A baby vulture at a New York zoo is being fed not by another bird but by hand puppet — a decades-old technique used to ensure the chick doesn’t identify too closely with its human handlers.
King vultures can neglect their chicks, so hand-feeding is necessary to ensure the baby survives, the Bronx Zoo said in a statement Tuesday. But to make sure it doesn’t imprint on humans, staff train the bird’s instincts onto a hand puppet that’s crafted to look like a real vulture.
Footage of a feeding session shows someone with their arm clad in black and a puppet that looks like a vulture’s face and beak on their hand, which is used to grab morsels of food and deliver them to the chick’s mouth.
為什麼紐約動物園用手偶餵養小禿鷹
紐約1家動物園的1隻小禿鷹不是由其他鳥而是由手偶餵養,這是1種已有數十年歷史的技術,目的是確保小禿鷹不會對人類飼養員產生過於親密的認同感。
餵食過程的影片顯示,某個人的手臂上以黑布包覆,手掌操作1個看似禿鷹臉和喙的木偶,用來抓取少量食物,並送到幼鳥的嘴裡。