German researchers visit Perth Zoo and conduct world first insemination procedure for western ground parrot

In a race against time to save one of the world’s most endangered parrots, Perth Zoo has engaged two German bird experts to conduct a world-first artificial insemination procedure.

University of Giessen birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish clinic director Michael Lierz and Wuppertal Zoo bird specialist Dominik Fischer visited the zoo last month to collect semen from western ground parrots in the hope it can be artificially inseminated into female parrots for future breeding.

Native to WA and with less than 150 left in the wild, Perth Zoo Australian fauna supervisor Arthur Ferguson said the parrot was “very close to extinction” and “desperately needed our help”.

“The team at Perth Zoo have been working with specialists from around the globe to create the latest in science and technology in efforts to grow the species,” Mr Ferguson said.

It is estimated almost 90 per cent of the bird’s habitat was destroyed in the 2015 South West bushfires.

While the parrot is a critically endangered species, Professor Lierz said there was also a small number of parrots in captivity which made breeding challenging.

“It’s very difficult to breed them because you don’t know much about them,” he said.

“So our system (consists of) getting sperm, evaluating sperm, putting help to arrange the males to say ‘this male might be a good breeder or not a good breeder’ and maybe also assist with artificial insemination to increase fertility.”

Mr Ferguson said he was hopeful the work would contribute to breeding the parrots in the future.

“Working with critically endangered species is challenging, but we have hope that we can turn things around and create a brighter future for the western ground parrot,” he said.

Perth Zoo conservationists engaged in a “wild to wild” translocation last September when they moved five western ground parrots from Cape Arid National Park to a special conservation reserve in Albany.