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RE: A Zookeepers Life #6 Hand-raising animals

in #animals7 years ago

I have a niggling memory that hand-raised birds are notorious for not wanting to mate, because of human imprinting - do you think this is a problem (in general)?
The Lorikeets are beautiful, and I imagine they scream pretty darned well, lol. I've had other birds, but not Lori's.
The baby Rhino... well, you just want to cuddle it (perhaps just figuratively speaking)! :)

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That is very true for a lot of parrot species, however if done correctly it can be avoided. Jersey Zoo for example hand raise a lot of their most endangered species of birds that go on to breeding and rearing successfully! One of our older loris was a hand reared pet and she this year finally hatched and reared her first ever chick! 11 and 10 have been mating but because they haven’t won a nest box she has not yet laid and they are only just reaching the right age now! Imprinting is definitely a problem sometimes it can be avoided and other times it can’t. It can really depend on the individual, we have a couple of goats hand reared but are not that interested in us anymore! I guess the management practise has a lot to do with it- I am still learning this myself!
Rhinos are the best! They absolutely love scratches and this little one sometimes rolls on his belly for a tummy scratch haha :)

A baby Rhino tummy scratch? Oh I'd love to see a video of that! <3

Next time I’m down there, I shall video it for you!