 A U.S. zoo, working in cooperation
with Mongolia, has reported success in hatching and raising an endangered
cinereous vulture.
The vulture chick was born
May 14 at the Denver Zoo. Zoo staff members had to assist the chick
in breaking out of its shell. Weighing only one-half pound, the bird
had to be hand-fed for its first seven weeks.
To assure the bird would adapt
to a wildlife habitat, zoo staff fed the bird using a hand puppet vulture
to prevent the chick from associating its being fed with human contact.
Today, the chick weighs 16 pounds.
The cinereous vulture population
in the world has been decimated through illegal hunting, poisoning and
the general encroachment by human communities. It is estimated that
only 7,000 to 10,000 cinereous vulture couples exist today.
The Denver Zoo has worked with
Mongolian officials to tag and track the vultures within the country.
The information has allowed officials to develop a conservation program
for the birds.
The Denver Zoo has also begun
a program of artificial insemination to increase the number of vultures
in the wild.
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