The rearing of a young albatross chick will be broadcast to the world as New Zealand's Department of Conservation sets up a 24-hour webcam to document its upbringing.
The five-day-old northern royal albatross hatched at Taiaroa Head on Otago Peninsula on Friday and the webcam is providing an inside look at the breeding colony.
DOC's threatened species ambassador Nicola Toki launched the webcam on Tuesday, which'll give many bird enthusiasts their most intimate experience of a young albatross.
"Few people in the world have the chance to get this close to a nesting albatross chick," she said.
"It's amazing to look right into the nest to see the chick's new beginning."
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The chick will be guarded and fed by both its parents for the next five or six weeks before they leave it unguarded, with the exception of feeding visits, until it's ready to fly in around eight months.
It's sex is not yet known.
Webcam footage will be provided for the next eight months before it fledges and leaves Taiaroa Head, the world's only mainland royal albatross breeding colony, to spend 4-10 years circumnavigating the globe.
