Helping hands: Humans as surrogate nest‐helpers for White‐crested Laughingthrush (Garrulax leucolophus) at the National Aviary
2022
Ecklar, Julia
White‐crested Laughingthrushes have historically experienced high chick/fledgling mortality when breeding in human care. Over two breeding seasons at the National Aviary, we provided supplemental food to parent‐reared White‐crested Laughingthrush chicks to simulate the contributions of conspecific nest‐helpers, which are known to assist with White‐crested Laughingthrush chick‐rearing in the wild. Chick survival increased when we provided this nest‐helping assistance. In zoos where conspecific nest‐helpers are not available, we recommend human assistance be provided in a manner similar to that described here, to ensure long‐term sustainability of the species in human care. This technique may also be useful for enhancing captive assurance populations of other cooperatively breeding Asian songbird species.
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