Whio ducks a little closer to survival <BR>

Five baby pairs of webbed feet are now waddling around the Auckland Zoo, which has for the first time bred the nationally endangered torrent duck species, the whio.

There is also a chance that more ducklings might be on the way.

"Potentially we could get another clutch," said Todd Jenkinson, a native-fauna keeper who cares for the ducklings.

Two of the ducklings were born a month ago to Peki and Kopakopa, a breeding pair that belong to the Department of Conservation. Another three were born last week.

Also known as the blue duck, the whio has recently been reclassified by the department to "nationally endangered" from "threatened".

There are about 2500 of them left, and the department has set up the Blue Duck Recovery Programme to help increase the population.

The eggs of the newest additions were pulled from the nest after 20 days and put in an incubator after the ducklings' mother had done her part. "We let her do most of the hard work," said Mr Jenkinson.

"She spent the first 20 days incubating from the nest."

Later, the ducks were integrated with other ducklings to learn how to eat. Zoo employees weigh them daily.

After 70 days, the five whio will be sent to Peacock Springs in Christchurch to socialise with DoC's other blue ducks and be fitted with radio transmitters. They will be released in the Mt Taranaki region next year.

"Hopefully they will do fine and we will end up with some more little baby ducklings out in the wild somewhere," Mr Jenkinson said.

"Eventually they could be a self-sustaining population."

The ducklings aren't available for public viewing and neither are their parents. But zoo visitors can see a male whio in the New Zealand Native Aviary.