Another first for the Johannesburg Zoo! Our Southern Screamers began laying their clutch of eggs in November 2003. The chicks begin hatching on the 28th of December 2003 after relatively long incubation of about 28 days that was shared by both parents. They are the first to hatch in South Africa and the only known hatched in Africa.

These rare birds have their natural home in the swampy, marshlands of South America and owe their vernacular name to their distinctive voice, which can be heard over great distances. Southern Screamers are the primitive and unique members of the waterfowl’s family. A feature that sets them apart from their web-footed cousins such as the ducks, swans, and geese, is two vicious-looking spurs on each wing that enables them to defend themselves when needed.

Zoo visitors can see the proud parents and their four ginger-coloured chicks in the Zoo’s Walk-through aviary complex. Patience is needed to see them, as the parents tend to keep them to a more secluded thickly vegetated part of the enclosure.

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