Gyps fulvus
The griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus, from the Greek, γύψ, gýps (vulture) and the Latin fulvus (blonde or reddish)). It is a species of accipitriform bird in the Accipitridae family, and one of the few vultures that can be found in Europe along with the black vulture, the Egyptian vulture, and the bearded vulture.
Description
It can weigh up to 10 kg, with a wingspan that exceeds 2.5 m (it can reach 260 cm). The feathers are ocher or cinnamon in color in most of the body (back, ventral area and front half of the wings), this being the reason for its nickname "tawny". These tawny feathers turn dark brown or black on the tail fins and tips of the rémiges. The base of the neck is surrounded by white phylloplumes as a ruff.
The hooked beak, typical of raptors, and specialized in tearing tissue, is grayish-brown at the base and pale yellowish on the sides. The tarsi and toes are gray and large, although much weaker than those of other large birds of prey, the nails being short and blunt. This circumstance, to which must be added especially the great weight and slowness of these birds, makes it practically impossible for vultures to hunt or kill other animals, as the rest of the birds of prey do.
Subspecies
Two subspecies of griffon vulture are known:
- Gyps fulvus fulvus - from Northwest Africa and the Iberian Peninsula to the Middle East.
- Gyps fulvus fulvescens Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India to Assam.
Distribution
Along with the black vulture, the bearded vulture and the Egyptian vulture (in summer), it is one of the few species of vultures that can be seen in Europe, since it can be found in Spain, Portugal, isolated areas of France (where it has reintroduced) and Italy, much of the Balkans and Crimea. The remainder of its distribution spans various parts of northern Africa and western Asia, from Turkey, Arabia, and the Caucasus to the foothills of the Himalayas and northwestern India.
In Spain, a population of 25,000 pairs has been estimated in 2008, with the highest concentrations in Castilla y León, Aragón and Andalucía (with percentages of 24, 21 and 12, respectively). The colonies of the Park stand out Nacional de Monfragüe (about 800 pairs), the Hoces del Río Duratón (710 pairs), Hoces del Río Riaza (402 pairs), Arribes del Río Huebra (349 pairs) and the populations of the Cañón del Río Lobos, the Rudrón Valley, Alto Jalón, Campo Taranz, Maranchón parameras, Barahona heights and the Alto Tajo natural park.
Habitat
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The areas inhabited by griffon vultures are usually mountainous, although on the plain any vertical or overhanging cliff of more than 50 meters and inaccessible serves as a vulture or resting place. In mountainous areas cut by deep valleys, where ascending and anabatic breezes are produced, caused by the heating of the slopes facing the sun.
When the day is warm, at dawn they are usually seen on the edges of the cliffs and ravines facing northeast-east, waiting for the necessary heat to be able to gain enough height to cross the ridges and summits. During noon they usually take advantage of the routes supported by reliefs oriented to the south and southwest, to later lean when the sun declines on the west and northwest slopes, hours in which the restorative lifts begin to take place, and taking advantage of the different aerological conditions they have been able to travel hundreds of kilometers, and depending on the aerological bonanza of the day they can fly over the plain or just stay on the montane relief, being great connoisseurs not only of the ascending flight, but of the routes and the appropriate winds at the different heights to trace their tours. At sunset they return to their shelters, small ledges preferably located under a rock roof and protected from the winds, where they spend the night, incubate the egg when it is time and raise their young.
In the Iberian Peninsula it is a sedentary species that can be seen all year round, but populations from other places sometimes migrate south to winter and return to their places of origin to breed.
Behavior
The griffon vulture is a gliding rather than a flying bird, barely moving its wings in the air, hovering in high currents during the hottest hours of the day. It prefers to rise on updrafts that correspond to aerological phenomena such as thermal convectiveness, dynamic or thermodynamic lift, the convergence of breezes, restitution, mountain waves or cold air wedges of a meteorological nature that raise large masses of hot air. spending hours flying between heights of 1,800 to 3,500 meters above sea level, although on exceptional days they can reach 6,000 meters above sea level and traveling from 50 kilometers to 300 kilometers depending on the convective potential of the day, in search of dead animals (especially large mammals) to feed on. When gliding, it tends to keep the wings slightly above level and the lift planes slightly cambered.
Food
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It is specially adapted to feed on carrion: its powerful vision locates any corpse in the vicinity, and when it descends to feed (then forming large crowds of vultures, very quickly, where fights for the best slices are not lacking), it enters its head and long neck without problems, provided only with a short down on which blood and meat do not adhere easily. Given the scarcity of large ungulates in Europe such as deer, fallow deer or mouflon due to hunting and the disappearance of forests, the carrion left behind by shepherds constitutes an important part of the diet of this animal.
Playback
Griffon vultures come into heat from December to April. At that time they form stable pairs and spend about 58 days incubating their single egg, in shifts of one or two days each. Later they take turns with the same frequency to feed their young. The chick grows at a fairly slow, but steady rate. Unlike other birds, if they don't get the right amount of food, they can't slow their growth and die of starvation. The young start their first flight around the month of July, but they continue to stay near the nest for a while until they believe that the time has come for them to become independent. At four or five years of age they mate for the first time.
Conservation status
Although not considered a particularly threatened species, the griffon vulture is a protected bird in several countries. In other times, ranchers chased and killed vultures, considering them bad omens, which threatened cattle about to give birth.[citation required]
In Spain it is considered out of danger although it has been listed as a species Of special interest since April 5, 1990, that is, it deserves particular attention in function of its scientific, ecological, cultural value or its uniqueness, and requires the drafting of a Management Plan. It is also included in annexes I and II of the Bird Directive 79/409/EEC, Annex II of the Berne Convention, Annex II of the Bonn Convention and in C1 of the CITES Convention.
Also listed as a species of "special interest" in the regional catalogs of Navarra, Castilla-La Mancha, Madrid and Extremadura. As "vulnerable" in that of the Basque Country and as "extinct" officially in the Region of Murcia, although in the latter province the population has recovered since it was declared extinct and is currently in the process of expansion.
The main threat factors for the species are poisoning from eating poisoned baits placed illegally in the field by hunters or ranchers to control predators, lack of food due to the scarcity of garbage dumps and the obligation to remove dead cattle due to EU regulations (especially after the mad cow crisis), and the inconvenience in the breeding colonies by climbers and hikers that cause reproductive failures. Illegal hunting is not as important as it was in the past.
In addition, the habitat of the griffon vulture is threatened by infrastructure constructions (forest tracks, rural roads, firebreaks, dikes), urbanization, and abusive logging and thinning during the breeding season and in areas close to the vulture colonies.
There are centers for the conservation and care of the griffon vulture, such as the Refugio de Rapaces de Montejo de la Vega, founded in 1975 by Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente. The work of the refuge has been noted in a progressive growth of the vulture population, as reflected in the different censuses carried out by numerous ornithologists each year.
Mythology
It was a very important animal in the Celtiberian culture. The corpses of the fallen in combat were left for their food (so the soul of the warrior went before the gods of heaven). It is quite common to associate it with the solar deity "Lug".