Newborn Endangered Asian King Vulture Fed By Thailand Zoo Caretaker Wearing Vulture Costume

A newborn Asian king vulture that was being fed by a caregiver dressed as a vulture was welcomed to a zoo in Thailand.

Vulture Costume

Watchiradol Phangpanya, a Thai conservationist, dons a red balaclava, red gloves, and a long-sleeved black shirt four times per day to simulate a red-headed vulture feeding its young, an endangered species.

The pinkish chick, the only one of its kind in the world, is the first red-headed, sometimes called the Asian king vulture, to be reared in Asia. It is covered in a white, fuzzy plume that will soon develop into black feathers as it grows.

In order to better prepare them for eventual release into the wild, Watchiradol, together with his colleagues at the Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo, wants to make sure that any hatchling bred in captivity somehow doesn't imprint on humans.

Watchiradol explained that it is crucial to pose as a bird to make the newborn bird perceives them as having the most resemblance to their parents. Moreover, it offers the bird the best opportunity to develop its instincts.

To mimic its diet in the wild, he feeds it meat from rabbits, deer, chickens, and rats. To get the vitamin D the vulture needs for its physical and behavioral development, the chick warms up in the sun after eating, according to Watchiradol.

The Asian King, a Red-Headed Vulture

The red-headed vulture is a scavenger that once played a significant role in the ecosystem by eating animal carcasses. However, due to hunting and habitat changes, the species is now extinct in the wild in Thailand and has suffered a severe global decline.

The zoo is beginning to see results after almost two decades of trying to boost the red-headed vulture population, with another egg being incubated by the parent vultures in conservation. The conservation team hopes to develop a sizable population in preparation for a potential release.

Thanachon Kensingh, a zoo director, said that the improvement of the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary's ecosystem will be the most important factor in determining success, Reuters reports.

Vultures were once among the most common large raptors in the world throughout South Asia, according to The Peregrine Fund. However, in the middle of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s, biologists started to notice a sharp decline in the populations of many different vulture species they were observing, including those of the Red-headed Vulture. One survey found that the population had decreased by over 90%. It took time for biologists to identify the reason for the decline, but once they did, they realized they needed to move quickly to save these lovely birds.

The disappearance of vultures from Asia is attributed to several factors, including the extinction of wild ungulates, accidental poisoning, intensification of agriculture, more advanced waste disposal methods, direct persecution, and disease, according to the Asian Species Action Partnership.