As was the case last year, we believe the problems stem back to poor nutrition.
Had these all eggs been fertile, consider the enormous boost this would have given to the world population of Rafetus swinhoei! This sad news is terribly disappointing for all of those that have worked so hard to save this species through captive breeding, and to the caring donors that have given so generously to ensure success. To date clutches of 56, 65 and 67 eggs have been laid for a total of 188. They are also likely to be infertile, but this has yet to be determined. Half were removed and split between the three incubators, all in a sand media. This week, Emily King reported that the female laid a third clutch on the night of 14 July, with 67 eggs. A few appeared to have been fertilied, but died early during development. Unfortunately, he considers most of them to be infertile. Gerald Kuchling returned to the Zoo he candled all Rafetus eggs in the incubators, at about five weeks and one week post-oviposition. 36 eggs -including 13 broken ones - were removed for artificial incubation and the rest left in the sand beach. On 3 July the Suhou staff found a second clutch of 65 eggs.
0 kommentar(er)
