75 days ago the Zoo Ave Rescue Center in Costa Rica celebrated the birth of a King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa), an event that scientists had been awaiting for years.

The parents of the baby vulture have lived in captivity and isolated for over 28 years and they have attempted to reproduce for the last decade unsuccessfully.

In an interview with Teletica Channel 7, Dennis Janik, founder of Zoo Ave, explained ‘This is an animal that used to be in every corner of Costa Rica, but now they are only seen sporadically (…) He is a healthy bird, he was very weak when born, but he hasn’t been sick in this 75 days, we are confident he will survive”.

The King Vulture is a large bird that can grow to be 32 inches long and is generally found in tropical lowland forests stretching from southern Mexico to northern Argentina. It is considered and endangered species with close to 100 thousand birds worldwide, in Costa Rica the population is estimated in only 50. The main reason for the decline in the population of this bird is habitat loss.

King Vultures are scavengers, it feeds on the carcasses and remains of animals that have been killed.

Rescate Animal Zoo Ave, is a wildlife rehabilitation facility located on 84 acres of natural forest in the province of Alajuela, Costa Rica with a mission to protect and restore the country’s biodiversity through wildlife rehabilitation and endangered species breeding and reintroduction. The facility has saved the lives of tens of thousands of injured, orphaned and confiscated native birds and mammals.