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Attwater’s Prairie Chick Hatchling, Texas, 2002
Photograph by Joel Sartore

Newly hatched at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, Texas, this Attwater’s prairie-chicken is part of a captive breeding program aimed at increasing the birds’ numbers in the wild. These charismatic birds once numbered about a million along the Texas coastline, but overhunting and habitat loss have cut their wild population to just 50 or so. Captive breeding programs like this one are trying to reverse the trend.

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, « Down to a Handful, » March 2002, National Geographic magazine)

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/attwater-chick-hatchling.html