STEVENS - PINK-BACKED PELICAN



109



which will sometimes encourage them to take more.


Chicks at Longleat are offered de-ionised water, kept warm under the

heat lamp and administered via a 2ml syringe. De-ionised water is used,

as it is purer than tap water. Chicks are offered water at every feed, with

care being taken not to ‘fill them up’ with water during the early stages, as

it is important that they get used to taking food. When hand-rearing pelican

chicks in 2005,1 observed that offering them a small amount of water (lml-

2ml) at the start, can encourage them to take more fish. Towards the latter

stages of being hand-reared, the chicks are allowed as much water as they

want, provided they are eating well.


Supplements


Starting from the first day of feeding, the chicks at Longleat are given a

vitamin and mineral supplement. Collections such as Tierpark Berlin and

Birdworld appear not to give supplements during the first week (Tierpark

Berlin does though give a digestive enzyme), but instead give one from the

second week. At Longleat we use a high calcium multivitamin and mineral

supplement called Avimix. This used to be mixed in the water, but is now

sprinkled sparingly on the food once a day. This is done for approximately

the first 35-40 days, after which they receive one Mazuri fish-eater tablet

per day. The chicks at Longleat are also given a probiotic called Protexin.

This is to help the microflora in the gut, as the chicks are given antibiotics

from an early age (see later).


Average food intake and weight gain


The first graph (p. 114) charts the average food intake of Longleat’s 18

Pink-backed Pelican chicks hand-reared since 1996 (this figure includes the

one hand-reared at Birdworld). The average food intake for the first 30 days

was worked out originally for males and females, however it was decided

that the results did not differentiate sufficiently to warrant a comparative

chart. I have through my own hands-on experience, observed differences in

the food intake of the sexes at about 50-60 days. At this time the female’s

appetite slows down and she consumes just one or two medium-sized fish

(approx. 500g of food) per day, whereas the male will consume three or four

fish (800g-l,000g of food) per day with ease.


The amount of food a pelican eats varies according to each individual’s

appetite and environmental factors. Pelicans being hand-reared together

at Longleat compete with each other for food and seem to take the food

with more conviction. Chicks hand-reared in captivity have a more or less

unlimited supply of food, so the chance of premature death due to starvation

is highly unlikely. In the wild, however, smaller and younger chicks often

get attacked by their older siblings. The greatest period of chick mortality



