For a long time breeding Bearded Vultures in captivity seemed almost impossible. Before the first successful reproductions at the Alpenzoo Innsbruck it was only in the twenties that a pair at Sofia Zoo had successfully raised chicks. One of the main problems was the difficulty in distinguishing male and female Bearded Vultures by external features. This hampered the formation of pairs. Because in the case when two males are put together, these behave like a pair, but, obviously, they produce no eggs. Today, by using new techniques, sex determination has become much easier. Within the project, all young Bearded Vultures are raised exclusively by parent birds. Raising by human "foster-parents" would lead to irreversible behavioural deficiencies. Only through the cooperation of zoos from all over Europe did the reintroduction project become possible. In some of these zoos today "grandchildren" of the first Bearded Vulture pairs are already breeding. Currently about 100 Bearded Vultures belong to the breeding stock of the project. The four release sites - situated at a distance of about 200-300 km from each other - are almost all in national parks or nature reserves. Bearded Vultures once occurred at each site. Also today, virtually unchanged natural habitats and extensive cliffs provide optimal conditions for Bearded Vultures. Large populations of chamois, red deer and ibex are a particular feature of the four sites. ... [Information of the supplier]
