Park announces successful breeding of Bird of Paradise

THE Port Moresby Nature Park has announced a successful breeding in captivity of a Raggiana Bird of Paradise.
The park said in a statement that this was part of its ongoing breeding programme.
This is the first time in 20 years that the Raggiana Bird of Paradise has been bred in captivity in Papua New Guinea, the statement said.
The park described it as a significant achievement, as species is the country’s national animal and appears on its coat of arms as well as its currency.
Curator Brett Smith said the park had had prior success in breeding other species of the Bird of Paradise.
“The more we learn from their behaviour and needs, the better we can get at caring for and breeding them,” he said.
“With current trends in the harvesting of birds of paradise for feathers for use in head dresses, the population in the wild is not sustainable and we could lose some of the species that are heavily targeted for their spectacular plumage.”
According to the park with the completion of the plumes of paradise precinct in 2018, displaying eight bird of paradise species, the park has focused its attention to breeding this species.
Each year, the park has been getting closer to achieving its goal of breeding the Raggiana bird of paradise.
In early June (which is the breeding season), the male Raggiana bird of paradise was seen displaying and showing off his beautiful plumage to the female.
She took a lot of interest in him and shortly after, the female started constructing a nest and incubating a single egg. After 15 days, the female Raggiana Bird of Paradise started catching insects and taking the food back to the nest, this could only mean one thing; she was feeding her baby.
The Port Moresby Nature Park is an international welfare accredited zoo through the Zoo and Aquarium Association of Australasia and is heavily committed to conservation and education.