If you would like more information on this project, please contact Robert Frank Kooij, [email protected]

The Brazilian Merganser (Mergus octosetaceus) is the only surviving species of Mergini (Order Anseriformes) in the Southern Hemisphere.  It is a locally and globally endangered species1,2 and one of the most endangered waterfowl3,4, with possibly fewer than 250 birds remaining in the wild1.  From 1940 to 1950 it had already been considered extinct. It inhabits rivers and streams of clear water, crossing subtropical and closed forest3. To feed, it dives in search of fish and aquatic macroinvertebrates. It is sedentary and monogamous – believed to remain paired for life on the same stretch of river. Nests are made during June to October, in hollow of trees and holes in rocks beside water courses5,6,7 and in river banks. The female is the only one who incubates, taking up to two daily pauses in the incubation, while the male patrols the river or rests in rocks close to the nest6. The offspring may vary up to 8 ducklings, which are carried on the back of the parents3,8. Unlike other mergansers, the male provides extensive parental care. The young, on the first days of life, are fed by the parents. By the 10th day, they already dive and fish by themselves6. It is unknown where the ducklings go after leaving the parents9.

The Brazilian merganser occurred in three countries, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. It is believed to be locally extinct in both Paraguay and Argentina, only being found in Brazil, occurring in the following areas: Parque Nacional da Serra da Canastra, São Roque de Minas, Minas Gerais; Vargem Bonita, Minas Gerais; Região do Jalapão, Mateiros, Tocantins; Patrocínio, Minas Gerais; and Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros, Goiás10,11,12.     Since it is a sedentary bird, it is extremely sensitive to habitat loss and degradation.  The main threats to the conservation of the species include deforestation for diamond mining, agricultural expansion, human habitation, implementation of tourist facilities, and cattle ranching.

An Action Plan for the Conservation of the Brazilian Merganser (PAN Brazilian Merganser) was made in 2006 by IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) and ICMbio (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation) to monitor and propose measures for the long term conservation of the species. After observing that the population wasn’t increasing and after several discussions, in 2011 the ICMbio put into practice the captive conservation plan. The intent of this is to safeguard a strong genetic population in captivity to serve as a backup and to create breeding groups to reproduce and raise the offspring, so that in the near future the mature ducklings can be reintroduced in their own nature habitat. Zooparque Itatiba joined this project in January of 2014, being the only zoo selected to participate the the Action Plan.

OBJECTIVE

This project has the goal to increase the ex situ population of the Brazilian Merganser by offering better chances for the ducklings to survive and become adults. In the wild, only 10-20% of the offspring survives and it is unknown what happens to them after leaving the parents. In captivity, since it is a controlled environment, the survival rate increased to 80-90%. Once matured, the Brazilian mergansers will be paired up and form a breeding group. The ducklings from this group will be raised by the parents in their controlled environment, and then released into their natural habitat.

METHODS

Zooparque Itatiba is the only Zoo in the world that has a license from IBAMA to collect eggs from nature. The eggs will be transported by specialized staff from Zooparque with mobile incubators to the main incubators in Zooparque Itatiba. Once the ducklings hatch, they will be placed in the nursery until 21 days. After 21 days the ducklings will be moved to an aviary to become adolescents and then to the breeding aviaries to form a breeding group, forming up to 10 pairs. The offspring of this group will be incubated and raised only by the parents, and prepared for the release into the wild.

The institutes involved for the `Brazilian Merganser Captive Reproduction Project´

  • ICMBio – IBAMA (responsible for the permits)
  • Zooparque Itatiba – (Responsible for this project)
  • Sylvan Height Waterfowl – (Consultor)
  • P. Kooy & Sons – waterfowl breeding farm – (Consultor)
  • Carla Cristina Guaitanele (Head off Nacional Park of Chapada dos Veadeiros /ICMBio);
  • Terra Brasilis Institute
  • CERVIVO institute
  • MZUSP (Museum of the university of São Paulo)

The eggs can be collected from these locations:

  • Parque Nacional da Serra da Canastra, São Roque de Minas, Minas Gerais;
  • Vargem Bonita, Minas Gerais;
  • Região do Jalapão, Mateiros, Tocantins;
  • Região de Patrocínio, Patrocínio, Minas Gerais;
  • Parque Nacional da Chapada dos Veadeiros, Goiás.

HELP NEEDED:

Zooparque Itatiba has great responsibility in this project, because it is the only institution in the world that maintains a Brazilian Merganser population in captivity. Currently there are 11 individuals at Zooparque, 6 males and 5 females.

To maintain this Brazilian merganser under the most suitable environment it is important that the aviaries simulate the wild habitat in a way that it will stimulate their natural behavior.  Additionally the space must allow the pairs to parent rear the ducklings and prepare them for the release program. In this case, it is important that the birds have as little contact with humans as possible and a breeding area closed for public!

The information collected during the time the birds will spend in captivity will improve the knowledge of the species, as very little is known about them.  This data can be used to create new management models aiding the ex situ conservation and help to restore its threat status.

Reproduction aviaries:

Today there are 5 pair of Brazilian Merganser and 1 male without a mate. The zoo will initially have to build 5 reproduction aviaries to accommodate these current pairs.

The aviary will be 15m in length x 6.5m width x 4m height, totaling 100m ². All sides will have a 0.5m height brick wall and 3.5 m of galvanized wire. For more safety against predators 10/15 mm mesh will be used.

The back of the enclosure will have an “artificial wall” simulating a waterfall with nests fixed at different heights. The running water from the waterfall will run into the first shallow pond, followed by a 2m stream with rocks on the sides, and a second pond that will also be 4m wide and 60cm deep. In this way, the birds can display their natural behavior, especially the fishing ability of the mergansers.

