Debrecen Zoo’s recent baby boom has continued with the hatch of a special Pigeon.
The chick started its life on July 26. It is the 4th offspring at our zoo making us the capital of Western crowned pigeons in Hungary.
Pairs incubate a single egg for a month, tend the nestling for a further month and continue to feed the fledgling for several months. Some specimens can live up to 50 years. The chick can be seen at the Aviary.
One of the largest Pigeon species in the World is a rare sight in European Zoos. Only fifteen Zoo in Europe exhibits them meanwhile the breeding results plummets with only another zoo besides Debrecen reporting about new offspring within a year.
The western crowned pigeon is the official provincial bird of West Papua and it appears on its coat of arms. Hunted for food and its plumes, it remains common only in remote areas. Due to ongoing habitat loss, limited range and overhunting in some areas for food and plumes and for trade, the western crowned pigeon is evaluated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed in Appendix II of CITES.
Debrecen Zoo & Amusement Park is keeping the Western crowned pigeons under the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria European Endangered species Programme (EAZA EEP) since 2015.
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