Rare Amazon Parrots Raise Three Chicks After 15 Years At The World’s Oldest Zoo

Three extremely rare Red-mirror Amazon parrot chicks have been successfully raised naturally by their parents for the first time this year at Schönbrunn Zoo, marking a major milestone after a wildlife smuggling case 15 years ago.

In 2011, Austrian customs confiscated 74 parrot eggs at Vienna Airport and transferred them to the zoo. Red-fronted and Jamaican Amazon parrots hatched from the eggs, including birds that have now produced their own offspring.

“What began as a dramatic case of illegal wildlife trafficking has, over many years, become a significant success for species conservation,” said Zoo Director Dr. Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck. He called the three independently raised chicks a special milestone for the zoo.

The offspring are particularly important for European conservation. Red-mirror Amazons are currently kept at only one other European zoo, Prague Zoo. Schönbrunn Zoo has the only breeding pair and is the only zoo in Europe to have successfully bred the species.

In Jamaica, red-mirror amazons have been considered critically endangered since 2020. They live exclusively in two small areas of the island, with the wild population estimated at no more than 15,000 birds.

Dr. Eveline Dungl, head of the zoo’s zoological department, said population declines are driven by habitat loss, invasive predators and climate change.

Alongside the three young Red-mirror Amazons, four endangered Jamaican Amazon chicks are also currently growing up at the zoo.