14 DAY TRIAL // Franklin Park Zoo in the state of Massachusetts in the US is now home to a pair of African pygmy chicks. The baby birds, pictured above, aren't exactly overflowing with cuteness, but this does not mean that they are deprived of love and affection.
Zoo Borns tells us that, although staff at Franklin Park Zoo much prefer letting animal parents look after their offspring, these two fellows were hatched in an incubator.
This is because, after keeping a close eye on their parents after the eggs had been laid, it was concluded that the two adult birds would have probably failed to properly look after them.
According to the same source, one of the falcon chicks emerged from its egg on February 3. The other one hatched a few days later, on February 8.
At first, caretakers at Franklin Park Zoo had to feed the chick about six, sometime even seven, meals on a daily basis.
However, they are now feeding them less often and expect that, soon enough, the falcons will be able to look after themselves.
“It takes a very dedicated effort to raise these tiny falcons,” curator Fred Beall told the press in a recent interview.
“We have had great success with this species at Franklin Park Zoo and are one of only a few zoos in North America that is successfully breeding African Pygmy Falcons,” he added.