Antananarivo, Madagascar  - British and American conservationists have taken a big step toward saving the world's rarest duck species, the Madagascar pochard (Aythya innotata), by hatching eight ducklings in captivity, reports said.

Their challenging egg-rescue mission marked the start of a long-term conservation and breeding project aimed at releasing the animals back into their wetland habitats. The project is being carried out by the Britain-based Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), the US-based Peregrine Fund, and the government of Madagascar.

Feared extinct in the late 1990s, 20 of the diving ducks were discovered in 2006 on a remote lake in northern Madagascar. During the most recent breeding season, a team monitoring the critically endangered birds reported that three females were preparing to lay eggs. So duck specialists from Durrell and WWT flew to Madagascar to bring the precious eggs into captivity.

Electrical storms, a faulty bridge and other obstacles delayed the rescue, according to Durrell's Glyn Young. But in "a race against time," he said, the specialists managed to arrive with their incubation equipment before the eggs, laid in early October, began hatching.

Eight ducklings are now said to be doing well. Meanwhile, conservationists are attempting to secure two more clutches of eggs from the wild in the next few weeks.

The WWT's Peter Cranswick was pleased with the timely action. "Next year simply may have been too late," he said. (dpa)