The small vulture fed by the puppet mother: « must not identify with human beings »

Like all infants needs to be nourished every day. But the mother who provides him with food is not his. But a little looks like them. It is actually a puppetpositioned on the hand of a researcher of the Bronx zooin New York, who takes care of it by taking the place of the mother. It is not a bizarre to catch a few clicks on social media. The intent is not to get too used to the little one real vulture in the human presence, especially in the phase ofimprintingthe first information that every living being receives after having come to the world and that will be decisive in the early stages of development and for the subsequent passages. In short, to keep the distances with the goal, one tomorrow, to be able to give him a life in freedom.

This is not a novelty, for many decades in similar situations or when you want to observe the behavior of a species closely, scientists resort to these camouflages. In the case of newborns it is important to avoid that there is one immediately Identification with people who take care of them. But why is this little real vulture not powered by the mother? According to the zoo it is a characteristic of the mothers of this species that of not liable to their chicks, not everyone in the same way. Moreover, adults also receive food from the staff in captivity and do not procure it by themselves. And in not being mammals, the mother does not have her milk to provide for the offspring. But if in nature a possible loss due to the scarcity of food is part of the randomness of life, in a structure that also carries on conservation programs, this scenario is at all costs to be avoided. Hence the need to start a manual power supply to prevent the baby from being nourished or not enough.

«In this development phase – he explains Chuck Cerbinithe curator of the Ornithology department of the Bronx zoo -, our staff is nourishing the little one with this puppet made in our laboratory. We are very careful to ensure that the baby vulture does not identify in humans. The operation takes place once a day ».

This sort of surrogate mother It is worn by a Keeper dressed in black who remains hidden behind a Nursery tent. The small vulture sees approaching his face what seems the head of his fellow mancomplete with beak and plumage. The fake beak grabs bite of food and takes them to the baby’s mouth, as it would happen in nature. But that’s not all. Once out of the « refectory », the baby is positioned in a fence. In the next one there is a real adult vulture. « This allows the chick to be joined to a fellow man – Cerbini explained – and therefore exposed to the appropriate behavior of this species ». Which is therefore learned by imitation.

The zoo claims to have contributed to developing the power technique more than forty years agowhen it was used to raise Three chicks by Condor Andinowhich were then released in nature in Peru. The breeding with puppets was also used to contribute to the return of the Condor of Californiaa species in serious danger of extinction. The new royal vulture chick, to which a name has not yet been given, is the first of its kind to have been born at the Bronx zoo since the 90s. The zoo said he wanted to guarantee that the genetics of his father today 55 years old is maintained, since he has only another living puppy. Then it will be understood if once they grew up also for this newcomer there will be the conditions for release in nature.