@UngulateNerd92 Personally I haven't seen a hybrid lapwing before, even at a few other zoos I visited where different kinds of lapwings were housed together. I'm fairly confident it is not a very common occurrence - and one that most zoos would try to avoid anyway.
@Great Argus I didn't know that species, but it kind of does look like that.
@KevinB I've seen lapwing species housed together as well, and have never seen or heard of a hybrid. I'd agree with you it's not common, and I'd hope zoos would avoid the situation.
@KevinB and @Great Argus thank you. So I hope this doesn't sound like a dumb question, but if other zoos have mixed species exhibits with more than one lapwing, how do they avoid hybridization?
@UngulateNerd92 A good question honestly. I don't know what the tendency is regarding hybridization in lapwings. This may be the first time I've heard of a hybrid plover, now that I think about it. Plovers and sandpipers do not seem hybrid prone at all whether wild or captive, so maybe it's not much of an issue. Many zoos usually pull hybrid eggs though, and perhaps this one got overlooked.
@Great Argus ah ok thank you. Again this is fascinating stuff! I think this specimen could prove useful for scientific study. This animals remains would be fascinating to study at the molecular level! Perhaps a natural history museum would have good use for the remains once this animal passes... All the possibilities...
