April 29 (UPI) — The Bronx Zoo in New York announced the first king vulture chick to hatch at the facility in three decades is being hand-raised using a puppet made to look like a mother vulture.
Officials said on social media that the hand puppet, designed by the Bronx Zoo’s Exhibition and Graphic Arts Department, is designed to prevent the baby bird from imprinting on its human caretakers.
“Bronx Zoo ornithologists pioneered this technique more than 40 years ago when hand-raising Andean condor chicks using a similar hand puppet cleverly designed to mimic an adult bird,” the post said.
Officials explained that the carers using the puppet to feed and tend to the baby vulture will don costumes that hide “their face and other human features” during feeding.