NEW YORK — The Bronx Zoo is hand-raising a rare king vulture chick using a custom-made puppet to support its development and prevent human imprinting. The chick hatched on February 25 and is the first of its species born at the zoo since the 1990s.

To ensure the chick’s successful growth, a keeper uses a costume and a hand puppet designed by the zoo’s Exhibition and Graphic Arts Department to feed it once daily. The hand-raising technique is necessary, as king vulture parents can sometimes be neglectful.

“This technique used in hand-raising the vulture chick incorporates the expertise from many at the zoo including the animal care staff, veterinarians, and artists,” said Chuck Cerbini, Curator of Ornithology, in the zoo’s Facebook post. “It is a good example of the extent we go to ensure the health of individual animals and of species’ populations.”

The chick’s father is 55 years old and has only one other living descendant, making the chick’s genetics especially important to the king vulture population in human care. An adult king vulture is housed nearby to help the chick learn species-specific behaviors through observation.


Source: Bronx Zoo