Veterinarian Yoshinori Kaneko (63) of the Sado Toki Conservation Center (Sado City, Niigata Prefecture), who has been involved in the breeding and breeding of crested ibises for many years, celebrated his 30th anniversary at the center. This paper summarizes the results of research on the crested ibis skeleton, which is his lifework. The knowledge he has obtained is being used in the treatment of crested ibises.
Mr. Kaneko was appointed to the center in 1991. For the next 30 years, she focused on bones while working at the forefront of captive breeding of crested ibises. "I was told by an archeology teacher that there was no ibis skeletal specimen, so I made the first one in 1996," he recalls.
After that, we used adult birds and 20-day-old and 50-day-old dead individuals to make specimens. Other bird bones, such as herons, were also collected for comparison. This led to the discovery of the secrets of functions and ecology that could not be understood just by looking at the outside.
A typical example is hunting for food. When foraging in rice fields, the crested ibis thrusts its long beak into the mud and is said to use its senses to search for loaches. Examining the bones revealed that the tip of the beak had fine holes like a sponge. Kaneko insists, "Because the nerves are concentrated in this part, it may be able to notice the food from a distance."
The research was returned to the breeding site. Crested ibises often have dislocated leg joints, and if they were treated to be rigidly fixed, they tended not to stand up and eat food. By applying splints to the bones and taping them, he said, "If 10 birds were injured, about half of them, especially young ones, could be saved." The know-how has become a "breeding handbook," which is used not only at the center but also at distributed breeding sites throughout the country.
Thirty years ago, there are about 180 crested ibises in captivity, and more than 400 in the wild. As a veterinarian, he faces Toki every day, but he says with a smile, "Not only is my interest never ending, but the more I research, the more things I don't understand. That's why it's so interesting and endless."