Same-sex vulture couple hatch abandoned egg

A pair of gay vultures at an Amsterdam zoo are new dads after successfully hatching an abandoned egg.

Staff at Artis Zoo found the egg on the floor of the aviary and had intended to hatch it in an incubator.

But the two male griffon vultures, which have been in a relationship for years, started building a nest so it was decided to let them rear it.

They first-time parents took turns at sitting on the egg and zoo staff say they're good parents to the newborn chick including regurgitating food.

Heterosexual griffon vultures mate for life, but the zoo says same-sex couples isn't unheard of in the animal kingdom, particularly with birds.

In 2010, the pair were rescued from traffickers in Spain and taken to a shelter and then brought to Artis.  

The chick is a boost for the European breeding programme of the griffon vulture which is classified as being of "least concern" in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Newshub.