Protecting nature is not a fanatic necessity. Protecting nature is important because nature is our home and the home of an infinite amount of wildlife. Those who choose to respect and protect the environment do at least two things, sometimes without wanting to:
- guarantees an inheritance worthy of the name to his own children, and also to those of others;
- it allows the survival of some wild animals that have an essential symbiosis with their natural habitat.
One of these wild is the rock partridge (alectoris graeca). Until about fifty years ago, the rock partridge was a rather common bird, much appreciated and considered by the majority of those who met it, shy, colorful and nice. Today things are different, the rock partridge is difficult to identify in nature and where it still lives a series of measures for its protection and for the safeguard of the environment have been set in motion.
The rock partridge, it is scary to say but it is the reality, is a bird in danger of extinction. Yet there are hopes: with a more careful management of the fauna and the environment it could return to settle in a stable manner in many natural environments, and even breeding can represent a hope.
Identikit of the rock partridge
Someone calls it "cotorno" or big partridge (because if compared with its partridge cousins it is certainly the largest). It is a galliforme of the Phasianidae family. Recognizing it is not difficult: its size is medium, its massive shape, with a short beak that pulls down. The tail but also the wings are rounded and short, while in the male (although this is sometimes also true for the females) the tarsi are equipped with a kind of spur. Its colors are very beautiful and someone has enjoyed defining the rock partridge as a chicken, yes, but a wild one. Unlike what is expected from a bird, the rock partridge lives preferentially on the ground and prefers to gather in groups of about 10 elements commonly called brigades.
It lives, we mentioned it on the ground: it is able to move very quickly if threatened, but when necessary it engages in lightning-fast flights that caress the mountain slopes. He probably does not feel comfortable in flight due to his weight and the small size of the wings, but he uses this talent in his favor when you least expect it.
Sure, its deadlift is noisy, but its long glide is beautiful and elegant.
It loves living in sunny, rocky, stony slopes, preferably alternated with bushes of low-stemmed vegetation or little thick woods. It would not seem like it, but it is able to live even at a considerable height, up to 3 meters above sea level. To escape the snow in winter, he moves to lower and temperate areas. The fact that many pastures have been abandoned, excessively numerous, the senseless housing pressure, the increasing disturbance from tourism and many other factors have limited the habitats available for the rock partridge, which subjected to too high hunting pressure has become today, in Italy, a rather rare bird. For this and for many other reasons, the habit of breeding this irresistible bird has increased considerably in recent decades.
It often happens to be in front of a partridge placed on the territory, farmed. It often happens, but few know what it means for the rock partridge to grow in captivity, the paths and obstacles it must overcome and the difficulties that make it shy and resistant.
Farmed partridges
One of the main problems represented by the breeding of rock partridges in captivity was, right from the start, the fact that very little was known about the wild. The experiments today have brought excellent results which unfortunately still do not prove to be infallible. Failure after release, with the early disappearance of the rock partridge is a real problem, caused not only by the farming methods. However, all the causes must be taken into consideration, in such a way as to run for cover wherever possible. Here are the main ones:
- unfavorable environmental characteristics;
- exaggerated and unnatural predation;
One of the answers often given by farms to these problems is the professional and serious qualitative evaluation of the environment in which the animal is introduced. It may seem strange, but before reintroducing a specific wild animal into an environment it is important to fully and consciously evaluate its qualities. The success of the whole operation is at stake. In fact, the rock partridge, like all its volatile cousins, must have suitable environments that are becoming increasingly rare in order to survive. Reforestation, disappearance of the characteristic Mediterranean environments, disappearance of the typical agro-forestry pastoral work environments make the search difficult, but not impossible. Once the ideal territory has been found, the partridges introduced must be as similar as possible to the wild ones: from a physiological, morphological and behavioral point of view. This is how birds of this genus are bred.
This operation is normally carried out in random mode, without preferences of any kind and takes place during the month of April. From the first half of the same month, the eggs can be collected and registered in a sort of registry to know their origin. The eggs are incubated on a weekly basis and after hatching, once homeothermicity has been reached, the new born are placed in outdoor cages, which reproduce the destination habitat within them. Then the cages will be enriched with bushes, branches, and more to improve the mobility of the bird.
Prophylaxis and hygiene
The environments in which the chicks will live first and then the adults are disinfected constantly, to lower the bacterial load. After about 35 days from birth they are placed outside, in iron cages, with organic substrate and raised. During the first month, the chicks are given prophylaxis against the main gastrointestinal parasitologies, which are quite common in breeding environments. The prophylaxis will be repeated once again, when the animals are moved to the maintenance facilities.
Behavior
Behavioral education is very important. Immediately a negative imprinting is implemented for humans and foxes and above all humans come into contact with animals as little as possible. Feeding, for example, takes place automatically and when contact is unavoidable the operators never engage in affective behaviors to avoid the introduction of subjects who are not prepared for natural environments. Knowing the rock partridge, its path, its history is important for breeders, and interesting for hunters, who not everyone knows, they are often the main financiers for breeding and repopulation operations.