Smithsonian's National Zoo's 50th Kori Bustard Chick Hatches .

than the others, said Sara Hallager, Zoo biologist and mind of the Connection of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan for kori bustards. The SSP matches animals across the area to ensure genetic variety in the population. We've reached an important milestone, and Im thrilled that the National Zoo continues to encounter a important part in ensuring this species selection in zoos and in the wild.

In gain to the propagation, breeding and direction that takes aim at the National Zoo, the kori bustard team, led by Hallager, is actively involved in in situ assessments of the species. In 2009, Zoo staff conducted a subject of the health, nutrition, and feeding ecology of wild kori bustards in Kenya by capturing birds and collecting blood samples. They also trained Kenyan ornithologists in capture-and-sample-collection techniques.

Although the International Union for Preservation of Nature lists kori bustards as a species of least concern, conservationists believe that populations are declining in their native habitat in eastern and southern Africa due to habitat destruction, illegal search and their inherent slow reproduction rate. Weighing in at 40 pounds, male kori bustards are the worlds heaviest flying birds.

Bird House staff are hand-rearing the 50th kori chick, just as they did with its predecessors. This increases the likelihood that the bird will breed successfully once it reaches sexual maturity. Hand-rearing has another benefit; several wild birds of prey reside on Zoo grounds, and nurture the chicks in human care eliminates the opportunity of an attack. Although the chick will not be on show until mid-August, Zoo visitors can see its parents at the kori bustard exhibit, located outside of the Bird House.

Credit: Photo by Mehgan Murphy, Smithsonians National Zoo.