Extremely rare chick hatches at Paignton Zoo in South Devon

The team have been monitoring its progress since they discovered it had hatched on Boxing Day. Credit: Paignton Zoo

Paington Zoo has announced the recent new arrival of a rare breed of bird.

Their team of bird keepers discovered the baby Mitchell’s lorikeet - one of the rarest species living at the zoo - had hatched on Boxing Day.

Mitchell’s lorikeets originally come from the Indonesian island of Lombok, but there are less than 50 of these birds left in the wild.

They also live in a number of zoos like Paington around the globe as part of conservation breeding programmes.

Even so, there are less than 200 of these birds in zoos, so the birth of this chick in Paignton is promising for the survival of the species.

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Previously when Mitchell’s lorikeets have hatched at the zoo they were housed in an off show area away from the public.

But now visitors are able to see the new chick and its family after the birds were moved into a visible part of the zoo last year. The keepers said they have settled in well to their new home.