Rare white Bali starlings born in Polish zoo

A pair of Bali starling chicks, a critically endangered species, has hatched at a zoo in the northern Polish city of Gdańsk.

The wild population of the animal, which can only be found on the Indonesian island of Bali, has been close to extinction since at least the 1990s. As of 2018, less than 100 adults are estimated to exist in the wild, with around 1,000 believed to survive in captivity, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

“Every fledgling of this critically endangered species is a great joy and a hope to improve the condition of its population in the wild,” said Gdańsk Zoo on Facebook while announcing the new arrivals.

The new chicks are the second set of Bali starlings to arrive at Gdańsk Zoo. Two young females that hatched there last year will soon be relocated to Cologne Zoo in Germany.

The Bali starling, also known as the Bali myna, measures up to 25 cm and is almost wholly white with a long, drooping crest and black tips on its wings and tail.

Because of its aesthetic appeal and its remarkable ability to mimic sounds and singing, it has become a desirable target for poachers, and this has contributed to a drastic decline in the numbers of this species in the wild.

“Around 1900, when the Bali starling was discovered, their numbers were estimated at 300-900 individuals. By 1990, only 15 were living in the wild,” Gdańsk Zoo wrote on Facebook.

The threat of poaching prevails to this day, despite the fact that the whole wild population is now confined to a national park and has been the subject of a specific conservation programme. The species has been protected under Indonesian law since 1970.

In the 1990s, black-market prices for the species reached up to $2,000, notes the IUCN Red List. In 1999, an armed gang stole almost all 39 captive individuals awaiting release into the wild at the West Bali National Park.

With the population now at such a critically low level, other threats may include genetic erosion, interspecific competition, natural predation and disease.

This is not the first time that Gdańsk Zoo has announced the birth of an unusual animal. In 2019, the institution introduced to the world an albino penguin, the only bird of its kind in captivity.

Main photo credit: Gdański Ogród Zoologiczny / Facebook

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.