Fluffy king vulture chick being fed by hand puppet

It’s not even three months old, but it still has an appetite: the king vulture chick from Dortmund Zoo. It is raised and fed by animal keepers from Dortmund Zoo. A hand puppet helps.

On February 28, the king vulture chick hatched from its egg. In the past, the parental king vulture couple has often damaged its clutch itself, the zoo writes in a Facebook post about the young animal. The zoo therefore decided to hatch the egg that was laid at the beginning of January in an incubator and then raise it itself.

Hand puppet helps with feeding

Also in the post is a video showing the king vulture chick being fed – and a hand puppet. It resembles an adult king vulture, “so as not to impress the young bird of prey too much on people,” as the post says.

The rearing of the chick has been going well so far. Also recognizable by his healthy appetite. Initially, the young bird was fed by the animal keepers with tweezers, but now it eats independently from a bowl.

The situation is similar for king vultures who grow up with their parents. Initially, the parent birds feed their offspring directly with their beaks, later they only deposit the food in front of the chicks. So everything is normal.

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