Endangered northern bald ibis returns to Europe with human help

Recently, a significant action is unfolding in Europe. The endangered northern bald ibis, which disappeared from central Europe more than three hundred years ago, is embarking on the road to return home with human help.

The northern bald ibis was once widely distributed in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and most of Europe. However, due to reasons such as human hunting and destruction of habitats, for more than three hundred years, they have been nearly extinct in central Europe. Only a small number of populations have survived in zoos. In the past two decades, the breeding efforts of scientists to increase their population have been successful. However, due to the lack of guidance from wild ancestors, these northern bald ibises have lost their migratory instinct and do not know which direction to fly to for the winter.

To solve this problem, Austrian biologist Fritz led a team to make the northern bald ibis regard humans as "foster parents" through the principle of "imprinting". They took newly hatched chicks from Austrian zoos and took care of them by humans, cultivating an intimate relationship between them and humans, so that they trust humans and follow gliders to migrate.

On August 13 this year, 36 northern bald ibises, guided by their "foster parents", began to follow light gliders and fly from Austria to their winter habitats in Spain. The whole journey is about 2,800 kilometers and is expected to arrive in early October. During the flight, scientists sat in ultralight airplanes, waved to the flying birds and shouted to cheer them on. The rear of this small plane has a small engine similar to a fan, and the yellow parachute on the fuselage can keep the plane in flight.

This year, due to the impact of climate change, the team adjusted the route to meet the needs of the delayed migration season of the northern bald ibis. Fritz emphasized that this project is not only to protect the northern bald ibis, but also to open up a new path for other threatened migratory birds.

Since the project was launched in 2002, the central European population of the northern bald ibis has grown from zero to nearly 300. In 2011, a northern bald ibis flew back to its original habitat from Italy after spending the winter without human guidance for the first time, marking the success of the migration guidance project. This action has also attracted widespread attention from the international community. People are looking forward to these northern bald ibises being able to reach their destinations smoothly and re-establish a stable wild population in Europe, writing a new chapter for protecting biodiversity.