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Watching the changes After the loss of "Mokopuna" attention has been fully focused on the remaining six chicks, and the ups and downs have continued. Raising chicks in captivity means trying to replicate what would happen in the wild as closely as possible, in order to fledge a healthy chick. Unfortunately, us humans are never gonna be as good at it as mum kakapo so we always run into problems, and inevitably each season different health issues arise. At present there are three birds in the sick bay recovering from minor unexplained ailments. We've had constant advice from our vets at Auckland Zoo; John came down last week for x-rays to check up that all the insides were as they should be. We are also taking regular blood samples to monitor white blood cell counts which indicate general health. Over the last few days however, all the birds have started to look much better - getting interested in nibbling the vegetation and berries in their pens as well as getting significantly more playful. The appearance of the birds is also starting to change heaps: their green plumage is showing more and more every day. They nearly look like real kakapo! All in all its a pretty exciting time to watch the little ones growing and learning about the world. It seems amazing that they came out of those tiny eggs that we found in summer time and just a few weeks ago they were so tiny white and helpless. |
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