The landscaping will simulate the natural habitat, with rocks around the ponds and tree trunks, because these birds spend most of the time perching in these spots during the day.

The rest of the area will be planted with grass and plants. The nest will be made out of tree trunks next to the water and wooden nest boxes with protected incubation chambers of 1m depth.

Each aviary will have its own water filter system, as they need the clear water for fishing.

 

Camera system:

We believe that the installation of the camera system will be fundamental to the security and study of the birds.

Because of the great responsibility, zooparque wants to prioritize the security of the animals and also use the camera system to study the mergansers’ behavior.

Through the use of the cameras it is possible to develop unpublished behavioral ethograms of the species. There will be infrared camera systems inside the nests to keep up with the incubation period.

References


Update October 2018

Read about new developments 


2017 Ulysses S. Seal Grant

In 2017, Jamie Toste, Curator of Birds, applied for a Ulysses S. Seal Grant to support the Brazilian Merganser Captive Reintroduction Project in Brazil.  This project primarily involves ex situ work in a captive breeding program with goals to reintroduce the offspring to the wild.  Eggs would be collected from nests, ducklings raised in captivity, and then birds paired up naturally according to mate selection for breeding when mature.  Offspring would be parent-reared in as natural of a setting as possible with goals to release back into the wild.  Funds were primarily requested to build new breeding enclosures to house adolescents, which would become future breeding pairs in the program.

This project has the goal to increase the ex situ population of the Brazilian Merganser by offering better chances for the ducklings to survive and become adults. In the wild, only 10-20% of the offspring survives. In captivity, since it is a controlled environment, the survival rate increased to 80-90%. Figures on the percent survivability for wild ducklings is based on monitoring nests such as in Serra de canastra where the hen emerges from the nest with eight ducklings in July, and by the end of the year two are left.  These ducklings are chased away by their parents in January-March of the following season, with no knowledge on what becomes of the offspring.  In 2014, Kooij hatched eight collected eggs with eight surviving ducklings, and in 2011 in Poços de Caldas hatched three collected eggs with two surviving ducklings.  (Kooij, 2017).

The Brazilian merganser is a critically endangered species of waterfowl, with fewer than 250 individuals remaining in the wild.  A captive reproduction project may be a last resort for this species if the principal threats are not addressed:  pollution, deforestation, agricultural expansion, and diamond-mining.  This species is not found in captivity outside of this effort in Brazil.  It is believed to already be locally extinct in both Paraguay and Argentina, only being found in Brazil.  It is a sedentary species, sensitive to habitat loss and disturbance.

Robert Kooij, who is the Curator in charge of the program at Zooparque, is the son of Peter Kooy, a long standing waterfowl naturalist in Holland.  Peter and his sons have exported many of the waterfowl found in the United States over the past several decades.  They are responsible for the first captive breedings of Eyton’s Tree Duck, Hottentot Teal, Baer’s Pochard, and Radjah Shelduck.  They are noted for this achievement by Jean Delacour and Sir Peter Scott in “Waterfowl of the World.”  Robert Kooij no doubt will bring his life-long experience with waterfowl aviculture to this program.

$4500 USD were granted to the program in June of 2017 to construct an aviary for the breeding program.


Monday 7 August, 2017
World’s first Brazilian merganser bred in captivity hatch
Read the Press Release


July – August, 2017

The World’s first captive breeding!


Here are the 5 ducklings together and one of them is a Blond/silver mutation! What are the odds!

This year we got the license again to collect eggs from the wild with the purpose of adding new bloodlines to our captive breeding program.

After a search and a big help from the institute Terra Brasilis, we collected 3 eggs from the region Serra de canastra and three eggs from the region Jalapao.

All six eggs hatched and they happened to be 3 new pairs (picture below)

Newly hatched ducklings hatched July 14, 2017 from the Region Jalapao

three more eggs externally pipped, from the region Seers da Canastra July 17, 2017

Three ducklings hatched from the region Seers da Canastra on July 18, 2017

Also here we have a blond/silver mutation between them; this can happen in nature but the chances of surviving in the wild would be very small, as the duckling doesn’t have its camouflage when it is resting on a rock!

Offspring born in 2017--Oct 21, 2017

Two offspring born in 2017, one blonde one, Oct 21, 2017

 

Today we have a total of 21 birds; 10 males and 11 females.

We have reached the first objective, which is to have a strong assurance population from as many different bloodlines within the 10 pairs (this is around 10% of what is left in the wild).

Our next steps are to work on the releasing program!

Because of our success we need more aviaries, that’s the reason why we started to build in June this year, see pictures below.

The foundation for new aviaries is set, with help from the US Seal Grant! Jul 30, 2017-1

 


Brazilian Merganser (Mergus octosetaceus)
Captive Reproduction Project
Update 2018

All the birds are doing great and we start separating the adolescents from last year as they start pairing themselves-up. What is interesting to see is that the females are fighting over a male!

The adult pairs are making themselves-ready for breeding season.  We try to stimulate them with our reproduction pellet and by giving them an extra 20 lambari fish (Fingerling size) a day.

In addition, we give them a choice of different nest boxes and try to avoid direct visual contact with other couples and with people as much as possible. That is why we are monitoring them with cameras.

Please check our new aviaries, which we constructed with your support!

6 aviaries with 90 m2 each. Shadow netting was installed in the middle of the aviaries to shade against the strong sun.  Electric fence was installed around the perimeter for more security.

Not one aviary is the same; each has a different pool shape, plants, and position of nests.

Zooparque Itatiba would like to thank you for your support by helping this amazing bird and we hope, if it is possible, that you will also join us in the next steps of our program!