International Vulture Awareness Day

Our keepers are celebrating as the Estate’s first African white-backed vulture chick to be raised to adulthood in 12 years is about to leave the nest.

The dedicated team incubated the egg and returned the chick to the nest after hatching and the first-time parents took over.

 At just 133 days old today – Friday 5 September – it is due to fledge or leave the nest imminently and the keepers couldn’t be more delighted.

Matt Hardy, Lead Keeper Lakes and Birds, said: “The parents have done fantastically well with rearing it; it’s almost at fledging age now and in the next couple of weeks will be off the nest and going round learning to fly.

“We have seen the parents swap from one to the other in caring for it, which is exactly what you’d see in the wild. One goes off searching for food and the other sits with the chick.

“The egg was removed from the nest and artificially incubated by keepers to give it the best chance of hatching and returned to the parents after four days to allow them to raise it. This will be the first successful chick we have reared here in 12 years.

“When it first hatched the chick weighed 128g. When fully grown it will weigh between four and six kilograms. We don't have a current weight but based on its size I'd estimate it to be around three kilograms at the moment. We will be able to find out its gender once it has left the nest and its feathers can be tested.”

Tomorrow marks International Vulture Awareness day which aims to raise awareness of the species’ importance to the ecosystem as well as highlighting the threats it faces.

Critically endangered, the most recent assessment of wild African White-backed Vultures estimates the population to be around 270,000 but it is known to have crashed by 81 per cent over recent decades. Threats to the species include poisoning and loss of habitat.

Says Matt: “Our chick is one of 12 that have hatched this breeding season as part of the European breeding programme and once old enough will hopefully move to start its own family.”

The species can be seen in our Drive-Through Safari.