00:00Welcome to Houston Zoo, home to over 6,000 animals.
00:05Some have flippers, some have fur, and some have scales, but this morning we're visiting
00:10a few of their feathered friends, and these little legends play a very important part
00:15in Houston Zoo's Texas conservation program.
00:20You're looking at a one day old Atwater's prairie chicken.
00:24He may not know it yet, but he's a very significant little chick.
00:27It's estimated that there are less than 100 of these birds left in the wild.
00:33So what happened to them, and how did their numbers get so low?
00:37They are imperiled in the wild for a couple of different reasons.
00:41The biggest reason was loss of habitat through the 20th century.
00:44During that time period, their habitat was reduced by 98%.
00:48When they started to gain more habitat in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, their population started
00:54to go up a little bit.
00:56But unfortunately, during the early 70s, the red-imported fire ant became common in Texas,
01:02and that has really decimated the population.
01:07So the keepers here at Houston Zoo manage a captive breeding program to try and grow the
01:12wild population.
01:13And it's keeping them pretty busy.
01:17First, the eggs are carefully collected from the breeding facility, then brought to the
01:21zoo where they're closely monitored and kept in an artificial incubator in preparation for
01:26their hatch day.
01:29Then, once they're old enough, they're moved outside where they will grow and develop and
01:33learn to fly.
01:37And finally, when they're about three months old, they're released back into the wild where
01:41they will hopefully find a mate and support the existing population.
01:46It's when the Atwater's prairie chicken find a mate that they truly show off their unique
01:52characteristics.
01:52They perform a very specific courtship dance.
01:57Their throat patches expand and look like two oranges on the side of their neck.
02:02And they do a cute little stompy dance with their feet when they make this noise.
02:06And this is what attracts the hens.
02:15Without the hard work and dedication of the keepers here at Houston Zoo, these endangered
02:20birds wouldn't have the support that they need to give them a fighting chance to survive
02:25in the wild.
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