B R E E D I N G 201

A note on the successful 'splinting' of a damaged Andean condor egg Vultur gryphus

JOSEPH BELL', WILLIAM G. CONWAY', & EMIL DOLENSEK3

'Chairman, Department of Ornithology, =General Director, 3Veterinary Surgeon, New York Zoological Society, Bronx Zoo, New York 10460, USA

An egg from a pair of Andean condors Vultur gryphus, laid during March in an outdoor aviary at the New York Zoo, was removed for artificial incubation because of the extremely cold weather. On 4 May, when it was 57 days old and close to the point of hatching, the egg was severely damaged when the incubator tray in which it was kept accidentally fell to the floor. By candling it was determined that the embryo was still alive and the air-cell

intact. Indeed the chick's bill could be clearly seen in the air-cell indicating that hatching was already in progress.

Our main concern was whether the embryo could hatch normally and absorb the yolk-sac without the firm support of the shell during the process, and it was decided to make an attempt to jacket the damaged portion of the egg with another eggshell of similar size. Fortunately, a number of blown shells are

Plate 1. top left. The damaged egg with most of the shell missing from the median point to the small end and the membrane exposed. top righi. The sectioned swan eggshell was fitted over the damaged portion and bottom lcfr during hatching supported the one end of the condor egg as the chick worked its way out of the undamaged air-cell. Elizabeth Russo, NYZP. bottom right. The condor chick a few hours after hatching. The fleshy caruncle above the bill indicates a 8. Joseph Bell, N Y Z P

202 B R E E D I N G

kept as specimens and while the collection did not include a condor, the eggshell of a Black swan C’gnus atratus was very close in size and proportion.

Using a small circular sawing disc in a model-maker’s drill, the swan egg was sectioned at the widest point, washed care- fully with alcohol and allowed to dry thoroughly. The shell section was then fitted over the damaged end of the condor egg and secured in place with a bone cement (methyl- methacrylate). Additional fractures of the exposed portion of the shell were then sealed using a thin layer of the same material,

applied with a cotton-tipped applicator stick. F’arly in the afternoon of the following day

the chick had made an initial hole in the shell. It finally hatched four days later during the night of the 8th. The chick, a d, was normal and weighed 1644 g.

PRODUCT MENTIONED IN ‘I’IIE TEXT Methyl-methacrylate: a bone cement manufactured by North Hill Plastics Ltd., London, Great Britain and supplied by Howmedica, Inc., Medical Division. Rutherford, New Jersey 07070, USA.

Manuscript submitted 19 July 1979

Breeding the King vulture

a t Rio de Janeiro Zoo Sarcoramphus papa

P A U L 0 D E T A R S 0 ZUQUIM ANTAS1 & CARMEN LUCIA DA SILVEIRA2 ‘Former Curator of Birds, and ZBiologist, 3ardim Zoologic0 do Ria de 3aneir0, Quinta da Boa Vista s/no, Rio deJaneiro, RJ, CEP 20 940, Brazil

The King vulture Sarcoramphus papa is a little known scavenger which usually inhabits forests but is also encountered in open vegetation (Brown, 1976). Its distribution extends from the State of Veracruz, Mexico south to the eastern Andes of Argentina and to the western Andes of Peru (Pinto, 1978).

In comparison with other species of the family Cathartidae the King vulture is strikingly beautiful, principally because of the contrast between the colourful head and the body plumage. Although it is kept in many zoos throughout the world, repro- duction is rare.

The species has been kept in the Rio de Janeiro Zoo for many years. In 1975 four specimens were maintained in three cages, each measuring 5 x 4 x 2 5 m. They received 500 g meat per day, plus one rat per week for each bird.

The individuals of one pair (pair A) were distinguishable from one another by the size

difference of the head and the number of caruncle lobes. In early 1976 a fifth bird, which had lost its caruncle, was obtained and paired with one of the other two birds. The only discernible difference between the two birds of the new pair (pair B) was the absence of the caruncle.

COURTSHIP A N D N E S T I N G In April 1977 pair A began to show mating behaviour. The individual with the larger head (thought to be the d) began to display intensively. He approached his mate with his body vertically erect, wings spread and head pressed against his neck in a display very similar to that of the Andean condor Vultur gryphus (pers. obs.). Sometimes when approaching the 9, the d lowered his head until it touched the base of the tail with only a slight forward inclination of the body from the vertical and with wings fully spread. She responded by gently biting his caruncle. The

‘Present address: IBDF-DN, Setor de Areas Isoladas Norte, Avenida L4 s/nO, Brasilia, DF, CEP 70 000, Brazil.