The newsletter of Loro Parque Fundación...Wladimiro Rodriguez Brito, Island Councillor doe En-vironment, Cipriano Marín, Director of the UNESCO Centre in the Canary Islands and Wolfgang

Saving wildlife and habitats

�Nº 85- June 2007

The newsletter of Loro Parque Fundación

Nº 85 June 2007


� Nº 85- June 2007

Nº. 85 - June 2007

Wolfgang KiesslingPresident, Loro Parque Fundación

Index

Message from the founder...........................�Agreement MMA y AIZA/ CITES CoP�4..........................................................3World oceans day.........................................4Orca Projects.............................................. 5Laboratory.................................................. 7Endesa/ Iwand award..................................8LP Meeting point.........................................9LP New......................................................�0LPF News..................................................��LPF News/ La Vera Breeding centre.........�4Project update........................................... �5Cacatúa Filipina.........................................�9Cría de Aratinga cactorum........................�0

Cover photo Kuhl Lorikeet (Vini kuhlii) by Peter Odekerken

Editorial Office:Loro Parque S.A.38400 Puerto de la CruzTenerife, Islas Canarias. EspañaTel.: + 34 922 374 081 - Fax: + 34 922 373 110E-mail: [email protected]@loroparque-fundacion.org

Editorial Consultant:Rosemary Low

Editorial Commitee:Raquel Agrella, Dr. Javier Almunia, Inge Feier, Wolfgang Kiessling, Alice Lorch, Matthias Reinschmidt y Prof. David Waugh

Visit our websites:www.loroparque-fundacion.orgwww.loroparque.com

Membership:Become a member of Loro Parque Fun-dación to support us in our activities. You will then receive our trimestral newsletter Cyanopsitta, as well as a supporter’s card permitting free entry to Loro Parque during the validity of your membership and a visit to our breeding centre. The current annual membership fees are:

Adults................................................100,00€Childrens............................................50,00€Vital member.................................1.500,00€

Please send us your membership subscrip-tion by mail, fax or e-mail, or call us, and we will sign you up immediately.

Bank Account:BBVA, Puerto de la CruzCuenta:............ 0182 5310 61 001635615-8IBAN:.......ES85 0182 5310 61 0016356158BIC:....................................... BBVAESMM

Message from the Founder

Recently in Tenerife I attended a presentation given by Al Gore, ex-Vice President of the USA, invited to this island by the Business Federation of Santa Cruz de Tenerife Province. His topic, directed especially to the business and political establishments, was that of climate change and global warming, following his acclaimed book and film “An Inconvenient Truth”. Fundamental to his message is that we must reduce the extent of emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in as many practical ways as possible, being especially important the use of energy from efficient and renewable sources. Doing so helps to avoid a global problem. It also makes good business sense, and Loro Parque has for many years established best practice in use of resources, which has led to the awards of ISO14001 (an international norm to control and improve environmental performance) and EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme - European Council Regulation 761/01).

In his lecture, Al Gore also mentioned how climate change is having unpredictable and negative effects on wildlife, and that conservation measures to avoid extinctions of species will continue to be necessary if we are to preserve the beauty of this planet, as well as to keep our options for the future. Loro Parque and the Loro Parque Fundación have an honourable record of taking such actions, going back to a time when climate change was never a topic for discussion. The diversity of activities which you will read about in these pages of Cyanopsitta demonstrates our continuing commitment to prevent the extinction of the most threatened forms of wildlife, especially so that future generations will know them.

This is evident in our campaigns, such as our recent celebration of “World Ocean Day”, and our many collaborations with scientific and conservation entities, for example in the research projects to discover better ways to conserve orcas. There are also many other important details of our work, such as the unique laboratory, established in Loro Parque with the most advanced equipment and trained technical staff, to protect our populations of parrots from harmful diseases. Worthy of mention are the two projects to translocate wild parrots from one site to another, for Kuhl’s Lory in the Pacific and the Red-vented Cockatoo in the Philippines. This conservation technique, still in its infancy for parrots, will no doubt become increasingly important as we improve our ability to protect wild habitat, and we learn how to deal with the effects of climate change.

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3Nº 85- June 2007

On Wednesday 16th of May 2007, in a ceremony pre-sided over by the Minister of Environment, Cristina Narbona, in the Zurbano Palace, Madrid, the Ministry of Environment and the Iberian Association of Zoos and Aquaria (AIZA) signed a general agreement of collaboration. This agreement foresees the develo-pment of joint activities for the conservation of and awareness about threatened species. In the same ce-remony the minister presented the book “The zoo-logical park, a new ally for biodiversity”, published by Fundación Biodiversidad, which explains the function of zoological parks in the conservation of species. Cristina Narbona was accompanied by the vice-president of the Iberian Association of Zoos and Aquaria, Agustín López, the director of Fundación Biodiversidad, María Artola, and the co-author of the publication, Federico Guillén-Salazar. As Loro Par-que is a founding member of AIZA, and has a long history of actions in favour of conservation, it conti-nues with a strong involvement in the collaboration.

Loro Parque Fundación at CoP14 of CITES

CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. The species covered by CITES are lis-ted in three Appendices, according to the degree of protection they need. Appendix I includes spe-cies threatened with extinction, and trade in spe-cimens of these species is permitted only in ex-ceptional circumstances. Appendix II includes species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but in which trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival. Appendix III contains species that are protected in at least one country, which has asked other CI-TES Parties for assistance in controlling the trade.

The CITES text was agreed in Washington D.C. on 3 March �973, and on � July �975 the Con-vention entered in force. A State (country) that has joined CITES is known as a Party to the conven-tion. CITES is legally binding on the Parties and is implemented at the national level through each country’s domestic legislation. Currently CITES has �7� Parties. The supreme body of CITES is the Conference of the Parties (CoP) which meets every three years to review the implementation of the Convention. Holland is a Party to CITES, and this year hosted CoP�4 which took place between 3 and �5 June in The Hague. At a CoP, only the Par-ties have voting rights, but other organisations are allowed to attend as “Observers” and to comment on proposals. In this category, a delegation of the

servation (in the wild). The meeting also included debate on proposed changes to the purpose-of-tran-saction codes on CITES permits and certificates. The LPF delegation also took the opportunity of the CoP to meet the representatives of several Parties, especially from Spain, and from Bolivia to discuss the conservation of the Blue-throated Macaw (Ara glaucogularis) and the interchange of specimens for genetic management. Other useful encounters were made with representatives from NABU (Nature and Biodiversity Union); birdlife International partner of Germany with which LPF has a formal colla-boration, and WAZA (World Association of Zoos and Aquaria) in which Loro Parque is a member.

Collaborative agreement bet-ween the Ministry of Environ-

ment and AIZA

LPF attended part of the CoP�4, headed by its President Wolfgang Kiessling, as personal guest of the CITES Secretary General Willem Wijnstekers, and including Di-rector, David Waugh and As-sistant Curator, Rafael Zamora.

A number of issues of direct in-terest to the LPF were discussed in the CoP, especially trade in Appendix I species and the regis-tration of operations that breed Appendix I animal species in cap-tivity for commercial purposes. Also discussed was the relatio-nship between ex situ production (captive breeding) and in situ con- LPF and the bolivian expedition: Corsino Huallata, David Waugh, Omar Rocha, Rafael Zamora

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4 Nº 85- June 2007

Loro Parque Fundación commemorates World Ocean Day

This year, within the celebration of the Week of the Environment, Loro Parque Fundación has put a special emphasis on celebrating World Ocean Day, the 8th of June. As it could not possibly have been another way, the Classroom of the Sea of Loro Parque was the place where World Ocean Day was commemorated, and with this event the educational activities of Loro Parque Fundación focused on the Year of the Dolphin were initiated.The event began with a press conference in which took part Isabel de Luís Lorenzo, commissio-ner for the reform of the Education, Culture and

Presentation of the virtual submarine, the Nautilus

SportsCounciof the Government of the Canary Islands, Wladimiro Rodriguez Brito, Island Councillor doe En-vironment, Cipriano Marín, Director of the UNESCO Centre in the Canary Islands and Wolfgang Kiessling, President of the Loro Parque Fundación.At the end of the press conference, the latest educational tool of the Classroom of the Sea was presented. This is the Nautilus, a virtual submarine that allows the develo-pment of educative activities at a distance, with schools of any place in the world through the Internet. For this inaugural day’s work, the Nautilus put the Classroom of the Sea in simultaneous contact with the schools María Pérez Trujillo (Tenerife), Costa Calma (Fuerteventura),

Argana Alta (Lanzarote) and Taibi-que (El Hierro).

