After Noah The London zoo team on a mission to save species

The hatching of a Socorro dove-extinct in the wild-is part of a campaign to restore captive animal populations

- Robin McKie

News that a Socorro dove in London Zoo had produced a hatchling three weeks ago provoked joyous celebrations among conservationists graysoni is extinct in the wild, its captive population reduced to a single breeding pair in the last century.

Zenaida Numbers have been rising slowly and the birth of the chick raises hopes that the doves, which once thrived on Socorro island, 600km off the west coast of Mexico, before being eradicated, could be restored to their former homeland.

"We await results of a DNA test of its feathers. That will tell us its sex," said Gary Ward, the curator of birds at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

"If it turns out to be female, she will instantly become the most important bird in London Zoo - for she will then be able to play a key role in restoring Socorro dove numbers." The project is part of a campaign that aims to perfect techniques needed to rewild many other animals, insects, fish and birds which today survive only as captive occupants of zoos or wildlife collections. In addition, scientists say captive populations are destined to increase as global heating and habitat destruction leave more species extinct in the wild.