Cute Chick Alert: Precious Plains-Wanderer Chicks Hatch at Werribee Zoo

Nine critically endangered and extraordinarily cute plains-wanderer chicks hatched at Victoria’s Werribee Open Range Zoo on March 19 and 20.

The zoo said in a media release that the birth was an “incredible conservation success story.”

“Werribee Open Range Zoo has seen the population of its most critically endangered bird almost double overnight. In what is believed to be a world first, nine precious captive-bred plains-wanderer chicks hatched in little more than 24 hours thanks to the help of mum, dad and some life-saving intervention,” a spokesperson wrote.

This clutch of eggs had been abandoned by the birds’ father, but thanks to an incubator and the help of zookeepers, the fluffy newborns were brought into the world.

The zoo said there are less than 1,000 mature plains-wanderers left in the wild. Credit: Werribee Open Range Zoo via Storyful