Conservation breeding program

    Thanks to a sound fundamental and applied research policy, the ECWP achieved a high level of expertise in the captive breeding of the houbara bustard. The breeding results have been progressing at a steady pace, increasing from 222 chicks born in captivity in 1997,  to more than 23,000 in 2015, and above 21,000 in 2023.

    ECWP Houbara production

    Historical production of chicks in ECWP

    That rise has helped to ensure the presence, in captivity, of a viable population representative of the species’ genetic diversity and capable of renewing itself while producing a large surplus of birds for release into the wild. In that way, the ECWP’s houbara bustard program possesses all the earmarks of a conservation breeding program and has become a pillar in the strategy to restore the species.