Two chicks hatched at the Smithsonian National Zoo’s campus in Front Royal, Virginia, have given hope to a species classified as extinct in the wild.
The two sihek chicks, a male and a female, were born in mid-April and join a total world sihek population of just 125.
“Every sihek chick is special, but these two are particularly precious, according to keeper Erica Royer. Parents Antonio, five, and Poki, two, are first timers and have never bred before. Their genes are not well represented in the population, making their offspring very valuable for the breeding population,” the Smithsonian wrote in a post on social media.
The sihek, also known as the Guam kingfisher, was classified as extinct in the wild by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in the 1980s after being wiped out by the invasive brown tree snake, according to the zoo.
As adults, the birds are around 9 inches long and weigh about as much as a tennis ball.
The Smithsonian said it is part of the Sihek Recovery Program, a global collaborative of conservationists dedicated to recovering the species, which is native to Guam.
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