The Birmingham Zoo celebrates rare bird birth - ABC 33/40 - Birmingham News, Weather, Sports

The Birmingham Zoo is celebrating its first-ever hatching of a kori bustard chick. This is a significant birth because the kori bustard is a threatened species. With the help of a state-of-the-art Grumbach incubator, the Zoo is one of ten Association of Zoos and Aquariums accredited institutions in North America to successfully hatch a kori bustard in the last twenty years.  The incubator is courtesy of the Kori Bustard Species Survival Plan (SSP).  The mission of the SSP is to cooperatively manage specific, and typically threatened or endangered, species populations within AZA accredited facilities. The Zoo says the male chick, named Kobu, is thriving and growing quickly. 

He currently weighs approximately 6.1 pounds and stands at around 2.5 feet tall. An adult male kori bustard typically weighs 40 pounds and reaches a height of approximately 3.5 feet.  In human care, kori bustards eat a pelleted diet consisting of fruit, vegetables and meat.