THE MILWAUKEE COUNTY ZOO
SUCCESSFULLY HATCHES

GUAM KINGFISHER CHICK
LISTED AS EXTINCT IN THE WILD

The Milwaukee County is proud to announce the successful hatching and hand rearing of a female Guam kingfisher chick – born on August 17, 2006. Guam kingfishers are the most endangered bird in the world, as none currently exist in the wild. The last successful Guam kingfisher hatching at the zoo occurred in 1995.

The range of these birds includes Pohmpei, Palau Island and formerly Guam and Miyako, Jima. Growth and development of the island, along with the expansion of the U.S. airbase eliminated the Guam kingfishers’ habitat. Accidental introduction of the brown tree snake within the wheel wells of the planes as they landed caused a significant decline in the birds’ population.

By 1985, only ten pairs and ten solitary males were located on the island. In 1986, the remaining 29 birds were captured and are currently involved in a captive breeding program. The Milwaukee County Zoo is one of the institutions involved in the program through the Species Survival Program (SSP). Through this program, it is the zoo’s hope that one day there will be a large enough population to reintroduce these birds on the island.

This most recent chick will remain at the zoo until the SSP recommends a transfer to another AZA-accredited zoo for breeding purposes.

The Milwaukee County Zoo is pleased to announce the hatching of a Humboldt penguin chick on May 20. This marks the first Humboldt penguin hatching at the Zoo since the summer of 2002. During the course of that year, nearly half of the penguin flock died due to complications related to the West Nile Virus.

“We’re extremely excited and cautiously optimistic with the hatching of this chick,” says Kim Smith, the Zoo’s curator of birds. “This chick reflects a very significant conservation effort because these birds have a highly endangered status.”

The chick was born to parents Jack and Eva. Jack was born at the Milwaukee County Zoo in 1991, and Eva, born in 1995, arrived from the Portland Zoo last year. Jack has never bred, but Eva is an experienced mother, having raised a chick in Portland. Both Jack and Eva are doing an exceptional job raising the chick. It will take at least 4 to 8 months for the chick to swim on its own, and on public exhibit.

As of July 11, the female chick weighed 3.175 kilograms. The chick has been named Titi by one of the Chilean researchers working with the Zoo on an ongoing basis as part of a long-term Humboldt penguin census project. The project was initiated in 1994.

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