The first bearded vulture of the 13-14 breeding season hatched a few days ago in the Centro de Cría del Quebrantahuesos de Cazorla-Guadalentin, managed by the Junta de Andalucía and by the local Fundacion Gypaetus. Guadalentin is one of the three large specialized breeding centers in the bearded vulture captive breeding network, coordinated by the Vulture Conservation Foundation, and that also includes more than 30 zoos. This network is at the base of the bearded vulture reintroduction projects now going on in the Alps (where the species has been successfully reintroduced), Grands Causses (France) and Cazorla (Andalucía, Spain).
Guadalentin has currently 5 breeding pairs, and these have laid a total of 9 eggs this breeding season. The young now hatched is the 51st born at Guadalentin since the first hatching in 1999. The bird was hand-reared for the first 5 days, but is now back to the natural parents, and is growing well. Most of the young born in this network will be released this summer in the three on-going reintroduction projects, thus helping to restore the populations of this magnificent species.
The VCF would like to thank the staff at Guadalentin for all their hard work. Well done!