The computer programne that has given life to this virtual submari-ne is a development based on free software, and permits the education centres to receive the video image and sound from the Classroom of the Sea, where there is an educa-tor making the presentation. At the same time, in the right hand part of the screen the students can see each one of the slides that the edu-cator is showing and explaining. In the left lower part of the screen is a Chat Zone, by means of which the students can send questions to the educator. The programme also offers the possibility to activate the

cameras and microphones in the Educative Centres so as to receive their questions through video-conference.

The first educational ac-tivity carried out using the Nautilus was a pre-sentation on the Year of the Dolphin. The con-nected schools received explanations about the threats to small ceta-ceans and the importan-ce of collaborating to conserve them. The ope-ration was very satisfac-tory, and after the pre-sentation all the schools

presented questions by means of video conference, by audio or by means of the Chat Zone.With this new tool the Department of Education of the Loro Parque Funda-ción finds itself in the vanguard of environmental edu-cation and, from this moment, it has the possibility to transmit its conservation and awareness message to any corner of the world. From this moment we have begun to develop the contents to be used through this platform of communication, and with the start of the new course the Nautilus will begin to work at total capacity, inclu-ding the contents of several educational projects in the entire archipelago and the rest of Spain. Anyone interes-ted in obtaining more information on this tool can send an email to [email protected].


5Nº 85- June 2007

Determination of the feeding patterns of orcas in the Strait of Gibraltar by means of

isotopic profilesThis project has two facets. On one side the field work with the population of orcas of Gibraltar, and on the other one the experiments with controlled diets in Loro Parque. The field project has made 5,681 kilometres of samplings in the zone of Gibraltar and the Gulf of Ca-diz, having made �0 sightings of orcas, from which 7 samples were obtained (biopsies of skin and fat). At the same time, 89 samples of red tuna and other potential prey of orcas were obtained to determine their isotopic index. Thanks to the activities of the project the absence of orcas in the Gulf of Cadiz during the winter has been confirmed. The principal investigator of the field project, Renaud de Stephanis, attended the last meeting of the In-ternational Whaling Commission (IWC) held in Alaska in May, because one of the main subjects was orcas. The project financed by the Loro Parque Fundación awoke the interest of the scientific community that works in the conservation of these cetaceans, and they were very interested in the potential future results of the project.

With reference to the experimental aspect, the develop-ment of the first experiment in Loro Parque has begun, although it could not be completed due to problems with the fish supplies. To date, the most significant result of the experiments with the diet of the animals in Loro Par-que has been the determination for the first time in expe-rimental form of the indices of isotopic fractionation for O. orca. This value settles a debate about the two theo-retical values that have been is use, and will permit that the diet models used in the future offer more confident results. On the other hand, the results of the isotopic con-tent of orcas in the Straits of Gibraltar are offering very interesting preliminary data on the diet of this population that put into question some of the previous suppositions.

Obtaining diagnostic kits for various pathogenos of

During this first year, the project to obtain kits for fast diagnosis in O. orca has been able to extract and to pu-rify the immunoglobulin G of the Loro Parque orcas, and to obtain the polyclonal antibody of this immunog-lobulin. This antibody is the essential base of diagnostic kits, and allows detection of the fixation of the immu-noglobulin of the Orca to the specific antigens in each diagnostic kit. With the first stage of the project already

O. orca

Fishermen and killer whales at strait of Gibraltar

Less for the man more for the killer whales.

Orca projects updatesuccessfully achieved, now the specificity of the antibo-dy is being determined by means of the use of ELISA and Western blot techniques, and for this using the im-munoglobulin of other cetaceans. Once this specificity is determined, different kits will begin to be developed for each one from the pathogens determined as of im-portance for the conservation of the species in the wild.Meanwhile, the problems that cause the emergence of pa-thogens in the ocean, and which motivated the financing of this research project, are again current. At the begin-ning of this year dozens of pilot whales died in the Medi-terranean due to an infection related to morbillivirus. The first hypotheses suggest that the pathogen together with problems of habitat alteration have triggered this epide-mic. If it fits, all of this makes the financing of research in the immunology of cetaceans more important from the point of view of conservation of their populations.


6 Nº 85- June 2007

During 2006 the control system has been develo-ped that manages the recordings of the network of hydrophones of Orca Ocean. At this moment there is a system of multi-channel capture that stores the data in a computer server. With the frequency of present sampling the recording of one channel of audio represents �0 Gigabytes of data per day, be-ing the reason why the information storage is really complicated. For the same reason the development of an automatic system of event detection has be-gun, that permits just to keep the vocalizations and to reject to all empty space in the recording. This system of event detection is a great advance in the bioacoustics of cetaceans, and to which the resear-ch team of the University of La Laguna has arrived using the physical properties from the sound wave. At the present time tools do not exist to make an effective separation of �00% of the events, but the tool developed by the team of Dr Rosa promises a high efficiency (which now is around 80%). The subsequent steps will be to optimize the execution of the detection routines, integrating them into a microprocessor so that the detection of events is made in real time. In the long term, this investi-gation can have application in detection systems, and the identification and location of cetaceans in real time in the sea. A device of this type could be helpful to avoid collisions of boats with cetaceans.

Creation of technological tools and research on the vocal

cultura of xxxxxxxxxx

Study on the diets of marine mammals in Loro Parque

The past month of April, Loro Parque Fundación signed an agreement of collaboration with the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to un-dertake a study on the nutritional content of the fish usedin the diets of marine mammals in Loro Partque. This investigation will be financed with one of the two scholarships approved in the last meeting of the Advisory Board of the Loro Par-que Fundación, and it will be carried out by the University Institute of Animal Health and Food Safety of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The project will be directed by Dr Ma-ría Soledad Izquierdo, Professor of the Faculty of Marine Sciences, and with extensive experience in nutritional analyses of diets for animal feeding.

In a first stage, the research consists of carrying out a monitoring of the parameters of quality and nutri-tional content of the fish that is provided to the ma-rine mammals and other fish-eating species in Loro Parque (penguins, puffins, sharks, etc.), in parallel with the commercial laboratories which do this. Further on, the research will be deepened about the parameters of fish quality that are not usually considered in the management of marine mam-mals, such as the qualitative composition of the fish from the point of view of fatty acids, or the pre-sence of by-products from oxidation by peroxides.

O. orca

Tecnic to measure isotopic profiles Fish analysing system.


7Nº 85- June 2007

The remarkable laboratory of LORO PARQUE

Fish analysing system.

In �004 Loro Parque reinforced the analytical con-trols being made on all the aquatic systems of the park, intensifying the chemical and bacteriological analyses of the water of the dolphinarium, sea-lio-ns, penguinarium, aquarium, etc. From that mo-ment the chemical parameters began to be determi-ned on a daily basis: nitrates, ammonium, nitrites, chlorine, magnesium, calcium, iron, pH, tempera-ture, conductivity, salinity, turbidity, redox poten-tial, etc.

At the same time, bacteriological analyses started to be made weekly to determine the presence of mi-cro-organisms indicative of contamination, such as the total number of coliforms, E. Coli, Pseudomo-nas sp., enterococos and Clostridium perfringens.

