This is the first chick hatched in captivity to survive and progress to the vital milestone of leaving the nest.
Exceptionally rare and close to extinction, this species is considered one of the world’s rarest parrots, with an estimated 100–150 individuals left in the wild globally. Their tiny remaining population survives only in the remote coastal heathlands of southern Western Australia, predominantly within Cape Arid National Park and the adjacent Nuytsland Nature Reserve.
A small group of birds were brought into Perth Zoo's care in 2014 to deepen scientific understanding of this elusive, ground‑dwelling species, particularly its breeding biology, with the goal of one day achieving a successful hatch. Additional birds have been added to the Zoo population since 2014, enabling continued research into the species in Cape Arid and more recently the wild-to-wild translocation efforts.
This breakthrough is part of a long‑running collaborative recovery effort guided by the South Coast Threatened Birds Recovery Team, and involving staff from Perth Zoo, DBCA’s Biodiversity and Conservation Science, Parks and Wildlife Service, BirdLife Australia, South Coast NRM and the community conservation group, Friends of the Western Ground Parrot.
A Milestone More Than a Decade in the Making
Perth Zoo’s Australian Fauna Supervisor, Matt Ricci, said the team has invested extraordinary effort into understanding the species:
“Conservation and saving species takes time, patience and is a long game. We’ve dedicated more than 11 years to these birds, monitoring them round the clock via CCTV, recording their every move and learning more about them than ever before.
Thanks to this research program, we now have a greater understanding of their vocalisations, mate choice and breeding behaviours. Despite multiple eggs laid over the years, none had previously progressed to hatching. In 2023, we even enlisted world‑renowned avian reproductive experts from Germany to analyse the semen of the captive birds and attempt artificial insemination, sadly without success.”
“Despite those challenges, Perth Zoo’s commitment to the recovery of the Western Ground Parrot remained unwavering, and this latest breeding season has delivered an extraordinary outcome.”
Meet the Parents: Kangal and Golambiddee
Kangal incubated the clutch entirely on her own, exhibiting textbook behaviours, remaining tightly on the nest while Golambiddee regularly fed her.
Perth Zoo’s bird experts take a deliberate hands‑off approach to avoid disturbing these sensitive parrots, which means the precise hatch date isn’t known. However, based on the chick’s developmental stage, the team believes it hatched on 30 November or 1 December, making it around 20 days old when it first ventured from the nest.
Ground parrots are unusual in that they leave the nest early, long before full flight feathers develop. The chick has started exploring its surroundings while staying near the nest site, frequently contact‑calling to its parents and being fed regularly by both adults. It is still growing tail and wing feathers and is expected to be capable of flight shortly.
A Tiny Bird With Enormous Significance
This chick represents only the third known Western Ground Parrot clutch to hatch in captivity, and importantly, the first ever to survive to the critical stage of leaving the nest, a milestone never before achieved for this species under human care.
A Species on the Brink
The Western Ground Parrot (
Pezoporus flaviventris) (Kyloriny) is listed as Critically Endangered and is one of the 110 priority species identified in the Australian Government’s Threatened Species Action Plan 2022–2032.
Every individual bird is overwhelmingly important to the survival of the species.
A Hopeful Step for the Future
This achievement represents a major step forward for the Western Ground Parrot Recovery Program and offers new hope for the future of a species on the edge of extinction.
Perth Zoo will continue to monitor the chick closely while refining the scientific knowledge and breeding techniques that may one day help rebuild the population.
