{"id":14908,"date":"2020-12-01T12:47:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-01T10:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4vultures.org\/?p=14908"},"modified":"2025-05-05T15:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T12:47:07","slug":"kajazo-a-human-imprinted-bearded-vulture-male-pairs-with-his-human-keeper-to-become-a-foster-parent-to-a-chick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/4vultures.org\/es\/blog\/kajazo-a-human-imprinted-bearded-vulture-male-pairs-with-his-human-keeper-to-become-a-foster-parent-to-a-chick\/","title":{"rendered":"Kajazo – a human imprinted Bearded Vulture male ‘pairs’ with his human keeper to become a foster parent to a chick"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kajazo and Alex \u00a9 Vulture Conservation Foundation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Have you previously heard about the story of Kajazo and Alex? The Bearded Vulture Kajazo is a human imprinted male, which means that he recognizes humans as his species. However, he can be an excellent foster parent to a chick, and therefore, a valuable part to the Bearded Vulture Captive Breeding Network, coordinated by the Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF) as part of EAZA’s EEP, which breeds the species in captivity for conservation purposes. But to act as a foster parent, he needs to go through the entire breeding period, and here is where Alex comes in as his human keeper! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kajazo<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kajazo feeding \u00a9 Vulture Conservation Foundation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before Kajazo became a part of the Bearded Vulture EEP, he lived in a zoo where he was hand-reared for too long and therefore became imprinted to humans. So, when he reached sexual maturity, he recognized humans as its species since they reared him as a chick. Even so, he plays a valuable part in the reintroduction or restocking of the species to the wild! Now, he manages to rear one Bearded Vulture chick at Vallcalent where he is based every year, allowing the chick to go through natural rearing, and therefore, to live in the wild if released or breed in captivity in the future if it is kept within the captive stock. To do so, he first needs to go through the entire breeding season with Alex – his human keeper!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kajazo and Alex – breeding period<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kajazo and Alex became a ‘pair’ in 2009. Alex Llopis is the Captive Breeding Vultures Manager at the VCF and the Bearded Vulture EEP Coordinator. On top of these duties, Alex has to spend one hour a day with Kajazo during the breeding period between September to February\/March \u2014 so what does this entail? In early autumn, the staff at Vallcallent provide sticks and wool to the aviaries for nest building purposes. Alex and Kajazo built the nest together, and then after a few weeks, a dummy egg is placed in the nest. Both take turns in incubating the clutch since Bearded Vultures share responsibilities in incubation tasks. So, in February or March, when a chick hatches at the centre, it needs to be reared introduced in a Bearded Vulture nest within the next week. Then, one of the chicks every year are introduced in the nest constructed by Kajazo’s and Alex. Hopefully, Kajano accepts the chick and becomes a foster parent, doing a wonderful job in raising the chick. That’s the time that Alex stops visiting the aviary to avoid human imprinting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below, you can watch the efforts of what it takes to rear a chick in captivity, with the help of Kajano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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