Baby bird alert: Maleo chicks hatch at the Bronx Zoo (video)

Check out photos of these rare Indonesian birds, birthed thanks to a little zoological ingenuity.

By Marley Lynch Tue Mar 19 2013

Photograph: Julie Larsen Maher

Maleo chick at the Bronx Zoo
Photograph: Julie Larsen Maher

Maleo chick at the Bronx Zoo

Photograph: Julie Larsen Maher

Maleo chick at the Bronx Zoo

Yep, it’s sleeting outside and spring has never seemed further away. But we humans are not alone in suffering from frigid conditions—the endangered maleo bird depends on heat to re-create. Our morning got a little sunnier when we learned that the Bronx Zoo has made it possible for these fetching feathered creatures, which resemble coral-bellied chickens sporting football helmets, to reproduce by replicating the tropical climes of Sulawesi, the Indonesian island that is the fowls' native habitat. Dedicated ornithologists heated the birds’ nesting areas from below, and lo and behold: The zoo’s mama birds birthed three little chicks! Check out the adorable photos, as well as a suspenseful video from the Wildlife Conservation Society. Now, how can we get our sidewalks heated from beneath?