Nashville Zoo Welcomes Endangered Chick

nashville zoo bird

Earlier this month, the Nashville Zoo welcomed their first curassow chick.

After incubating the egg for 30 days, the chick was assisted in hatching by Nashville Zoo keepers and veterinary staff, states their site.

“This is a very valuable animal and we need to do everything we can to help it survive,” said Shelley Norris, Nashville Zoo Avian Area Supervisor. “This egg hatching is significant because curassows are critically endangered in the wild.”

Due to habitat loss, there are only 54 blue-billed curassows in zoos across the country and only about 750 in the wild, the Nashville Zoo reports.

On their blog, the Nashville Zoo explains that while curassows in the Nashville Zoo have laid eggs in the past, they have either not been viable or the female knocked the eggs out of the nest due to inexperience. Zoo staff pulled this egg from the nest and transported it to the incubation room for the rest of its development.

Nashville Zoo avian staff are working with Houston Zoo and the Species Survival Plan on where to best place this chick.

“We’re learning how best to care for them,” Norris said. “Right now, this species is just so critical, we basically are just keeping them alive in general until we can find a solution in the wild.”

Learn more from the Nashville Zoo here.