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Posted: 3rd April 2023

Rare vulture chick hatches at London Zoo
Egbert is being cared for by keepers at the zoo.
The chick is the first vulture to hatch at the zoo in 40 years.

A Rüppell's griffon vulture chick has hatched at London Zoo, helping to boost the survival chances of the critically endangered species. The chick, named Egbert, weighed just 115g and owes its life to the care of the zookeepers.

When Philomena, Egbert’s mother, previously attempted to incubate an egg, she left it alone for long periods, meaning that it never hatched. So when keepers saw that she had laid a new egg in January 2023, they moved it to an incubator to give the chick inside the best chance of survival.

While they closely monitored the egg, Philomena was given a wooden dummy egg to sit on.

Further intervention was needed when the egg started to hatch, as the egg’s membrane began to dry out quickly and restrict the chick’s movement. This can prove lethal, but with video call support from vulture specialists at the Horstmann Trust, the keepers were able to help the chick to hatch successfully.

The chick is now being hand-fed a protein shake made from quail, mouse and rat meat four times a day. Once it has fledged, one of its feathers will be sent for DNA testing to determine the chick’s sex. It is hoped the chick will form an important part of the European Breeding Programme for the species.

Rüppell's griffon vultures are the world’s highest-flying bird, able to fly to an altitude of 10,937 metres above sea level. Native to the Sahel region and East Africa, their populations are declining and they have been classified as critically endangered since 2015, a trend reflected in other vulture populations around the globe.

One cause of population decline is wild vultures feeding on the carcasses of animals that have been treated with chemicals which are poisonous to vultures. One such chemical is the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac, which has been widely used on cattle.

The Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the conversation charity which manages London Zoo, has worked with Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction to successfully campaign for a ban on the manufacture and importation of the drug In India, Nepal and Pakistan.

Robert Harland, a vulture keeper at London Zoo, said: “The ban of diclofenac and introduction of alternative anti-inflammatory meloxicam across Asia’s veterinary sector has since set the population of Asian vultures back on the right track – showing that nature can recover when species are protected.  
 
“Egbert’s arrival is a brilliant conservation success, and shows the power of conservation zoos to restore and protect threatened species across the world.”


Image (C) ZSL



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