Taronga Zoo’s bird Keepers are celebrating the hatching of a very precious Andean Condor chick. The parents, Connie and Bruce, are the only breeding pair in Australasia and their Keepers were hopeful that this breeding season the pair would produce two offspring.

To help the parents achieve this, the Bird Team incubated the first egg they laid. On the November 23, after two months of very careful monitoring and special conditions (including regular candling to check that the egg was healthy and had good vein development), a very strong chick pushed her way out of the egg, much to the delight of all!

This chick became even more of a triumph for the Zoo as the second egg, which the parents subsequently laid and incubated themselves, didn’t make it.

Taronga’s Keepers are currently hand raising the youngster who is thriving. The very curious female, who is yet being called "Muppet" in lieu of any here-to-fore official name, will eventually be a star in the QBE Free Flight Bird Show, swooping her massive wing span across the audience as she flies on to stage and educates people about her wild cousins which are threatened in the wild. 

Photo Credit: Taronga Zoo