A flock of birds in the sky. But something doesn’t add up. A person with a paramotor flies between the feathered animals. This bizarre scenario is part of a project to reintroduce the northern bald ibis.
The northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita) attracts attention with its jet-black shiny plumage, the red, sickle-shaped beak and the characteristically bald face. It was once a common bird in Central Europe. However, due to intensive hunting and the loss of its habitat, it was wiped out. A team of scientists and conservationists from various organizations have been fighting for years to make the resettlement of the northern bald ibis possible in Europe. With success.
Human-led migration: This is the concept of the team. The basis for this are waldrapp chicks raised by human foster parents. “We then trained the birds to follow an ultralight aircraft in which the human foster parents were sitting,” explains Johannes Fritz, head and founder of the Waldrappteam Conservation and Research. “In this way we can take the young birds to a wintering area in the fall, where they are then released.”
Over a period of twelve years, scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) and the company Waldrappteam Conservation and Research evaluated demographic data from almost 400 individuals and used this to create future scenarios for the animals. “The analysis showed that this waldrapp population is well on the way to becoming self-sustaining,” summarizes Sinah Drenske from the Leibniz-IZW.
The released population currently consists of about 200 northern bald ibis and has been successfully multiplying since 2011. To date, around 250 young birds have been raised in the wild. “In conservation biology, the restoration of species is playing an increasingly important role in order to counteract the dramatic decline in biodiversity,” explains Stephanie Kramer-Schadt from the Leibniz-IZW.