Rare native bird reaches major breeding milestone in South Australia
A tiny chick no bigger than a quail has marked a major conservation milestone at Monarto Safari Park, with the first-ever Malleefowl hatchling successfully emerging at the park in December.
The chick is the first Malleefowl ever hatched at Monarto Safari Park, following more than a decade of breeding attempts by the resident pair.
Natives Keeper Cristy said the moment came as a complete surprise for the keeping team.
“We arrived and initially thought it looked like a little quail sitting on the keeper pathway,” she said.
“But once we saw those enormous feet, we realised it was actually a Malleefowl chick.”
The adult pair, aged 14 and 15, have been together for more than 10 years and form a monogamous bond. While they had laid eggs in previous seasons, the eggs had never resulted in a successful hatchling until now.
How Malleefowl chicks survive on their own from day one
Unlike many bird species, Malleefowl chicks receive no parental care once they hatch.
Known as a precocial species, the chick must dig its own way out of the nesting mound, a process that can take more than 10 hours, before immediately fending for itself.
Within days of hatching, the Monarto Safari Park chick was already pecking and scratching for food independently and roosting off the ground at night to avoid predators.
Using remote camera footage, the keeping team monitored the chick’s behaviour closely to ensure it was developing normally.
Six months on, the juvenile has now moved into a larger habitat where the team has completed health checks, X-rays and genetic testing to determine its sex.
Why Malleefowl are vulnerable in South Australia
Malleefowl are listed as vulnerable in South Australia, with habitat fragmentation, land clearing and introduced species contributing to population decline.
Feral goats can also damage nesting mounds by trampling them, while foxes and cats pose a serious threat to young birds.
The breeding pair at Monarto Safari Park originally hatched from eggs collected at Ferries McDonald Conservation Park, located near Monarto Safari Park, before being incubated at Adelaide Zoo and later returned to the region.
In the wild, Malleefowl are notoriously elusive. The public are more likely to spot signs of their activity, particularly their enormous nesting mounds, than the birds themselves.
The remarkable mound-building behaviour of Malleefowl
Malleefowl are famous for constructing massive incubation mounds that can reach up to five metres wide and several metres high.
The birds use leaf litter, sand and soil to naturally incubate their eggs. As vegetation decomposes inside the mound, it generates heat, while the male carefully regulates the temperature by opening and closing sections of the mound throughout the breeding season.
“This year we seem to have had exactly the right environmental conditions,” Cristy said.
“The leaf litter decomposed perfectly to help keep the eggs warm, and the adults were able to manage the mound conditions successfully.”
A shy Australian bird with giant feet and a booming call
Malleefowl are not strong fliers and only take to the air to avoid predators. The ground-dwelling birds spend most of their time scratching through soil for seeds, berries and insects.
Their oversized feet, one of their most distinctive features, are specially adapted for digging and mound building.
The species is also known for its unusual vocalisations, with females producing higher-pitched calls while males respond with a distinctive booming sound.
At Monarto Safari Park, the Malleefowl pair are housed in a quiet off-display habitat within the park’s natives complex, allowing them to breed with minimal disturbance.
The juvenile chick has now been moved nearby, and the keeping team hopes future breeding seasons may bring even more chicks.
“We’re really hopeful this is just the beginning,” Cristy said.
“Now that we know the conditions are right, we’re excited to see what future seasons might bring for the species here at Monarto Safari Park.”
