HOUSTON — For the first time ever, a Malagasy sacred ibis chick successfully hatched in North America, and get this -- it happened at the Houston Zoo.
The endangered species hatched on Sept. 3 and was named Vorotsara by Dr. Jonah Ratsimbazafy, the zoo's conservation partner from Madagascar. Vorotsara means "beautiful bird" in Malagasy.
The Malagasy sacred ibis is a large white bird with fluffy black feathers across the rump and a black head. They have blue eyes, stand two to three feet tall, and have a wingspan of three to four feet wide, the zoo said.
The Houston Zoo said during the bird's breeding season, a dedicated care team monitored its flock and noticed eggs were not being properly incubated.
"The team decided to pull this particular egg and artificially incubate it with the plan of returning it to its parents," the zoo said. "When the parents abandoned the nest, the team stepped in to hand-rear it."
The zoo put together strict measures to care for the bird, including creating a quiet zone to separate the bird from human voices and wearing face coverings to interact with it. The zoo even created a crochet stuffed ibis to place with the chick.
"The goal is to safely integrate Vorotsara into the flock," the zoo said.
There are an estimated 2,300 to 3,000 Malagasy sacred ibis birds left in the world. They can only be found in Madagascar and a few islands in the Seychelles. They are considered endangered due to their very limited range, habitat loss and ease of poaching.