This reinforcing of the analytical activities for the control of the water quality of the animals of Loro Parque signified putting into operation the labora-tory for water analysis. A space in the old quaranti-ne of the penguins was equipped, within which the chemical analyses could be undertaken, and that also had several cabinets to carry out bacteriologi-cal cultures. With this infrastructure the necessities were covered for control of water quality, and made possible in a minimal space of time the correction of any incidence in the physico-chemical and bac-teriological parameters.

Nevertheless, to reach the levels of animal welfare that Loro Parque follows, it was necessary to in-crease the analytical capacity, not only with respect to the environmental parameters of the marine ani-mals, but also with respect to sanitary parameters of the collection in general. In 2006, with the cons-truction of Orca Ocean, the laboratory of Loro Par-que took on more organization, and it was conside-red to equip it with instruments to carry out more complex analyses, reducing dependency on exter-nal companies and shortening the time for analy-sis. In July 2006, the personnel of the laboratory travelled to the University of Munich (Klinik für Vögel Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München) to specialize in management techniques for the im-

munological and molecular diagnosis of viruses in parrots, thanks to the collaboration of Professor Helga Gerlach.

At the same time as the training of the personnel, a new laboratory under seating area of Orca Ocean was constructed, and was equipped with instru-ments necessary to undertake the analyses to de-termine presence of virus in the parrot collection. Thus, and from the initial germ of the water quali-ty analysis laboratory, at the present time the Loro Parque laboratory permits determination of the presence of viruses in parrots of the Loro Parque fundación collection in minimum time. For this, techniques such as ELISA, Western Blot and PCR are carried out routinely. This is a remarkable labo-ratory to find in a zoological park.

Laboratory of LORO PARQUE.


8 Nº 85- June 2007

Siam Park will use cleaner energy In Tenerife on March 30, �007 Wol-fgang Kiessling, owner of LORO PAR-QUE, and Manuel Ríos, the president of Gas Canaries, an enterprise with Endesa as main shareholder, signed in the pre-sence of the president of Unelco En-desa, José Mª Plans, a contract for the supply of channelled gas for the new water-park Siam Park, which will soon be inaugurated in the municipality of Adeje. This company will be the first to be supplied with gas by the distributor Gas Canarias. The initiative will permit the acclimatisation of the water of the new leisure complex with a clean fuel.

In a first step, channelled gas will be dis-tributed with a propane-air mix, which will be converted to natural gas when

Board Member of Loro Parque Fundación receives prize in Tenerife

On Wednesday �8th of April �007, the Mayor of Ade-je, José Miguel Rodríguez Fraga handed the Excellen-ce in Tourism Prize �007 to Dr Wolf Michael Iwand, Director of Corporate Environmental Management of the tour operator TUI, and a Board Member of the Loro Parque Fundación. The Municipality of Adeje awarded the prize “in recognition of the work of a whole life-time, to his international commitment to the environ-ment and, in particular, to his commitment to and in-volvement in the sustainable tourist development of our

the expected plans for its establishment in the Archi-pelago are finalized. The good reception for natural gas is due to its high energy efficiency, and that it is the cleanest fossil fuel, contributing to a reduction in the emission of the gases that affect climatic change. In fact, to cover the predicted energy needs of the fu-ture water-park with gas, by using condensation ves-sels, will result in half the emissions of CO2 and NOx and no emission of SO�, which is the case if using heat pumps which function with electrical supply. Specifically, the supply of the new leisure park with gas will avoid the emission of 3,000 tons of CO�, �4 tons of SO2 and 6 tons of NOx into the atmosphere.

For the supply of channelled gas to Siam Park, a plant for propane-air mix will be built on land of the same park, and will comprise three subterranean storage

municipality “. Attending the ceremony were Mr. and Mrs. Kiessling, other representatives of Loro Parque, the Loro Parque Fundación, and the Hotel Botánico, as well as numerous politicians and representatives of the business and tourist sectors of the island. For his part, and as sample of gratitude towards the municipal corpo-ration, Dr Iwand gave to the Mayor of Adeje an engraved plaque that commemorates the principles of ecology, of sustainability and of the friendship that unites them.

tanks, each with a capacity of approximately 50 m3. Likewise, a channelling gas network of �,5 kilome-tres will be built in order to distribute this fuel for the acclimatization of the water of the installations of the leisure park. This initiative places the new leisure park and the businessman Wolfgang Kiessling in the van-guard of environmental protection in the Archipelago.

The estimated investment in this gas supply project is one million euros. It is foreseen that the annual consumption of the park will be of �5 million kWh [kilowatts/hour] of gas, the equivalent to 3,500 dwellings, or a population of approximately 10,000 inhabitants. Siam Park, part of the LORO PARQUE group, is a leisure complex hal-fway between aquatic park and thematic park, located on a plot of �8.5 hectares, and which will be the biggest water park of Europe and the only one with heated water.

Mr. Kiessling and Mr. Ríos reach and agreement.


9Nº 85- June 2007

PUNTO DE ENCUENTROOn Sunday, the �3th of May, LORO PARQUE in Puer-to de la Cruz received a visit from a grand personali-ty. The historic leader of Galicia, José Manuel Fraga, who was visiting Tenerife during these days, took the opportunity to visit the famous installations of LORO PARQUE while its owner, Wolfgang Kiessling, was the host of the cordial visit. During the tour they exchanged impressions about their common passion: nature. After the orca show, the former vice-president of Spain admit-ted to being touched emotionally as he, as a Galician, feels a deep affection for everything related to the sea.

On the ��st of March, �007, in the Hotel Botánico, Puerto de la Cruz, the Tene-rife Island Government inaugurated the annual congress of the Europarc-España association. This initiative of four days united �80 representatives of institutions from the whole of Spain involved in the planning and management of different protected areas. The principal objectives of the association are to help relations between the distinct natural spaces in Spain, as well as those areas with other areas of similar character in the other countries of the continent. Among others, the opening ceremony had the presence of Milagros Luis Brito, Vicecouncillor for Environment of the Canary Islands’ Government, Wladimiro Rodríguez Brito, Councillor for Environment and Landscape, and Jorge Bonnet, Insular Director for Urban Environment, Landscape and Civil Protection of the Tenerife Island Government, Marcos Brito, Mayor of Puerto de la Cruz, Antonio López Lillo, Pre-sident of Honour of Europarc-España, and Antonio Machado Carrillo, consultant member of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Inge Feier and David Waugh were present in representation of LORO PARQUE and Loro Parque Fundación.The congress included five workshops on good practices in the conserva-tion of ecosystems and species; coastal and marine natural spaces; policies of rural development and opportunities for conservation; dynamics of citi-zen participation to help protected areas, and different international initia-tives in answer to the Convention on Biological Diversity. In addition to an invitation from LORO PARQUE, the participants in the congress had the opportunity to visit diverse points of interest in the island, such as the Botani-cal Garden, the environmental centre La Tahonilla, the system of protected areas of the Northwest, the Rural Park of Anaga and the Teide National Park.

On �� May Loro Parque united two apparently very different worlds, the world of nature and animals, with the world of classical music and ballet. The result was an original and attractive performance of the Ca-priccio quartet interpreting “the Carnival of the Animals” of Camilla Saint-Saëns. The adaptation of the work had in addition the narration of Ernesto Abad and the dancing of Antonia Jaster. To present this performance the auditorium of Naturavisión was specially prepared, and was filled with children between 5 and 15 years of age coming from �0 schools in Gran Canaria, La Palma, El Hierro and Tenerife.The initiative to represent the Carnival of the Animals in Loro Parque, and to do it with the main intention to bring mu-sic closer to the smallest ones, came to us from Mikulas Kova-cs. It was him who proposed to us this extraordinary experien-ce that mixed musical education with environmental awareness.At the presentation, in addition to the schools that visited us that day, were also the different mass media and three professors of musical education, who were pleasantly surprised pleasingly by this activity of awareness through music. From the Foundation we wish to transmit our gratitude to Mikulas Kovacs, the quartet Capriccio, Ernesto Abad and Ana Jaster for their selfless collaboration, and we hope to continue colla-borating with them in musical and environmental education in the future.


