India, March 29 -- The first Great Indian Bustard (GIB) chick hatched in the wild in Gujarat is welcome news for the bird's conservation. Dwindling numbers - 150-200 at present from close to 1,000 in the 1970s - have not only earned it an IUCN classification of "critically endangered", but also have put the very survival of the species under question in recent years. The chick was hatched from a fertilised egg brought from Rajasthan and placed in the nest of one of the three birds (all females) reported in Gujarat. Given the three birds were laying eggs that had no chance of fertilisation with no males around, this experiment was crucial to studying the efficacy of translocation of eggs. The successful hatching in the wild is important fo...