Researchers at the Langley-based Northern Spotted Owl Breeding Program centre are delicately tending to at least one fertile egg, due to hatch within days
It takes fake eggs, sterile incubators, some trickery and years of trial and error to breed Canada’s almost extinct northern spotted owl in captivity.
Breeding success will boost survival chances for the owls that are listed as endangered and near extinction, said McCulligh.“We want to have a good captive population and a surplus of owls before we start releasing them into the wild,” said McCulligh. But until that day arrives, the breeders will be wearing lab coats, gloves and masks as they attempt to raise newborn chicks from fragile eggs.
Once the egg hatches, the breeders feed and monitor the chick for at least 10 days before placing it back into the nest, where the owl continues parenting as if nothing unusual has occurred, she said. McCulligh said the breeders employ a so-called double-clutch technique where the female lays eggs twice during the breeding season. She said they immediately remove the first egg from the nest, which usually results in the female laying a second egg days later.
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