This is the moment a tiny condor chick hatches out of its egg before being comforted by a latex puppet mother bird.
The startling scenes were recorded at the Programme For Conservation of Andean Condor (PCCA) in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires and the tiny Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus) has been named Karut, meaning thunder in the native Tehuelche language.
In the video, the tiny condor can be seen breaking out of its shell with a little help from a worker at the PCCA, who sprays it with water as it slowly unfurls, revealing its trademark black head and beak.
A latex puppet of a Condor is then used to comfort the tiny chick which weighed just 207 grams (7.4 oz) when it was born.
Karut will be kept in strict isolation from humans so it can later be released into nature without problems.
The parents of Karut are named Sagta (male) that has issues with its eyes and Eluney, that cannot fly due to problems with its wings and so cannot be set free.
Condors need more than 10 years to reach sexual maturity and each couple is capable of raising one chick every two or three years. However, in captivity it is possible to increase their reproductive capacity.
The Centre for Incubation at the PCCA has functioned since 1993 and their first chick was named Inti.
The chicks need to stay isolated from humans until they complete their plumage which grows after six months, after which they are ready to be set free.
The Andean condor is the largest flying bird in the world by combined measurement of weight and wingspan and is considered near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
It has a maximum wingspan of 3.3 metres (10 feet 10 inches) and males can reach up to 15 kilograms (33 lbs).
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Story By: Angjela Trajkovska, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
