On April 19, the Laoshan Area of Nanshan National Park, a World Natural Heritage Site, released that the crested ibises released from the wild successfully hatched the first litter of four crested ibis juveniles, marking an important step in rebuilding the wild population of the crested ibis at the lowest latitude in the world in Nanshan National Park.
In the Laoshan Mountain Area, the first litter of baby crested ibises is born at the top of a tall tree with a wide view and sparse leaves. The mother crested ibis successfully laid its first eggs in mid-March, the first baby crested ibis hatched on April 10, and in the following days, the four baby crested ibises in this nest were born in turn, and the babies are now in good condition and have enough food, growing to about 1 pound in just one week.
Wu Kai, deputy head of the resource protection section of the Laoshan Management Bureau, introduced that the crested ibis generally lay 2 to 4 eggs in a litter, and the first pair of successfully paired ibises in Laoshan has laid 4 eggs, reaching the world's highest record for crested ibises to lay eggs, and all hatched successfully on April 14, with a hatching rate of up to 100%. Four other pairs of successfully paired ibises are laying eggs.
After entering the breeding season, the head and neck and shoulders of the crested ibis secrete small black particles, dyeing the feathers gray-black, and after the breeding season, the secretions disappear and the feathers return to white. Unlike many other birds, which are incubated by the female alone, the loving crested ibis "couple" take turns to hatch, usually every two or three hours. The incubation period of the crested ibis is about 28 days, and after the baby is born, the father and mother of the ibis also take turns to feed them, and after the feeding period is about 50 days, the young begin to go down to the tree to feed on their own.
In order to reduce the threat posed by extreme natural disasters and major diseases to the crested ibis species, establish a wild population that can be naturally bred and self-sustained, and realize the reconstruction of the crested ibis wild population at the lowest latitude in the world. In 2022, the rewilding project of the crested ibis in Hunan Nanshan National Park settled in Xinning Laoshan Mountain, and welcomed 24 crested ibises.
Wu Kai, Deputy Chief of the Resource Protection Division of Laoshan Management Authority, said: "The successful hatching of baby babies by the crested ibis in Laoshan proves that it is a realistic and feasible to rebuild the wild population of the crested ibis at the lowest latitude in the world through natural breeding and self-sustaining wild populations, which also reflects the superiority of the Laoshan ecosystem, and we will continue to do a good job in tracking and protecting the crested ibis in the future." (Li Jiangang, Huang Yuli)