Artificial breeding bolsters crested ibis population

China is continuing to make strides in its decades-long endeavor to restore the wild population of the crested ibis, a rare and endangered bird species native to East Asia and Russia's Siberia.

On June 11, during the breeding season this year, four crested ibis chicks were hatched out of an incubator and taken to the feeding area at a population reconstruction base for the species in Longhu Mountain, Jiangxi province. It was the first time that the crested ibis had been artificially bred in the province.

Officials from the base said it harvested 12 eggs of the species in May. After 26 days of natural incubation, all eggs were transferred to the incubator. Out of the five hatched chicks, four survived and, upon being moved out of the incubator, had shed their down feathers, revealing physical traits resembling those of adult birds.