�0 Nº 85- June 2007

LORO PARQUE NEWSThe animal paradise of LORO PARQUE in the Punta Larga Commercial Centre

From18 to 26 of May the 1st Week of Loro Parque in the Commercial Centre of Punta Larga was held, an experience that allowed the Loro Parque Fundación to become know by the population of the municipali-ty of Candelaria and the northeast region of the island of Tenerife. This activity arose from the initiative of a group of industrialists aware of conservation and the environment that form the top management of the Punta Larga Commercial Centre. Their environmen-tal commitment cause them to donate exhibition spa-ce in the Commercial Centre so that LPF could insta-ll different informative panels about its conservation projects, and with plain advice as to how each one of us can join in for sustainability. This exhibition is per-manent and occupies about 60 square meters in the top floor of the Commercial Centre, in one of the most fre-quented zones and through which the users must pass.The inaugural act of the Week had the presence of the Island Councillor for Environment, Wladimiro Rodri-guez Brito, the President of Loro Parque Fundación Wolfgang Kiessling, the Mayor of Candelaria and the Manager of the Commercial Centre. In the cour-se of the official opening of the week, Mr. Kiessling received from the Punta Larga Commercial Centre a plaque in recognition of the conservation and aware-ness work that the Loro Parque Fundación carries out.During the entire week following, activities were carried out to include the projection of educati-ve videos, presentation of the Year of the Dolphin, drawing, photographic and other competitions, etc. On balance, this first presentation of Loro Parque Fundación in a leisure centre such as the Punta Larga Commercial Centre was positive, and abundant in-formation about the foundation and its conservation activities worldwide was distributed to the visitors.

Penguintrio at Loro Parque.Breeding within the Humboldt Family.There has been the recent birth of three Humboldt Pen-guins, and the penguin trio is in the baby station of Loro Parque being reared with loving care by the handlers. Six times a day a specific nourishment consisting of minerals, vitamins and fish, the so-called fish-puree, is given to the three chicks. In this way the little penguins are increasing their weight daily, and when they reach their final height of 72 cm they can weight up till 5 ki-los. Humboldt Penguins have a life-span of 15 to 20 years. The famous naturalist, Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), gave his name to the Humboldt Penguins, which live along the pacific coast of south America, from Ecuador to central Chile. Alexander von Humbol-dt is considered as the second discoverer of the ”New World”. In the year �799 during one of his travels he also visited Tenerife, an island whose beautiful scenery and botanical wealth left a lasting impression to the far-travelled scientist. This is kept in his diary. On his long-lasting expeditions he recorded many plants, animals and minerals which had been unknown to science up to then. Also the Humboldt Current is na-med by the German scientist. He was the first person who discovered, that the pacific flows northwards near the coast of Peru. The current causes a rich maritime flora and fauna, which attracts big shoals and colonies of birds in this area and consequently also Humboldt Penguins, which find enough food there. However, over recent decades the population of Humboldt Penguins has decreased enormously. This is due to meteoro-logical phenomena, such as “El Niño”, the mining of guano and the uncontrolled hunting of these animals. Today there are about �8,000 of these penguins, one of the most threatened penguin species in the world. Now a breeding programme is in place to help prevent the extinction of the Humboldt Penguin. Loro Parque has created a giant rock in its “El Pacífico” exhibit with more than 50 nests, suitable for this species to breed. At the moment, 60 penguins live here in 600,000 litres of fresh seawater, and the visitors can observe these great swimmers in their natural habitat. Naturally, our three little Humboldt Penguins will also find their new home there.

Mr. Kiessling receives recognition plate


��Nº 85- June 2007

NOTICIAS LORO PARQUE/LPF

Thyroid hormone significantly affects feather growth, feather-picking and feather loss. Recurrent subcutaneous lipomas, bumblefoot and high blood cholesterol have been suggested as associated with decreased thyroid function (hypothyroidism ) in caged birds. Although the hypothyroidism is often suspected in parrots, there is little documentation of the condition. Thyroxine (T4) is a hormone secreted by the thyroid gland which regu-lates metabolism, and its level in the blood can be used for diagnosis of hypothyroidism in birds. Measurement of total T4 concentration is difficult in birds because of the relatively small amount of blood available for mea-surement. However, in recent years the Analytic Labo-ratory San Siro of Milan has developed test with high sensitivity, the FIPIA test. To advance our knowledge of thyroid function, and malfunction, in parrots, the Loro Parque Fundación is undertaking research with healthy parrots, and with those in which hypothyroidism is sus-pected. It might be possible to confirm hypothyroidism by performing a test using thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), which is considered to be more accurate for the evaluation of thyroid gland function, notably when the thyroid function is decreased. Any parrots with hypo-thyroidism should show a lack of response to the TSH test, by producing little or no T4. The research will ex-plore the possibility to create an accurate test for eva-luating low levels of T4, such as those found in parrots, and establish a protocol for thyroid function testing using TSH stimulation. Previous studies suggest that human TSH can be used for response tests in parrots, and the Loro Parque Fundación has been able to obtain this from the company Genzyme. More about this re-search will reported in a future edition of Cyanopsitta.

Loro Parque Fundación investigates thyroid activity in parrots

Ladislav Miko of the European Commission visits LORO PARQUE

Vice-councillor for Environment visits Parrot Bree-ding CentreOn Monday �� March, the Loro Parque Fundación was very pleased to receive an official visit to its breeding centre in La Vera from Milagros Luis Brito, Vice-councillor for Environ-ment of the Canary Islands’ Government. The visiting party also included the Chiefs of Environment and Administration Services of the Vice-Council for Environment, respectively José Luis Martín Esquivel and Pedro Rubens Castro Siman-cas. Guided by the senior staff of the Fundación, they were able to see at first hand the important captive breeding and

Dr Ladislav Miko is Director of Directorate B: Protecting the Natural Environment, of the Environment Directorate General, European Commission, Brussels. On Good Fri-day 6th of April, together with his family he spent the day enjoying the attractions of LORO PARQUE. Dr Miko also had a tour of the parrot breeding centre of the Loro Parque Fundación at La Vera, accompanied by the Director and Cu-rator Dr David Waugh and Dr Matthias Reinschmidt, who also gave information about the LPF field projects. Time was also set aside for Mr Wolfgang Kiessling, President of LPF, to discuss with Dr Miko various aspects of the appli-cation of CITES and its effect on the conservation activities of the LPF. Dr Miko has specialised knowledge of CITES, and was in charge of its implementation in the Czech Repu-blic when he was Minister for Environment of that country.

research undertaken in the world’s largest breeding centre, as well as learn more about the conservation projects worldwide. The visit was followed by a meeting in Loro Parque with the President of the Fundación, Wolfgang Kiessling, where pos-sible future collaborations for conservation were discussed.

Bilingual Parrot WorkshopFor persons able to understand English and German, not for bilingual parrots! One week in Tenerife, with the probable starting date of the workshop, the �9th of November �007. We will offer a diverse lecture and practrical programme with the biologists and veterinarians of Loro Parque Funda-ción and guest speakers. The workshop will include a general tour of Loro Parque, especially behind the scenes, a visit to the Loro Parque clinic, the parrot kitchen, and the breeding centre La Vera. For details please contact the LPF: email: [email protected]; tel: +34 922 374081.


