Two little owls (Athene noctua) have hatched at Basel Zoo. It is the first brood for the parents, who came to Basel at the beginning of 2018.
The healthy fluffy owlets – a female and a male – appeared on June 10 and are now almost as big as their parents, Basel Zoo said on Wednesday.
Visitors will need a bit of luck to see them, however. Despite making their first attempts to fly in their aviary, they often retreat into their nest. Swiss zoos re-opened on June 6 after closing to stop the spread of Covid-19.
The little owl is a native species to Switzerland. Orchards are among their preferred habitats, but extensive cultivation of this land and urban sprawl mean the little owl population has declined sharply since the 1950s. Today, only a few pairs still exist in the wild.
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The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and partners are opening a field hospital in southern Gaza on Tuesday.
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The police intervened early on Tuesday to dislodge pro-Palestinian students who had been occupying the University of Geneva for almost a week.
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Pro-Palestine protests extend to Basel and Fribourg universities
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Demonstrators called for an academic boycott of all Israeli institutions and disassociation with Chaim Weizmann, the first Israeli president.
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A project to help farmers fight rodent pests using avian predators instead of poison aims to restore the ecosystem and cross-cultural dialogue.
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A white rhinoceros has been born for the first time in Zurich Zoo. Visitors can see the baby girl from June 8, when zoos re-open.
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.