Chester Zoo Rare parrot breeding centre

Writhedhornbill said:
The red vented female, is sometimes allowed out into a corridor, over looking the male red vented cockatoos. The aviary she sits next to the longest, is the male that she'll be put in with, it still can go wrong!
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Yes, Leadbetter's Cockatoos are guilty of this too. A pair can sometimes live together, even breed, until one day the male turns on the female and inflicts horrible wounds. I have no idea why...

I'm impressed by the ages the big Hornbills can reach. Have the pair in the Elephant House bred yet?
 
The pair in the old elephant house bred, but they moved on to another zoo while the house was being built. I'm not sure whether the current pair is of any relation to the previous one.

yes hornbills can reach quite a good age. The female javan rhinioceros hornbill is roughly 30, and the old male wrinkled hornbill was at least 25 when he died in 2005.
 
jelle said:
Does Chester Zoo not have a large aviary for the females to choose their own mate (like what is sometimes done with hornbills at Avifauna and black vultures at Planckendael)? That way the females can better avoid the antagonism of the males.
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Yes, it was one of the males that the Red-vented Cockatoo female chose for her mate. She spent all day sitting by the door to his aviary. When they were placed together he almost killed her.

As Hornbill said the Lilacine Amazons also choose their own mates.
 
bongorob said:
Yes, it was one of the males that the Red-vented Cockatoo female chose for her mate. She spent all day sitting by the door to his aviary. When they were placed together he almost killed her.
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I think this may be caused by the male bird's teritorial instinct(?) overridding any sexual interest in the hen. So he can't help himself from attacking her. Its weird I know and one of the problems with several species of cockatoos in captivity. Sometimes even the male of a mated pair will turn on his partner for no apparent reason.
 
grantsmb said:
I think this may be caused by the male bird's teritorial instinct(?) overridding any sexual interest in the hen. So he can't help himself from attacking her. Its weird I know and one of the problems with several species of cockatoos in captivity. Sometimes even the male of a mated pair will turn on his partner for no apparent reason.
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Would that territorial instinct be somewhat diminished if their exhibit were enlarged and provided with more structures and planting to hide and seek? What is it biology wise that makes cockatoos exhibit this kind of behavior? Obviously, we are doing something wrong then exhibit-wise in captivity ....!
 
jelle said:
Would that territorial instinct be somewhat diminished if their exhibit were enlarged and provided with more structures and planting to hide and seek? What is it biology wise that makes cockatoos exhibit this kind of behavior? Obviously, we are doing something wrong then exhibit-wise in captivity ....!
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Do Redvented Cockatoos live in large or small flocks in the Wild? Leadbetters seem to live in smaller flocks or even just pairs. Maybe they're more strongly territorial than other Cockatoos. I don't know.

My guess is the male tries to eject the female for some reason and if she can't escape, then he injures her. I'm no parrot expert though....
 
They have not bred and they are offshow at the moment. I don't know of any plans to exhibit them in the near future, but there are plans to house some of the offshow birds in the large aviary with public viewing next year. The single St Lucia Amazon which was on show has been moved. The Dragons in Danger aviary was not very successful in displaying these parrots.
 
Pedro said:
I'd like to have more infos about Saint-Lucia's amazons in Chester zoo.
Are they visible for the public? Easy to get on picture? Have they bred?
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The male has had some of his flight feathers clipped to slow him down as he used to harass the female alot,this was done because shes an old bird and to give her more chance of her getting away from him when he had a go,they have now settled down very well the staff are hopefull of breeding them soon,as for any chance of seeing them i would say none unless they bred them and put the young on show,can tell you which aviary they are in as you look at the house from the Bongo enclosure it is the third one from the right hand side.
 
St Lucia Amzon Parrot
Ecuadorian Amazon Parrot
Red-vented Cockatoo
Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Blue-throated Macaw
Golden Conure
Red and Blue Lory

I think that is what is kept there at the moment. There are also Azara's Agoutis in the on show Amazon aviary.

The Ecuadorian Amazons have recently hatched 3 chicks.
 
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