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Arnie: I'll be beak - 'extinct' dove hoping for a comeback
Last updated at 09:07am on 30.10.06
The Socorro dove which was bred by scientists at London Zoo for the first time
A dove last seen in the wild more than 30 years ago has been bred successfully at London Zoo.
The Socorro was registered as extinct after it disappeared from its island home in the Pacific in 1972.
Now scientists hope the newly-hatched chick will mean the species can eventually be introduced back into its natural habit.
Their hopes are so high that the bird has been named "Arnie" in the hope that - like Arnold Schwarzenegger - he'll "be back."
It is the first time the dove, believed to be one of fewer than 100 in captivity, has been bred at the zoo.
Project leader Mick Tiley said it had taken three years of hard work to successfully get the bird's parents to mate.
He added: "We have had a breeding pair since 2003 but the male was particularly aggressive."
"We have had to try all sorts of things to get them together."
Arnie's DNA has also been included in a "frozen ark" – a database of genetic material designed to stop species from dying out.
The birds were once populous in Socorro island but their numbers fell after they were targeted for their meat and grazing sheep ate their food.
