Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Condor Hatches in Captivity

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CARACAS, Jun 14 2004 (IPS) - Venezuela has produced a hatchling of the condor of the Andes (Vultur gryphus) at its Bararida Zoo in the city of Barquisimeto, 250 km west of the capital. The proud parents are Bud and Rana, a condor pair brought from the United States. Since the later decades of the 20th century, after wild condors disappeared from Venezuela, state conservation institutions and academic experts have sought to reinsert this giant bird of prey back into its Andean habitat, releasing young condors from U.S. zoos in the wild here.

The Andean condor has a long reproductive cycle: two years. Bud and Rana at first showed little interest in each other, but “in 2002 they began a courtship, in 2003 there were signs of reproductive activity, and this year the chick was hatched,” says Raúl Rojas, head of the zoo's animal health unit.