Zoo in Prague turns to puppets in attempt to nurture abandoned yellow-headed vulture chicks
News Article: Puppet Feeding Saves Critically Endangered Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture Chick
In an innovative move to ensure the survival of the critically endangered lesser yellow-headed vulture, zoo keepers at Prague Zoo have turned puppeteers. The lesser yellow-headed vulture chick, born three weeks ago, is being fed through a puppet designed to mimic an adult of its species.
The lesser yellow-headed vulture, a scavenger bird of the Cathartidae family, is known for its distinctive pale orange coloration on its head and neck without feathers. This species prefers open environments such as savannas, swamps, grasslands, mangroves, and highly degraded forests, generally avoiding high-altitude zones.
The puppet feeding method has proven effective for saving critically endangered species like the lesser yellow-headed vulture. By using a puppet that mimics the appearance and behavior of parent birds, zookeepers can feed abandoned chicks while ensuring they retain natural behaviors vital for future breeding success.
Behavioral mimicry is crucial in this method. The puppet resembles parent birds in key visual cues to prevent the chick from imprinting on humans, which is crucial for its social development and ability to breed later. The puppet does not have to be an exact replica of the adult vulture, as the chick responds mainly to certain key visual signals.
This method has a documented track record at Prague Zoo with other critically endangered birds, including the Javan green magpie and rhinoceros hornbill, which have survived and thrived due to puppet feeding intervention. It works best for paired birds and those whose parents sometimes reject or fail to nurture chicks naturally. It acts as a temporary but vital solution during such early vulnerable stages.
Early observations suggest the method is successful, with zoo staff optimistic about the long-term survival and breeding potential of the lesser yellow-headed vulture chicks currently under puppet care. This innovative method was previously used at the same zoo to save critically endangered species such as the Java green magpie and two Rhinoceros hornbill chicks.
The lesser yellow-headed vulture is critically endangered, and this technique is regarded positively by conservation practitioners at Prague Zoo as of July 2025. The chicks are born blind, naked, and with limited mobility, lacking down in their early stages and are fed by their parents through regurgitation of predigested food, drinking directly from their parents' beaks. The lesser yellow-headed vulture does not build nests, instead laying its cream-colored eggs with brown and gray spots directly on flat surfaces such as cave floors, cliffs, or hollows in trees.
Antonin Vaidl, a keeper at the animal conservation center in the Czech Republic, has been instrumental in implementing this innovative feeding method. The lesser yellow-headed vulture inhabits extensively in the neotropical region, from southeastern Mexico to northern Argentina and Uruguay, including Central America and much of South America.
The lesser yellow-headed vulture can locate fresh carcasses by detecting the smell of ethanethiol, a gas produced at the beginning of decomposition. However, its beak is not strong enough to open the thick hides of large animals, so it depends on larger vultures, such as the king vulture, to break the skin to access the meat.
This groundbreaking approach not only ensures the survival of critically endangered species but also maintains species-typical behaviors necessary for eventual reintroduction or ongoing breeding programs.
- To maintain a species-typical lifestyle, zookeepers are incorporating sports strategies into the feeding methods of critically endangered lesser yellow-headed vultures, using a puppet that mimics an adult vulture as a 'team.'
- In an effort to preserve the home-and-garden atmosphere needed for the Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures, zoo keepers have introduced pets into their care, utilizing a puppet model to simulate parents and feed their chicks, ensuring the vultures' natural behaviors are not disrupted.
