Mystery as the unusual bird egg that was incubated at Torremolinos town hall has finally hatched

"How's the egg coming along?" That has been one of the most repeated phrases in the Torremolinos town hall during the past few weeks, and finally the much-spoken about egg has hatched.

It all started when a forest ranger from Torremolinos, on one of his inspections in the mountains, stumbled across an egg that, at first glance, seemed larger than normal.

The worker decided to look for the nest in the vicinity but did not find anything and did not hear or see any bird nearby, so he believed that the egg was abandoned and took it to the town hall.

One of the environmental officers at the council thought it might be an endangered bird and so began the challenge to save it. They had access to an incubator and it was set it up in the Environment department office. The egg remained there for 32 days, at a steady temperature of 37.7 degrees and humidity of 55-58%.

"In the end, word spread and everyone passed by the office at some point asking how the egg was doing," a town hall spokesperson said.

Only found in ten countries

After a month, the egg hatched and from it emerged a hatchling of a specimen from Cracidae family, a bird in danger of extinction, which only exists in 10 countries, ranging from southern Mexico to a small strip north of Colombia and Ecuador. This makes its existence in Torremolinos all the more strange.

"Its natural habitat is varied, from groves and grasslands to deciduous forest, although they must be well preserved places, because the destruction of their habitats is one of the main causes of the progressive decline of its population. To date, approximately 40,000 adult specimens have been counted in the world, which means that they are classified as a threatened species," the Town Hall said.

The chick was born in the incubator during the early hours of the morning and spent its first hours of life alone, until employees started their working day and noticed it. The chick has been moved to a garden area in the Molino de Inca.