�� Nº 85- June 2007

LPF NEWS/ LA VERA BREEDING CENTRENews from the parrot collection

March: Most of the species of white cockatoos have started la-ying eggs and, as always, the Major Mitchell’s Cockato-os (Cacatua leadbeateri) are the first. During incubation time one always has to be very careful with the cockato-os, because right now the males have an elevated level of aggression which they take out on the females, resul-ting in cases of injury or even death due to bites. Both pairs of Lear´s Macaw (Anodoryhnchus leari), recently moved to the breeding center at La Vera, have settled in splendidly. They are eagerly using the reddish artificial rocks, designed for use as breeding cavities, to sleep in. Both pairs are showing very harmonious behaviour, and now one pair has become quite aggressive, which points to the beginning of breeding condition. We have to wait and see if there will be egg-laying this year, but the sig-ns are definitely promising. The young Ouvea Parakeet (Eunymphicus cornutus

uvaeensis) which we rescued injured from the nest-box at the beginning of February and which we brought to the Baby station of Loro Parque, has recovered optima-lly and is growing well. Now the youngster has its green plumage and no longer is there anything indicating in-jury during its time as a chick. The rearing of this young is very important as this bird species is rarely kept in captivity. A special gift has been made to the Loro Parque Funda-ción from Switzerland. From the former bird keeper Ro-muld Burkard, we obtained from his son Fritz Burkard

three precious parrots. One pair of Keas (Nestor notabi-lis) and a female Red-tailed black cockatoo (Calyptor-hynchus magnificus) have moved into the quarantine of Loro Parque in order to integrate them, after all neces-sary health checks, into the breeding centre of the Loro Parque Fundación.

Some weeks ago, we received two freshly laid eggs of Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) from a private kee-per. The eggs were incubated for nearly 60 days in the incubator until they finally hatched out. Now both chic-ks, following their curators at every turn, are four wee-ks old and have already grown magnificently. The two Emus are intended for exhibition in Loro Parque. For nearly two weeks a film team of the German TV-chan-nel ZDF has visited Loro Parque and the Loro Parque Fundación in order to produce a new documentary se-ries about the rearing of exotic wild animals. The broad-

cast date is expected in mid-July of this year.

April:Following the hatching and successful rearing at the Loro Parque Fundación in December 2006, for the first time in several years, of two young Pesquet’s Parrots (Psittrichas fulgidus), a further chick has hatched out in March, and is also growing in the Baby-Station of Loro Parque. Now the little Pesquet’s Parrot is two wee-ks old and already has its eyes open. The key to the successful development of these quite sensitive captive-

Lear´s Macaw (Anodorhynchus leari) Emu ( Dromaius novaehollandiae)


�3Nº 85- June 2007

Alexandrine Parakeets (Psittacula eupatria)

bred parrots seems to be the high percentage of papaya that is mixed into the food for hand-rearing. The young Pesquet’s Parrot is always hungry and vehemently be-gging, while his tongue, which is like that of the lories, always eagerly and flexibly tries to pick up the porrid-ge. The begging calls are also quite intensive, and it becomes silent only after the beak has been filled some time ago.The breeding cen-ter is in full progress and thus the majority of the long-tailed pa-rakeets already have chicks to occupy their nests, and which are being raised by the parents. Among these are: Alexandri-ne Parakeets (Psitta-cula eupatria), In-dian Ring-necked Parakeets (Psittacula krameri manillen-sis), Andaman Mous-tached Parakeets (Psittacula alexandri abotti), Malabar Pa-rakeets (Psittacula columboides) as well as Slaty-headed Pa-rakeet (Psittacula himalayana). Some rare species of lo-ries also have chicks at present, such as the Pale-headed Lo-rikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus caeru-leiceps), Streseman’s Lorikeets (Trichoglo-ssus h. stresemanni), Forsten’s Lorikeets (Trichoglossus h. forsteni) and Red-collared Lorikeets (Trichoglossus h. rubritorquis).

Now that a prohibition on the importation of wild-caug-ht birds has been put into place, the breeders have to make urgent efforts in the breeding of rarely held pa-rrots, even though they haven’t been paid much atten-tion until now, in order to assure the sustainable exis-tence of captive populations and to avoid the loss of species and sub-species. In particular, many lory spe-cies are critically endangered and the risk is high that in a couple of years some species will no longer be present in the aviaries of breeders or zoos.

Some days ago, we registered a special addition to our collection. We have been lucky to acquire, from the German parrot-breeder Martin Guth, three more Grea-ter Palm Cockatoos (Probosciger aterrimus goliath), so

that now we have five of this rarely held sub-species of the Palm Cockatoo. These three new additions are still in quarantine. Loro Parque is the only zoo in which one can see, apart from the nominative form, the big sub-species of the Palm Cockatoo in direct comparison.

May: This month we can report about a sensa-tional clutch of eggs. Very soon after the two pairs of Lear’s Ma-caws were moved into La Vera, one the pairs showed obvious bree-ding behaviour and the birds ensconced them-selves in one of the ca-vities in the rocks. At the end of April came the first clutch of one egg, which unfortuna-tely was destroyed by the birds. Five days la-ter the second egg was laid in the nest cavity. We removed it imme-diately and discove-red that it had a little hole. This was closed with glue and the egg was put under a pair of Green-winged Ma-caws (Ara chloropte-ra). During the next check we again dis-covered a hole, most probably caused by a pointed toenail. Fortu-nately it proved to be fertile and now we are very anxious to know if the chick will hatch

and grow well in spite of the repairs made.

We previously announced the hatching of three Pesquet’s Parrots (Psittrichas fulgidus), which until now have developed very well. The hatch of the fourth little Pesquet’s Parrot happened some days ago, and it is de-veloping optimally. It seems that we have finally broken through the obstacle of having non-breeding Pesquet’s Parrots. Many years of experimentation in vain have at last found their end, and with these chicks we have now increased the Pesquet’s Parrots population in the Loro Parque Fundación to a total of ten birds. This is a good base to put together new pairs and to establish a solid breeding line. For the first time in the Loro Parque Fundación a little Purple-bellied Lory (Lorius hypoino-chrous devittatus) has hatched. Following that a pair of birds had for the first time laid a clutch of eggs last year, unfortunately confirmed as infertile, in contrast the eggs of this year were fertile. Unhappily they died off. The

Malabar Parakeet (Psittacula columboides)


�4 Nº 85- June 2007

Update on Spix’s Macaw populationThe Loro Parque Fundación keeps and breeds in its breeding centre Spix’s Macaws (Cyanopsitta spixii) which are on deposit from the Government of Brazil. They are included in the international studbook and the cooperatively managed breeding programme overseen by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Natural renewable Resources (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Re-cursos Naturais Renováveis – IBAMA). Currently there are 78 (33.40.5 – males; females; sex unk-nown) living birds in the programme. Their distri-bution between the holders is as follows: Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation, Qatar - 50 (20.27.3), Asso-ciation for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots, Germany - 14 (7.5.2), Loro Parque Fundación, Spain - 6 (1.5), Lymington Foundation, Brazil - 5 (3.2) and Sao Paulo Zoo, Brazil - 3 (2.1). To impro-ve the pairs, some recent transfers have been made between the holders and others will soon occur.

female laid for a second time and we put the eggs un-der an experienced pair of Black-capped Lories (Lorius lory). This time it worked, and a chick hatched which is being raised by its foster parents without any problems until now.

The development of our Red-and-blue Lories (Eos his-trio) is also very satisfactory. After a long period of non-breeding, we managed to add four youngsters from three different pairs to the group during last year. This year also seems to be following the positive trend in the development of the population of this species, because we have already been able to celebrate the birth of two chicks. At this point I would like to honour our pair of Spengel’s Parrotlet (Forpus spengeli). It is without any doubt the most successfully productive pair of parrots in the Loro Parque Fundación. The now six year-old Spengel’s Parrotlet pair has since the age of two bred twice or three times a year, and always raises its offs-pring by itself without any interventions or help. The pair has now produced �� clutches with a total of 80 eggs, of which 70 have given results in the five years between 2002 and 2006. The two most exceptional years were 2004 and 2006 during which three clutches have been produced and �3 eggs have been laid per year. In each of both years �3 chicks have been raised. Even in the current year the breeding desire of the pair doesn’t seem to fade, as at the moment they are raising five chicks.

