A rare, bright green Southern cassowary egg has ended a 34-year drought at Australia’s Adelaide Zoo. Glowing like a neon jewel, its striking fluorescent shade stems from the natural pigment biliverdin.
The first cassowary chick hatched at Adelaide Zoo in 1968, and six more chicks were born in 1992. However, after that, there were no eggs from this large, flightless bird, and the drought continued for 34 years. The egg belongs to 10-year-old Southern cassowary Martina and 13-year-old male cassowary Jeffrey, who were paired up by the zoo. The eggs can weigh about 580 grams, which is about the weight of 10 normal chicken eggs, according to a report by IFL Science.
Until Team Supervisor Birds and Free Flight, Erin, discovered the first egg.
“This is really exciting news for us because it has been 34 years since we’ve had successful cassowary chicks here at Adelaide Zoo, so the team and myself included are very excited,” Erin said in a statement released by the zoo. “We were looking for things like vocalisations – a low rumble or boom call – and whether they were more tolerant of eating near each other,” said Erin in a statement, adding, “We removed parts of the shade cloth between them and put their food alongside each other at the fence line so we could watch how comfortable they were around one another. “The egg is actually fluorescent green – it’s a really bright green colour,” Erin said.
