{"id":821907,"date":"2026-05-25T22:28:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T22:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/821907\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T22:28:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T22:28:17","slug":"two-chicks-from-species-classified-as-extinct-in-the-wild-born-at-smithsonian-zoos-conservation-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/821907\/","title":{"rendered":"Two chicks from species classified as extinct in the wild born at Smithsonian zoo\u2019s conservation campus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two sihek chicks hatched at the Smithsonian National Zoo&#8217;s campus in Front Royal, Virginia, have given hope to a species classified as extinct in the wild.<\/p>\n<p>                                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/sihek1-1672x1254.jpg\" alt=\"a bird close up\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              Keepers at the Smithsonian National Zoo\u2019s conservation campus in Front Royal, Virginia, welcomed two sihek chicks in mid-April.<br \/>\n(Courtesy Roshan Patel, Smithsonian)                            <\/p>\n<p>\n                                Courtesy Roshan Patel, Smithsonian                            <\/p>\n<p>                                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/sihek2-1672x1254.jpg\" alt=\"baby chick opens mouth wide\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              One male and one female chick were born in mid-April, joining a total world sihek population of just 125.<br \/>\n(Courtesy Roshan Patel, Smithsonian)                            <\/p>\n<p>\n                                Courtesy Roshan Patel, Smithsonian                            <\/p>\n<p>                                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/sihek3-1672x1254.jpg\" alt=\"a baby chick in women's hands\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              The Smithsonian said the chicks\u2019 are part of the Sihek Recovery Program, a global collaborative of conservationists dedicated to recovering the species, which is native to Guam.<br \/>\n(Courtesy Roshan Patel, Smithsonian)                            <\/p>\n<p>\n                                Courtesy Roshan Patel, Smithsonian                            <\/p>\n<p>                                                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/sihek4-1672x1254.jpg\" alt=\"woman hand prods at baby chick with tweezers while giving care\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                              Keepers at the Smithsonian National Zoo\u2019s conservation campus in Front Royal, Virginia, welcomed two sihek chicks in mid-April.<br \/>\n(Courtesy Roshan Patel, Smithsonian)                            <\/p>\n<p>\n                                Courtesy Roshan Patel, Smithsonian                            <\/p>\n<p>Two chicks hatched at the Smithsonian National Zoo\u2019s campus in Front Royal, Virginia, have given hope to a species classified as extinct in the wild.<\/p>\n<p>The two sihek chicks, a male and a female, were born in mid-April and join a total world sihek population of just 125.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery sihek chick is special, but these two are particularly precious, according to keeper Erica Royer. Parents Antonio, five, and Poki, two, are first timers and have never bred before. Their genes are not well represented in the population, making their offspring very valuable for the breeding population,\u201d the Smithsonian wrote in a post on social media.<\/p>\n<p>The sihek, also known as the Guam kingfisher, was classified as extinct in the wild by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in the 1980s after being wiped out by the invasive brown tree snake, according to the zoo.<\/p>\n<p>As adults, the<a href=\"https:\/\/nationalzoo.si.edu\/animals\/guam-kingfisher-sihek\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> birds are around 9 inches long<\/a> and weigh about as much as a tennis ball.<\/p>\n<p>The Smithsonian said it is part of the Sihek Recovery Program, a global collaborative of conservationists dedicated to recovering the species, which is native to Guam.<\/p>\n<p class=\"single-page__signature bottom\">Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up <a href=\"https:\/\/wtop.com\/newsletter-signup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"single-page__signature bottom\">\u00a9 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two sihek chicks hatched at the Smithsonian National Zoo&#8217;s campus in Front Royal, Virginia, have given hope to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":821908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[23],"tags":[337883,19528,9562,746,126052,337884,255286,159,337885,337886,273024,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-821907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-bird-conservation","tag-birds","tag-endangered-species","tag-environment","tag-extinct-species","tag-front-royal","tag-guam-kingfisher","tag-science","tag-sihek","tag-sihek-chicks","tag-smithsonian-national-zoo","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116637579875034447","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/821908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}