Lori de collar rojo (Trichoglossus h. rubritorquis)

Red-and-blue Lori (Eos histrio)

Lori de vientre púrpura (Lorius hypoinochrous devittatus)


�5Nº 85- June 2007

Proyect updateDiscovered: the first ever nest of

the Rufous-fronted ParakeetIn February 2007, the field team of Threatened Colom-bian Parrots Project of Fundación ProAves and the Loro Parque Fundación, made the remarkable discovery of the first ever nest of the Rufous-fronted Parakeet (Bol-borhynchus ferrugineifrons), a threatened species en-demic to Colombia.Acting on information received from a local person in the department of Tolima, they located the nest �8 m up in the canopy of a guayabo tree (Myrcianthes sp.), where it had been constructed of moss. The nesting tree was in an open area of the vegetation zone called sub-paramo, at 3,000 m above sea-level. This zone is where the forest begins to give way to naturally open land with shrubs and bushes. Un-til now it was believed that this little parakeet nested in rocky escarpments.Observations by the researchers revealed that six parakeets visited the nest daily. Some of them entered into the nest cavity to feed the chicks, while the others stayed perched outside, probably ac-ting as lookouts. With the end of the breeding season and the natural abandonment of the nest by the family of parrots, the researchers could closely examine this superbly camouflaged nest of moss.This finding now made, the inhabitants of the region are also sure that this parrot traditionally uses moss in which to nest. They have also provided historical information which clarifies the threats to the species and its habitat. The combined information provided has resulted in greatly improved knowledge of the reproductive biology of the species, and will contribute to its conservation.

Rufous-fronted parakeet.

El hábitat del subpáramo y el árbol donde se encontraba el nido (y deta-lle del sitio donde se hallaba).

Santa Marta Parakeets use artificial nest-boxes for the second yearFor the second time, the use of artificial nests by San-ta Marta Parakeets (Pyrrhura viridicata) has been re-corded, in the El Dorado Natural Bird Reserve and its buffer zone in the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta. Last year the use of these nest-boxes by this parakeet, ende-mic to the Sierra Nevada and threatened with extinc-tion, was also observed, with the successful fledging of five young in October. Later, in December, reproductive behaviours were again recorded, thus marking the be-ginning of the �007 breeding season. This year from Fe-bruary the ProAves team that carries out the project, led by biology student Cristian Olaciregui, of the Atlantic University, has continued observing these behaviours, which include inspection of the nests, and then matings, with alternation of the pairs. To date the occupation of two nests has been recorded, one as a roost and the other with a clutch of eggs. By means of continuous


16 Nº 85- June 2007

Kuhl’s Lory makes a brilliant return to the Cook IslandsThe kind of bird you might expect to find on a pa-radise island in the Pacific ocean is the exquisitely coloured Kuhl’s Lory (Vini kuhlii). It used to occur naturally on Atiu, one of the Cook Islands, but be-came extinct there about 200 years ago, the Maori royalty having over-exploited its spectacular plu-mage, especially the small red feathers, for adorn-ments and for decorating ceremonial headdresses. Local oral tradition recounts that the last feather harvest in the Cook Islands was by a team from Ai-tutaki to Manuae around the time of Captain Cook’s visit in the �770s. The lorikeet was not recorded in the Cook Islands by any European visitors, and probably became extinct in the Cook Islands before the missionaries arrived in the �8�0s.Luckily this species, also known as the Rimatara

monitoring during the breeding season, it is hoped to continue increasing the information on the reproducti-ve success of this species and to contribute thus to its conservation. Copulations in this species with alterna-tion of pairs were also observed in an area of natural nesting, as well as the use of palm fronds (Ceroxylon ceriferum) as roosting places. The support of the Loro Parque Fundación and the American Bird Conservan-cy has been fundamental for the development of the artificial nests programme of ProAves, so successful in the recovery of threatened parrot species of Colom-bia. Furthermore, in the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta the project has had the support of the local commu-nity, helping with information on the presence of the species, and becoming involved with its conservation.

Santa Marta parakeet.

Lorikeet, did not go extinct on Rimatara, a sma-ll makatea Island in French Polynesia, where it was introduced in historical times. In April �007 a group of these lories was captured and translo-cated to Atiu. Thus �7 ‘ura, as they are called on Rimatara, became �7 kura in the Maori language of Atiu. This reintroduction of the endangered Kuhl’s Lory to Atiu was undertaken to establish a reserve population, because it is believed that if Ship Rats (Rattus rattus) should ever invade Rimatara the species would go extinct there. In 1992 the popu-lation status and habitat requirements of V. kuhlii were assessed on Rimatara. The population was estimated at 900 birds and most were living in the horticultural zone of the island, dominated by re-cently introduced trees and shrubs. A survey found Pacific Rat (Rattus exulans), Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus), but no Ship Rat.Fieldwork had shown that Atiu was the only peopled-island suitable for a reintroduction progra-mme, being free of Ship Rats and having no other species of Vini lorikeet. Atiu and Rimatara are very similar, with central volcanic hills surroun-ded by a discontinuous swampland, which is inside a rampart of ancient coral reef limestone (maka-tea). Atiu, at 6km diameter, is twice as wide and more than four times the area of Rimatara: 29km² to 9km². On both islands native forest still exists on the makatea and the inland hills, and the lower slopes and valleys form a zone of horticulture. The native and introduced plants of the two islands are very similar.The Loro Parque Fundación had the opportunity to collaborate in the exciting transfer, having previo-usly financed surveys on several islands to evaluate the status of the Blue Lorikeet (Vini peruviana) and the Ultramarine Lorikeet (Vini ultramarina). It pro-vided funds alongside several other organisations, notably the Zoological Society of San Diego (San Diego Zoo), the British Birdwatching Fair through BirdLife International, with co-funding from Fonds Français pour le Pacifique, NZ Department of Con-servation, Air Rarotonga, and the Pacific Develo-pment and Conservation Trust. Alan Lieberman, conservation programme manager at San Diego Zoo’s Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES) and other CRES staff helped in collecting and transferring the lories, alongside the other implementing organisations: the Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust (CINHT), an agency of the Cook Islands government; Te Ipukarea Society, the Cook Islands affiliate of BirdLife International and the Ornithological Society of Polynesia, the French Polynesia affiliate of BirdLife International. The programme has the support of President of French Polynesia, the Cook Islands Government,


�7Nº 85- June 2007

The Maori “greeter” welcomes the birds bird “catchers” who brought the Kuhl’s Lory back to Atiu from Rimatara.

An energy boost of 2cc of nectar given to each of the 27 Kuhl’s lorikeets just prior to their release.

A pair of Kuhl’s Lory (Vini kuhlii) on Rimatara.

A moulting juvenile Kuhl’s Lory with dark legs and bill.

the community of Rimatara, and the traditional chiefs of Atiu – a sign of the cultural importance of this bird.Before the translocation, a general surveillance and evaluation of the health of the avifauna on the island was made. Then the lories were captu-red using mist-nets, cared for in quarantine, and had their condition evaluated to ensure that only healthy birds were taken to Atiu. These procedu-res were a complete success: all the birds ate well, maintained their weight within expected limits, and flew well when released. They are only small birds, and therefore it was a relief to see them fly in their new island home. Queen Rongomatane Ariki led the enthusiastic Maori chants to wish the lories a long healthy lives with many chicks. The CRES and CINHT staff are now working together to in-crease quarantine procedures and awareness to pre-vent the introduction of the Ship rat to the islands. Approximately one year post-release, there will be a collaborative island-wide survey to determine numbers of released birds, reproductive activity, distribution, and habitat utilization, and the cultu-ral implications of the kura once again established on Atiu.

