History was made at Crocworld Conservation Centre last month when two marabou stork chicks successfully hatched for the first time ever.

The centre has been running an ongoing breeding programme for marabou storks which are the largest flighted birds in Africa, but had no luck during breeding season with the lockdown and monkeys stealing eggs.

In order to breed these birds, the chicks’ father, Norris, was brought to the centre with another male from the African Bird of Prey Centre in Pietermaritzburg back in 2015.

A year later, his breeding partner Samara arrived from the Umgeni River Bird Park.

“There was a lot of excitement from our team when the chicks hatched,” said Ryne Ferguson, the centre’s bird curator.

“It’s fantastic that our pair was finally able to hatch two healthy chicks.”

One of the chicks was removed from the nest after staff noticed it being bullied by its sibling and realised that it wasn’t getting enough food.

“This isn’t unusual behaviour in the wild,” explained Ryne.

“The chick is now being hand reared and progressing well.”

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