Hatching Seti

Walking down the main path of the Zoo, many of our guests are delighted to see our lappet-faced vulture pair, Amana and Anubis. With a wingspan of eight to nine feet, they are the largest vulture species in Africa, which makes them hard to miss! What guests might not notice in that habitat, though, is the third lappet-faced vulture, who has been staying out of sight on a nest for the past few months. Her name is Seti. 

Seti hatched on May 22, in an incubator under the careful eyes of the Bird Care Team. From there, she was brought to our behind-the-scenes Avian Propagation Center to be hand-raised with a vulture puppet for 10 days, before being re-introduced to her parents Amana and Anubis. She was hand-raised first to ensure she was perfectly healthy, giving a good feeding response, and large enough to withstand an injury if a parent were to accidentally brood her incorrectly. Lappet-faced vultures are endangered and typically only lay one to two eggs in a breeding season. Seti was the third and last of the season, so we wanted to set her and her parents up for success before putting them together. 

When she was finally placed on the nest in the habitat, Anubis was the first one to investigate. When he realized there was a chick, he immediately started keeping her warm and taking care of her. When she was younger, Amana and Anubis took turns feeding and brooding. She is about 3 months old now, and both parents have been doing an amazing job feeding her, though she’s big enough that they can leave her alone most of the time. Seti tends to spend her days eating, sleeping, and practicing flapping her wings for when she’s ready to leave the nest. She’s almost as big as her parents, but she won’t leave the nest until late September at the earliest. Until then, you might be lucky enough to sneak a peek at her through the window of the shed!

Claire S.
Keeper I, Birds