The photo on the cover has been donated by Pe-ter Odekerken (www.parrotimages.com.au) as a contribution to the conservation of parrots in the wildOther pictures: San Diego zoological society.


�8 Nº 85- June 2007

Translocation of Philippine Cockatoos: a first step

The Philippine Cockatoo (Cacatua haematuropygia) is a Critically Endangered species endemic to the Philip-pines and with possible less than �,000 birds remaining in the wild, most of them on the island of Palawan. The Philippine-based Katala Foundation (KFI) runs the Phi-lippine Cockatoo Conservation Programme, which has been supported for many years by the Loro Parque Fun-dación, as well as the partner donors Chester Zoo, CEPA - Conservation des Espèces et des Populations Animales (including ZooParc de Beauval), and ZGAP - Zoologis-che Gesellschaft für Arten- und Populationsschutz. Lo-gically, most of the conservation effort takes place on Pa-lawan, but attention has also been given to other islands in the Philippines which still have remnant populations, or previously had this species and still have suitable fo-rest habitat. One strategy for the conservation of this species, as the population in Palawan gradually increases under the project’s protective measures, can be to trans-locate cockatoos from Palawan to other suitable islands.

There is still much to learn about how to undertake trans-locations and reintroductions of parrot species which result in the establishment of self-sustaining populatio-ns, and recently the first chance presented itself for the Philippine Cockatoo. Rasa Island, off the southern coast of Palawan, harbours possibly ten percent of the world population of this species. It is a small coral island, and after eight years of intensive conservation effort, the evidence suggests that the cockatoo population has re-ached its natural carrying capacity. During the very dry breeding season of �005, caused by El Niño, mortalities of chicks were recorded because the parents were not able to provide them with sufficient food from the is-land. Thus twelve hatchlings were rescued and hand-rai-sed, paying attention to ways to minimise contact with humans. Ten birds developed well and were potentially fit for translocation to a suitable habitat for soft release into the wild. For the previous four years the KFI had been assessing potential translocation sites all over the Philippines, such as in Bohol, Samar, Negros, and Siar-gao, but none had turned out to be very suitable, becau-

se of degraded habitats, high levels of poaching, recu-rrent strong typhoons, or a combination of these factors.

Working with the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Re-sources (PAWB- DENR), KFI searched for a potential translocation site in Palawan. A feasible strategy emer-ged to use privately-owned resorts in the northern part of Palawan, because most are located by intact coastal forest, they are very effectively protected, and they pro-vide the necessary infrastructure for monitoring of the translocated birds. Furthermore, the translocation of the Philippine cockatoo could serve as an additional attrac-tion for guests of resorts, allowing them to observe one of the unique and critically endangered species in Pa-lawan. KFI identified Lagen Island and its resort as one of three suitable sites, and an agreement was reached with Lagen Resort for the translocation to take place. A Feasibility and Management Plan was approved by all parties, and the entire process referred to the Reintro-duction Guidelines of the IUCN, especially that a robust veterinary protocol was followed. Pre-transfer of the birds, preparations were made at the translocation site, especially a vegetation assessment, the completion of a pre-release aviary with anti-predator design, the placing of predator silhouettes and the setting up of anti-preda-tor mechanisms (traps and metal sheets) in the vicini-ty. For the transfer and post-release monitoring of the birds, Chester Zoo helped especially with organising additional persons to undertake the necessary tasks.

The cockatoos were transferred in November 2006 (on a flight courtesy of South East Asian Airlines), indivi-dually marked and their condition checked before being put into the pre-release aviary. During the acclimatiza-tion period (to early January �007) they were feeding and behaving normally. Although all ten cockatoos were very tame, their reactions to predators were very good, being always wary of raptors overhead (watched intently), especially a goshawk which inhabited the area incorporating the aviary. The cockatoos reacted to a “raptor silhouette” with extreme panic after one alarm call. After three such reactions from the raptor, the same occurred when a goshawk attempted to catch a bird near the aviary. Civets trying to predate the cockatoos at nig-ht caused them to panic inside the aviary. Weaning the

Two released cockatoos

The forest where cockatoos were released


�9Nº 85- June 2007

birds from the soaked pellets to a more natural diet and gradually to forest fruits was a big challenge, the pau-city of such fruits being part of the problem. However, their weights were very good, ranging from �90g to 326g (a range gain of 0 to 16 g), and no bird lost weight.

Release of the cockatoos started in the second week of January �007, with a batch of four birds to begin. They stayed in the vicinity of the release site, but only the day following release, one was reported in the Lagen Resort (tourist area) and had to be caught and returned to the aviary. Another sometimes came to the ground and followed the keeper. A week later a second batch of three birds was released, and interestingly the more experienced cockatoos tried to steer those on their maiden flight. In general the released cockatoos were feeding well on a few wild foods, even though supple-mentary foods were made available. During the second

release week, one cockatoo was predated at night at its roost site by a civet, and another bird died in the aviary, seemingly from stress caused by a civet attack.

During this period, the opportunity was taken to enga-ge local stakeholders in conservation subjects, where the cockatoos could be used to highlight the important issues. However, it is clear that tameness of the coc-katoos was problematic for their long-term survival. Despite that visual barriers had been set-up between the birds and the keepers and passing guests and sta-ff of the resort, the cockatoos were still attached to people. There was a need to instruct resort staff, guests and monitoring team on how to deal with the cocka-toos. A month later the last three birds were released but, as before, once the cockatoos knew the way to the tourist resort, they repeatedly returned there. Whi-le the visit of the birds was first welcomed by the re-sort guests, the interest in the birds quickly turned into feeling disturbed by their presence. Finally the deci-sion had to be made the catch-up the remaining birds.

Despite the outcome from these releases, this is an impor-tant first step for potential translocations of the Philippine Cockatoo, and we can build on the lessons learned. One key aspect is to carefully choose partners with the objec-tive to minimise delays in critical stages, but also to have long-term commitment despite occasional set-backs.Suitable site selection is crucial. If tameness is habi-tual, resort islands may not be the best option, even though poaching in these places is most difficult. The released cockatoos were very mobile immediately, and therefore islands should be a distance (at least 8 km) from mainland to avoid premature dispersal. The ideal island would be well-forested, not frequently

hit by typhoons, not bigger than ten to �5 ha, unlike-ly to contain a large human population and probably with fewer predators. As regards captive management prior to release, the protocol to reduce tameness must be stringent because, despite many measures adop-ted to prevent human-bird contact, the cockatoos still knew exactly what was happening around them. Future translocations should happen with younger birds. Re-garding behaviour in relation to predators, more drastic methods to further improve the reaction towards avian predators can be used, but mammal predators at roosts will require more attention to protection of roost trees with metal sheets to avoid losses of sleeping birds. Ra-dio-telemetry will be useful where the topography of the translocation site allows. In respect to natural fo-ods, in general the cockatoos accepted them with little problem. However, it would be better to plan to pro-vide them as soon in the weaning process as possible.

Roost tree protected against predators

Place of the pre-release aviary

Feeding rescued young birds


�0 Nº 85- June 2007

Cría y mantenimiento de la Aratinga cactorumThe Cactus Parakeet (Aratinga cactorum) belongs to the genus Aratinga and very rarely appears in captivity, in spite of being very popular with bree-ders and aficionados. In the wild, the area of distri-bution of A. cactorum is restricted to the north of Brazil. It is found in the same habitat as the Spix’s Macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii), which is extinct in the wild. Even today, on an excursion through the ga-llery forest habitat of the Brazilian caatinga it s not difficult to find individuals of this species, endemic to the country and restricted to semi-arid lands. It has two subspecies, of which the Loro Parque Fun-dación keeps the nominate subspecies A.c. cacto-rum. Since Brazil prohibited the export of any wild bird decades ago, this species has not been sold on the market since then. Nevertheless, it is a very common small parrot in the wild, although it conti-nues to be rare in the European collections. In this context, from the avicultural perspective it is even more important for the LPF to establish a viable captive population in its facilities, since it is not foreseeable that this species will agin be imported into Europe. The first world breeding in captivity of this species, in agreement with Robiller (�990) took place in �883 in Debray (France).

