A conservation breeding programme as part of the recovery plan for the critically endangered Negros Bleeding-heart Dove has been set up in Singapore’s Jurong Bird Park, following their historic journey from the Philippine Island of Negros in September last year.
This is the only breeding programme for the species outside its native country of Philippines. The arrival of these birds marks the growing commitment by Jurong Bird Park and Mandai Nature to jointly achieve greater impact for species conservation through the One Plan Approach (OPA), particularly for those threatened and endemic to Southeast Asia.
The birds originated from an established conservation breeding facility helmed by Talarak Foundation Inc (TFI) in Negros Forest Park, Bacolod City, Philippines. Jurong Bird Park and Mandai Nature partnered with TFI to set up the conservation breeding programme, with the ultimate goal of having the progenies return to the Philippines for eventual release to their natural habitats and restore wild populations.
TFI has been a strong conservation partner for Mandai Wildlife Group and Mandai Nature, having worked closely on conservation activities in the Philippines.
Consisting of three males and three females, the birds were paired up in Jurong Bird Park’s off-exhibit breeding facility where other highly threatened species are also bred. After just three months into their new home, Jurong Bird Park welcomed its first Negros Bleeding-heart chick which successfully hatched on 26 November 2021.
Since then, two more chicks have hatched. The first chick is developing its adult plumage, going from its mostly brown coloration to a two-tone grey body with white on its belly and chest. It has also begun to develop the typical red marking on its chest.
Over the decades, Mandai Wildlife Group’s wildlife parks including Jurong Bird Park have contributed to conservation through high standards of animal care, sharing of knowledge for capacity building in animal welfare and research initiatives. Jurong Bird Park has been involved in in situ and ex situ conservation efforts for globally critically threatened avian species like the Philippines Eagles, Black-winged Myna, Bali Myna, Straw-headed Bulbul and Edwards’s Pheasant.
The Negros Bleeding-heart is listed as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, with an estimated wild population of only between 50 to 249 individuals with population fragmentation, habitat loss and poaching being its main threats.
There are five Bleeding-heart Dove species endemic to the Philippines and Jurong Bird Park is the sole zoological institution in the world to hold three of the five species – the Negros, Mindanao and Luzon Bleeding-hearts, each named after the islands that they are native to. All of them have a unique characteristic that identifies them as Bleeding-heart, which is the iconic red splash on their chest. The Mindanao Bleeding-heart is listed as vulnerable, while the Luzon Bleeding-heart is listed as near threatened.
The remaining two recorded species, the Mindoro and Sulu Bleeding-hearts are listed as critically endangered, with no known records of them under human care and lack of recent evidence of the two species occurring in the wild. The Negros Bleeding-heart may very well be the most endangered bleeding-heart species that remains.
Since 2012, Jurong Bird Park has successfully bred over 60 Luzon Bleeding-hearts individuals. In August 2020, ten of these birds were repatriated back to the Philippines and released in their native island of Luzon.
Look out for the new chicks on the block!
Plan Your Visit
a. 2 Jurong Hill, Singapore 628925
w. www.mandai.com/en/jurong-bird-park.html
You May Also Like
