Great Indian Bustard Chick Survives in Gujarat via Jumpstart Technique

Key facts

• A Great Indian Bustard (GIB) chick born on May 21, 2026, in Naliya, Kutch district, Gujarat, has survived the critical 40-day survival stage.
• The chick was born using the jumpstart conservation technique, which involves replacing an infertile egg in a wild nest with a fertile, captive-bred egg to allow natural incubation and rearing by the wild mother.
• The update was shared by Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav during the 91st meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (SC-NBWL) at CASFoS, Coimbatore.
• The GIB is listed as a critically endangered species, with its population largely confined to Rajasthan and a few birds in the Kutch region of Gujarat.
• Under the captive breeding programme in Rajasthan, a total of 98 chicks have been born at Sam and Ramdevra.
• Project GIB is being implemented by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the state forest departments of Rajasthan and Gujarat.
• The project is set to enter the rewilding phase.
• A previous jumpstart initiative involved transporting a fertilised egg 770 km by road from Rajasthan to Gujarat, resulting in a chick hatching in Naliya on March 26, though it went missing in April.