Maintenance and breeding in Loro Parque Fun-dación.

When we began in the breedign centre of LPF in March of �00�, the foundation’s stock of this spe-cies was seven birds. However, there was a noti-ceable skew in the sex-ratio, with one male and six

females and, worse still, the male was�8 years of age, a considerable age for conure of this size. We paired the male with a female of �7 years of age, but there was no reproductive activity in that same year of �00�. The last successful laying of this pair had been in �998 according to Pedro Martín, head keeper and general supervisor of the breeding cen-tre.

Obviously the female had stopped breeding due to its advanced age and in �00�, we paired the old male with a female of four years of age. The new pair was accommodated in a suspended aviary of three meters in length, one meter high and one me-ter wide, approximately to 1.2 meters off the

ground. In this there were two different types of nest-boxes. In the back part of the aviary, a nest-

box of 50 cm height and 18 x 18 cm base was ins-talled. The entrance hole in the upper third of the box had a diameter of 5 cm. The second nest had the same measures, although it was installed in a horizontal position in the front part of the aviary.The new pair settled very well from the beginning, and after a short period of time both entered the vertical nest and made themselves comfortable. In one of the checks of the nest, on 6 June 2002, we found a first egg. Altogether there were five eggs from the pair, each one laid at an interval of two days. During a later check on 27 of June, the first chick appeared in the nest. Thus in this case, the period of incubation was �� days, although Ardnt (1990-1996) indicates a period of 23 days for this species. The data of Collar (�997), that specify a period of 16 days from the day of laying the last egg, were not useful to us because the female pro-duced clutches of several sizes. In addition, our fe-male incubated its eggs from the first day.Two more chicks hatched on alternating days, but


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the rest of the clutch turned out to be infertile. The chicks grew and developed without problems, and after a period of 50 days in the nest they fledged, although they continued being fed occasionally by their parents before reaching independence com-pletely. Shortly after full cover with pin-feathers, the three young chicks were endoscoped by our veterinary team to determine their sex. The result was quite dsicouraging, since they all turned out to be females. Thus, the number of females in the collection increased up to nine, alongside still only one male.All our hopes rested on the attempts in the follo-wing breeding season, since the female did not lay one second clutch. In addition, we did not have any idea if the male of �0 years could continue ano-ther breedign season still giving good results. In the moment that the pair began to show reproductive behavior, we did not hope for early results at the be-ginning of season, since in the pre-vious year they did not begin to breed until June. Thus was our surprise when by �9 Janua-ry �003 the pair had laid another five eggs, three of which were fertile. In a further inspec-tion on �� Februa-ry, the three chic-kens had hatched. Three weeks later, the chicks were ringed with with leg-rings of 5.5 mm diameter. At the beginning of April, the chicks left the nest and independence took place exactly as in the previous year.After a period of four weeks, the young were se-parated from their parents and transferred to the veterinary clinic to be endoscoped. We trusted that the veterinarians would do “a good job”... and this time luck was on our side since all the individuals were male. After this breeding success, the future of this species in LPF seems more hopeful, since the young males could be matched with unrelated females, establishing therefore a healthy popula-tion in the long term.

Luck returned to us to smile when the pair pro-duced a new clutch in that same year. On �� May the female laid two eggs, eventually followed by another three, and this time all were fertile. A nest

check on 6 June revealed four live chicks and one that had just died which we had to remove there and then. The young were successfully reared, al-though at the moment ringing them, on �7 of June, we observed that smallest was much weaker that the others.

We transferred it to the Baby-Station but it died few days later. The three older siblings developed very well just as before, and fledged in the middle of July. At the beginning of August, the young ara-tingas were still with their parents, and although they already fed themselves independently they continued to dveleop with their parents who fed them once in a while. In this case the endoscopies revealed another male and two more females.The Cactus Parakeets of LPF receives fresh food

and water twice a day. The first feeding is at 8.00 in the morning and the second at �.00 in the af-ternoon. Throughout the year, the morning dietary provision is of fruit and vegetable mixture, and the second feeding is a special mixture for Aratinga from the Belgian company Versele-Laga, together with which we have designed the pertinent diet for each group in the correct proportions, this therefore being available to breeders worldwide. This mixtu-re of seeds is offered to them fresh and dry. During the breeding season, we additionally feed them in the morning with a cooked mixture (also produced by Versele-Laga). This mixture basically consists of legumes, which elevates the protein content of the food during the breedign season to stimulate the reprodcutive activity of the parrots.

As soon as the chicks appear in the nest, the dry


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food (seeds) is offered throughout the day to them, even during the morning. Additionally, they are offered fresh corn-on-the-cob, which is always very well received by the birds who eat it with gus-to. Calcium is provided to them by means of stones manufactured with the LPF formula, and placed within the aviaries throughout the year to be freely available to the birds. In the case of these aratingas the calcium contribution is very important largely to maintain the regularity of the reproductive fe-males. At the present time the number of males has increased to six, and we have been able to form a stable and genetically healthy stock.

In summaryThe breeding of the Cactus Parakeet in the LPF de-monstrates that the reproductive success can also be obtained with old birds. As long as the indivi-duals are physically healthy and do not present any symptom associated with advanced age, breeding attempts are recommended. If the females stop their reproductive activity, old males can continue being stimulated to reproduce, pairing them with young females that increase the possibility to ex-pand the population

ReferencesArndt, Th. (1990-1996): Lexikon der Papageien. Bretten.Collar, Nigel (1997): In: Del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. y Sargatal, J. Eds (1997): Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol 4.Sandgrouse to Cuckoos. Barcelona. Lynx Edicio-ns.Forshaw, J. M. (1989): Parrots of the world. Willoughby.Juniper, T. & M. Parr (1998): Parrots. East Sussex. Pica Press.Reinschmidt, M. (2000): Kunstbrut und Handauf-zucht von Sittichen und Papageien. Bretten.Robiller, F. (1990): Papageien. Band 3: Mittel- und Südamerika. Stuttgart.


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Sponsors and donors ofLoro Parque Fundación

Loro Parque is the Foundation’s prin-cipal sponsor. Therefore, the financial support provided by our sponsors, members and donors can be dedicated

�00% to the wide range of parrot and biodiversity conservation activities of Loro Parque Fundación.

Alimentación y Distribuciones Sálamo, Banif Banca Privada, Bärbel & Klaus Binder, Bella Tradición, Berlin Editions, Canarife Palace, Carmen & Hubert Flasch, Caroline Simmons, Cavas Catalanas, Celgán, Cerrajería La Asomada, Chiclana Parrot, Cita, Club de Leones, Cumba, Dialte, Dutch Parrot Society, Emerencio e Hijos, Frutas Cruz Santa, Garjor, Juan Luis García Rodol-fo, Juan Licinio Pastor, La Venta Nueva, Luis y Guillén Carpinteria Metálica, Malinda Chouinard, Mark Hagen, Pakara, Papa-geienfreunde Nord e.V., Parrot Society UK, Reynolds Polymer, Rocky Mountain Society of Aviculture, Rohersa, Rotary Club Puerto de la Cruz, Solveig Mittelhauser-Brown, Surfilm – Taucho TV, Spring Hotels, Ten-Hoteles, The Orion Society, Tilla Ganz, Viajes Lider Canarias, Vogelfreunde Achern, Vogelfreunde Höchstadt e.V., Walter Zimmerman,York Area Parrot Society.

We want to thank to all our sponsors, donorsand other supporters


�4 Nº 85- June 2007

Documents

The newsletter of Loro Parque Fundación...Wladimiro Rodriguez Brito, Island Councillor doe En-vironment, Cipriano Marín, Director of the UNESCO Centre in the Canary Islands and Wolfgang