Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ), the custodians of nature conservation and greening in the City of Joburg, have gone an extra mile to preserve the endangered Wattled Crane (Bugeranus carunculatus) species.
The Wattled Crane is the continent’s rarest of crane species and needs to be preserved.
The Wattled Crane is the largest of the cranes species. It is predominantly white including its wattles, hasash-grey wings, a striking black under carriage and tail, and is remarkably distinguishable by its famed red beak covered by bumps. It forages in mostly marshy areas, dining on aquatic insects or snails, tubers or on reeds – that is if you are fortunate enough to encounter a rare sighting of this magnificent bird, which is estimated to have a life expectancy of between 20 and 30 years in the wild.
“I would like to commend the Conservation team at JCPZ for championing the Wattled Crane conservation programme. It shows that the entity does care for the preservation and conservation of nature,” says Cllr Nonhlanhla Sifumba, Member of the Mayoral Committee for Community Development.
Historically, Wattled Cranes were far more abundant and widely distributed throughout South Africa. Currently, a 38% decline over the last two decades has left the critically endangered population at a high risk of extinction in the wild.
A scarce 310 specimens remain in South Africa with the most significant population residing in isolated pockets in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Wattled Cranes are already locally extinct in neighbouring countries such as Lesotho and Swaziland.
Dwindling numbers of the species remain threatened by the destruction of wetlands; rapid urbanisation and the illegal collection of their eggs. Typically the close-knit breeding pair of Wattled Cranes produce one egg, and on the rare chance that a second egg is produced, the breeding pair will generally abandon the second egg once the first egg hatches.
The breeding programme by JCPZ includes collecting the abandoned eggs from the wild, and puppet-rearing the chicks after incubation. This is done to prevent human imprinting on the Wattled Cranes.
Costumed caretakers introduce the young cranes to life in the wild, and teach them to forage and to avoid threats from predators such as Jackals. Once the breeding flock produces a significant number of chicks, their offspring, along with any additional chicks produced from abandoned wild eggs, are reared and released into existing Wattled Crane flocks in an effort to bolster the population in the wild.
Three (3) births were recorded in captivity by the Joburg Zoo, with the first chick perishing due to its inability to be assimilated into the flock.
This was followed by the ground breaking second birth in 2017 and a third birth this year. This is a milestone achievement in the breeding programme indicating that the programme is contributing to the advancement of conservation of the critically endangered Wattled Crane.
The third and most recent hatching occurred on 9 February 2018 as part of a surrogate-reared breeding programme in partnership with Ezemvelo Wildlife and the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT). The partnership was established at the Joburg Zoo’s conservatory in Parys, South Africa in 2010.
The surviving chick that hatched on 19 July 2017, remains healthy and active and is oblivious to the watchful eyes of its costume dressed surrogate parents. The fledglings will remain in captivity and will be reared together with the recently hatched chick. Once fully socialized, the fledglings will be released into the wild as part of a pairing and mating programme, to boost the diminishing numbers of Wattled Cranes.
Initiatives such as these are a good way of benchmarking JCPZ’s operation with those of similar organisations around the world. It gives an opportunity for other organisations to learn some best practices from JCPZ, and for JCPZ to be recognised as one of the leaders in the sector.
“I have been involved with JCPZ for about seven (7) years, first as a shadow MMC to the portfolio, and then as the MMC in the current government. This is one of the achievements during my tenure as the MMC, and I could not be more proud,” adds MMC Sifumba.
“I am committed to ensuring that the first steps in breeding the species in captivity will lead to JCPZ’s contribution to the reversal of decline in the number of Wattled Cranes, and other endangered species.”
