Two healthy whooping crane chicks hatched at Wilder Institute's Archibald Biodiversity Centre
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The whooping crane program moved to the biodiversity centre in 2023, and the cranes spend their first year settling into the new environment, not expected to breed during that time. Now in their second year, Tim and Bombadil, who have been together since 2014, laid two fertile eggs.
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One egg was cared for by Tim and Bombadil, and the second was foster incubated by another pair of bonded whooping cranes, Gary and Inukshuk, with physical limitations that make natural breeding difficult.
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'Some pairs, like Gary and Inukshuk, cannot naturally breed, but display all of the natural behaviours that make them excellent foster parents. Allowing them to raise offspring reinforces their own pair bonds and provides them with an opportunity to contribute to their species' recovery efforts.'
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Both chicks have received clean bills of health and will continue to grow under the care of the Wilder Institute's animal care, health and welfare team.
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The Wilder Institute is home to Canada's only conservation breeding program for whooping cranes.
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In the 1940s, only 21 whooping cranes remained in the wild, according to the Wilder Institute, but with the help of whooping crane captive breeding and reintroduction programs, that number is now at approximately 698.
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'The Wilder Institute has been dedicated to whooping crane recovery for more than 30 years,' said Diana Christie, conservation program manager for the whooping crane program.
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'The two reintroduced populations remain fragile and are not yet self-sustaining, which makes every successful hatch critically important. By joining conservation breeding efforts or being released into wild populations, these chicks will contribute to their species' recovery and help build a stronger foundation for the future of whooping cranes in North America.'
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