It has several months since our baby emus have hatched, and boy have they grown!
These two emus were the first baby birds to hatch at our brand new Animal Care Center. If you didn’t get a chance to see them hatch, I work very closely with these birds and I am glad to give you an insider's explanation of what happened....
Emu Hatching: The Recap
The eggs were first incubated by the adult male Emu. A few days before they were supposed to hatch, the zoo keepers moved the eggs to an incubator inside the Animal Care Center. Shortly thereafter the first egg started to “Sound” – meaning the keepers could hear the baby emu calling from inside the egg. That lets us know that the egg was getting ready to hatch.
Overnight the first emu hatched, but the second egg was going much slower. Throughout the day, the second chick didn’t make much progress, so the vets assisted with the hatching process. It is very tricky to assist a hatch, because you can accidentally tear a blood vessel on the inner membrane and cause the bird to lose too much blood.
Our vets took extreme care and were able to get the second chick to successfully hatch. Once both chicks were big enough, they were then moved to Jambo Junction where they reside today.
Did You Know? These emus still do not have names!
Stay tuned to our Facebook page, where we will soon have a Naming Poll where you can pick the name for these chicks.
