South Africa Zoo to Inseminate Female 'Love' Birds
Date: 24-Dec-04
Country: SOUTH AFRICA
Staff at the zoo assumed Cherry and Amazona were lovers when they arrived earlier this year and charmed visitors with typical mating rituals -- including dancing, serenading one another with song and tossing sticks into the air.
Tests showed the pair were both females, but due to a shortage of male wattled cranes and the species' faithfulness to one partner, the zoo decided to artificially inseminate the birds so they could reproduce.
"They are very, very endangered in South Africa so we have to try to optimise the breeding potential," said Mike Hamon, bird curator at the zoo. "This pair formed a strong bond, and when we realised they were both ladies it seemed artificial insemination was the best option."
Hamon said artificially inseminating the birds was a tricky business and that experts from the United States would come and help.
