Royal treatment for rare condors

Two baby Andean condors hatched a month ago are being treated like royalty at a Buenos Aires zoo.Condors are the world's biggest flying birds with a wingspan over over 3m (9.8ft) and are sacred to many South American cultures as it is believed they form a link between the land and the gods above in heaven.However, years of hunting and habitat change has left them endangered and they are now listed by the World Conservation Union as "vulnerable".Every condor egg at the zoo is reared in human incubators that control temperature and humidity as part of a conservation programme to protect the endangered species.Staff are monitoring one egg carefully and once it hatches, it will be taken to the nursery to join the two other youngsters which are developing rapidly.The newborns are currently being fed eight times a day by staff who use plastic puppets to trick the birds into thinking an adult condor is looking after them.Vanesa Astore, the zoo's conservation director, said: "We look at the chick, how it is moving and how the pocket of air in the egg is growing. And we control its weight because during the whole process it has to drop between 11 and 15 per cent of its initial weight."So we help it along so that when it hatches on day number 60 it is in the best form, it is strong and we can assist it by being there at the moment it hatches."A year from now, the programme hopes all three of the baby condors will be ready to be released into the wild.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

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ITN | November 30, 2007

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