Watch the birdie! Endangered Philippine eagle chick is fed by a hand puppet designed to look like its parent in surreal footage from conservation centre
- Critically endangered Philippine eagle chick is filmed being fed by hand puppet
- Seven-week-old Chick 29, being cared for at Philippine Eagle Center in Davao
- Footage, taken on January 17, has since received over 11,000 views from fans
- The Philippine eagle has estimated number of only 400 pairs left in the wild
A critically endangered Philippine eagle chick is bizarrely fed by a hand puppet at a conservation centre to help reduce human contact.
The seven-week-old eaglet, named Chick 29, is being cared for at the Philippine Eagle Center in Davao, Philippines and is being ‘puppet reared’ to help prepare it for the wild.
Footage, taken on January 17, showed the white-feathered chick being fed from a pair of large tweezers through the mouth of the odd-looking puppet.
A critically endangered Philippine eagle chick is bizarrely fed by a hand puppet at a conservation centre to help reduce human contact
The seven-week-old eaglet, named Chick 29, is being cared for at the Philippine Eagle Center in Davao, Philippines and is being ‘puppet reared’ to help prepare the young bird of prey for the wild
In the video, the eaglet can be seen taking small chunks of food from the conservationist under the disguise of the puppet – but the charity have said it is to prevent the chick ‘getting used to human presence’.
The foundation wrote on their Facebook page: ‘Chick 29 at one week old enjoying a meal with the help of an eagle hand puppet. We used puppet rearing to keep Chick 29 from getting used to human presence.
‘Limited human contact can help ensure a successful natural pairing with another eagle. But not anytime soon as Chick 29 is still living the life as the PEC’s bunso (baby)!
The eagle chick was born on December 4 and comes five years after the last eaglet, Sakura, was hatched at the Philippine Eagle Center.
Posting the exciting news on Facebook, the foundation wrote: ‘We are so thrilled to announce the much-awaited hatching of the 29th Philippine eagle chick at the PEC! Congratulations to new eagle parents Ariela and MVP Matatag!
The eagle chick was born on December 4 and comes five years after the last eaglet, Sakura, was hatched at the Philippine Eagle Center
‘Chick no. 29 hatched on December 4 at 1:16 p.m., 25 hours and 13 minutes since it first poked its beak and cracked the egg.
‘Seems like a long time, but actually it is the fastest pip-to-hatch record in our breeding program. This chick just couldn’t wait to say hello to the world!’
The 48-second video was posted to Facebook and has since received over 11,000 views and hundreds of comments from fans.
One viewer wrote: ‘Wow!!! This it truly amazing.’
Another added: ‘The eagle puppet is seriously cool – I’ve never seen anything like that before.’
The Philippine eagle prey on a variety of animals ranging from rodents, bats, pigs and monitor lizards
One more wrote: ‘This is just magnificent to see.’
The critically endangered Philippine eagle has an estimated number of 400 pairs left in the wild.
It is one of the world’s largest, most powerful birds of prey. They are monogamous and mate for life – unless one of the pair dies.
They prey on a variety of animals ranging from rodents, bats, pigs and monitor lizards.
The have brown and white coloured feathers and a shaggy crest. They generally measure up to around 3.35 ft in length and weigh between four and eight kilograms.
The Philippine eagle recently acquired the status of the National Bird of the Philippines.
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