ACCB: First Lesser Adjutant chick for the season hatched

The Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity (ACCB), supported by the Stiftung Artenschutz, aspires to become a focal point for wildlife conservation and environmental activities throughout the northwest of Cambodia. One of its main objectives is promoting the rescue of native Cambodian wildlife and conservation breeding of endangered Cambodian species.
Over the past years, the ACCB team has been working to establish a captive breeding group of Lesser Adjutants at the centre, consisting of individuals that are not fit for release. This breeding group is special, because this species is extremely rare in captivity worldwide (e.g. outside Asia there are only a couple of holdings with less than a dozen birds). Furthermore, the group at ACCB has already grown to more than 30 individuals, which the largest captive group worldwide.
In 2007, first eggs have been laid at ACCB, but unfortunately they proved to be infertile, likely because the birds were still too young. Subsequently, the first chicks hatched from the first pair in 2008, and more chicks followed in 2009. This year – on the 19th October – the first chick of this breeding season hatched. After a long month of waiting while the parent birds dutifully incubated their two eggs, the chicks are now well taken care of by their parents.
Currently, two pairs have nests and one or two further pairs are expected to start breeding in the coming months. Most of the birds at ACCB are currently still too young to breed, but as they mature over the next years, more breeding pairs will be established.

Learn more about the ACCB