restoration, if they are to survive the next century. 'Prioritising conservation programmes for just 100 of the most unusual threatened birds could save 68 per cent of the variety in bird shapes and sizes. 'This approach could help to keep ecosystems healthy.' Stopping the destruction of habitats would save the most birds overall, the researchers concluded. However, reducing hunting and preventing accidental deaths would save birds with more unusual features, which are especially important for ecosystem health. The findings were published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. Earlier this year the world's largest garden wildlife study revealed that starlings have dropped to their lowest number every recorded in the UK. The RSPB's annual Big Garden Birdwatch has shown that while house sparrows are still our most common bird, followed by the blue tit, starlings have been bumped down to fourth place by the woodpigeon. Figures show that since 1979, there has been an 85 per cent decrease in the number of starling sightings in every British garden. The number of woodpigeons spotted, however, has increased by an enormous 1,160 per cent. HEAVY METALS LIKE LEAD CAN POISON BIRDS Birds are easily poisoned by the heavy metals found in their environment. Each heavy metal causes distinct symptoms and affects birds differently. The three heavy metals which commonly poison birds are lead, zinc, and iron. Common symptoms that a bird is suffering from heavy metal poisoning are: Constant thirst Regurgitation of water Listlessness Weakness Depression Tremors Loss of coordinated movements Seizures Zinc and iron are present in food and are required in small amounts for a healthy bird. When abnormal amounts are present in the bird's body, the same heavy metals can lead to poisoning. Lead poisoning is no longer as common as it once was thanks to increased awareness of the dangers. Heavy metal poisoning with iron can lead to iron storage disease, which causes the the nutrient to deposit in the internal organs of the body. This can lead to liver problems and damage other organs.
