Recent News
Trott Family Presents $2000 Donation To BZSFriday, January 10, 2014
In order to honour their grandparents, the family of the late Wakefield and Mildred Trott recently embarked on their own fundraising campaign in order to make a donation of $2,000 to the Bermuda Zoological Society.
Turtle Missing Flipper Ready To Return To Wild
Friday, January 10, 2014
After over a year of recuperating at the Bermuda, Aquarium, Museum & Zoo [BAMZ] after sustaining a severe injury that saw him lose one of his flippers, a turtle is ready to be returned to the wild.
Bermuda’s Coral Reefs featured in new book
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Bermuda’s coral reefs have been featured in a new book which helps to showcase them to a global audience, and the information contained in it will be a key reference for our school children, Minister of Environment and Planning Sylvan Richards said today.
Two fish recognised as unique to Island’s waters
Tuesday, December 03, 2013
A pair of Bermuda fish species have been recognised by the Smithsonian Institution as being unique to Bermuda’s waters.
Two Unique Bermuda Fish Recognised
Monday, December 02, 2013
Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution recently recognised two new Bermuda endemic fish species. The Collette’s half beak and the Yellowfin Chromis have been known for some time, but they were only recently determined to be unique to Bermuda’s waters.
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Latest News
All the latest updates and news from the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo, one of Bermuda's leading visitor attractions!
By Sara Westhead
There has been a lot of excitement in the Zoo over the past few months with the birth of three Tawny Frogmouth chicks.
The threesome are the offspring of Kermit and Duane, who have resided in the Australasia exhibit for the last one and a half years, having arrived in October, 2013.
Natives of Australia and Tasmania, Tawny Frogmouths are most closely related to oilbirds and nightjars. They are carnivorous, dieting mostly on nocturnal insects, as well as small mammals, reptiles and amphibians. They do much of their hunting at dusk.
In the wild, they typically breed from August to December, however, because Bermuda is located in a different hemisphere, this has been reversed to January through May. They typically form partnerships for life and will take turns incubating eggs on the nest, rarely leaving the nest unattended.
The first two chicks hatched from BAMZ residents
Kermit and Duane. Photos by S. Westhead
What makes these chicks particularly special is that Kermit, our male, has not previously been genetically represented in the tawny frogmouth population. His offspring are important as they will contribute to genetic diversity within the population that are in human care.
Also significant is the fact that Kermit is 18 years of age. In the wild, Tawny’s will usually live between 10 to 14 years, and in human care, there are only eight recorded males that have reproduced after the age of 17 years.
The oldest two chicks were born on March 21st, 2015 and March 28th, 2015, and are already on display in the Australasia exhibit, however they have been placed in an enclosure for their protection. The third chick was born on May 5th, 2015, and will hopefully be big enough to join its siblings in the near future.
The tawnies are a part of a Species Survival Protection breeding programme and the manager of that programme will recommend where the new chicks should be placed, in order to best maintain the breeding population. Those recommendations are generally issued annually, so for the next few months, they will still be calling BAMZ home.