Zoo Atlanta Happily Celebrates The Hatching Of A Critically Endangered Hooded Vulture

As our planet is gradually losing its abundance and natural beauty, we are always happy to hear any news related to the birth of an endangered species. Recently, Zoo Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia has just welcomed another newborn baby hooded vulture into their big family, and the zookeepers aren’t the only ones who are excited to meet this special little guy.

Image credits: Zoo Atlanta

It has been one year since the zoo celebrated the first successful hatching of a hooded vulture last summer, but this kind of experience is still quite new for dad Tai and mom Acacia somehow. Given this species's critically endangered status, the zoo's Bird Team has no choice but to step in to help the new parents again with their second chick.
Their job includes artificially incubating the egg (while Tai and Acacia practice incubating on their nest with some dummy eggs) and hand-rearing the chick until it is about 4 days old.

Image credits: Zoo Atlanta

Check out this amusing video below to learn more about hand-rearing at Zoo Atlanta and see how it helped with Tai and Acacia's first hooded vulture chick last year:

When they are sure that the newborn has a good feeding response and gains weight steadily, the Bird Team handed it back to Acacia who has been improving her mothering skills fabulously. They can't say the same about Tai though, since he has been quite busy rolling dummy eggs off their nest lately. So, for the sake of the infant, Tai has been temporarily removed from the nest and will be reintroduced to Acacia and their chick soon whenever they are all ready.

Image credits: Zoo Atlanta

The hooded vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus) is native to sub-Saharan Africa. Its name comes from a small patch of downy feathers that runs from its neck to its head, making this bird look like it is wearing a whitish hood all the time. Like any other vulture, this predatory bird scavenges on carrion.
Because of this species' speedy population reduction over the past decades, the hooded vulture has been listed as critically endangered by the IUCN. The most common threats include poisoning, hunting, habitat loss and degradation of habitat.
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H/T: Zoo Atlanta