World News for Students of English

15-08-2025 07:00

In the Prague Zoo, zookeepers are using hand puppets that look like adult vultures to feed two baby lesser yellow-headed vultures. Antonin Vaidl, the zoo’s curator of bird breeding, explained this problem and why the puppets are important.

The puppets have distinctive features that make them look like real vultures, helping the chick recognize their own species, not humans. The zookeepers had to start feeding the baby vultures by hand because their parents stopped nesting. If the chicks get too used to humans, they might find it hard to breed with other vultures in the future. This problem is called imprinting, where a bird thinks humans are its parents. To avoid this, the zoo made puppets that look like vulture heads, so the babies feel like they are with their own species. The zoo has used this method before with other birds like rhinoceros hornbills and Javan green magpies.

Prague Zoo is one of only three European zoos breeding this type of vulture, which is also known as the savannah vulture. This careful approach helps keep the birds healthy and ready for life in their natural group.

Difficult words: curator (a person who manages something, like animals), distinctive (easy to notice or different), imprint (to remember and follow).

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