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Prague zookeepers turn to puppets to parent baby vultures
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on August 8, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
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Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on August 8, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Prague Zoo uses puppets to raise baby vultures, preventing human imprinting and aiding species identification. This method has been successful with other birds.
PRAGUE (Reuters) -Zookeepers feeding two baby vultures in Prague are using a hand puppet designed to look like the chicks' parents, a technique they hope will ensure the birds learn to identify with other vultures - not humans.
Staff at Prague Zoo had to start hand-feeding the lesser yellow-headed vultures when their parents stopped nesting. After using the approach with other birds, they quickly made a hand puppet that looks like an adult vulture's head.
"If we raised (the bird) in direct contact with humans, it would become imprinted to humans, and then it would be difficult to breed that individual within the species," said Antonin Vaidl, Prague Zoo's curator of bird breeding.
Human imprinting increases the risk of a chick struggling to build a relationship with a mate in adulthood.
Hand puppets have previously been used with other bird species at the zoo including rhinoceros hornbills and Javan green magpies, with their design reflecting distinctive features such as a large colourful beak.
Prague is one of three European zoos to breed the lesser yellow-headed vulture, also known as the savannah vulture.
(Reporting by Eva Korinkova;Writing by Jason Hovet;Editing by Helen Popper)
Zookeepers are using hand puppets designed to resemble the chicks' parents to ensure the birds learn to identify with their species and avoid human imprinting.
If a chick is raised in direct contact with humans, it may become imprinted on them, making it difficult for the bird to breed within its species later in life.
Hand puppets have previously been used at Prague Zoo with species such as rhinoceros hornbills and Javan green magpies, reflecting their distinctive features.
The lesser yellow-headed vulture is also referred to as the savannah vulture.
Prague is one of only three European zoos that breed the lesser yellow-headed vulture.
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