Neophron percnopterus

Detail of the head of a common alimoche

Alimoches of India

Neophron percnopterus - MHNT

The vulture, abanto, guirre or Egyptian vulture ( Neophron percnopterus) is a species of accipitriform bird in the family Accipitridae native to Africa and the southern palearctic region to India.

Etymology

The genus name is derived from Greek mythology. Timandra was the mother of Neophron. Aegypius was a friend of Neophron and about the same age. Neophron was upset to learn that his mother, Timandra, was having an affair with Aegypius. Seeking revenge, Neophron captivated Aegypius's mother, Bulis, and enticed her into a dark chamber where her mother and Aegypius would soon meet. Neophron distracted his mother, tricking Aegypius into entering the chamber and sleeping with his own mother. When Bulis discovered her deception, she gouged out the eyes of her son Aegypius before committing suicide. Aegypius prayed for revenge and Zeus, hearing the prayer, transformed Aegypius and Neophron into vultures. "Percnopterus" comes from the Greek "black wings" from περκνóς (perknos, meaning "blue-black") and πτερόν (pteron, meaning wing).

Features

It is the Old World vulture with the smallest wingspan (over 150 cm). Juveniles are brown, while adults (from 5 years of age) are characterized by a yellow head and legs, white body, white wings with gray and black tips, and a broad white tail. They measure 85 centimeters from the tip of the beak to the tip of the tail, with a wingspan of 1.7 meters and an average weight of two kilos or a little more. They normally fly alone, although sometimes they follow other conspecifics or even vultures of other species and crows.

Subspecies

Three subspecies are recognized:

Natural history

This vulture is often one of the last animals to sample the carrion it feeds on. When other larger species have already finished off almost all the meat, the Egyptian vulture comes to gobble up the few skins and remains of meat that remain stuck between the bones. It supplements its diet with insects and small animals, as well as all kinds of animal waste and feces. It also swallows eggs, which it breaks by picking them up with its beak and throwing them against rocks. In the North African area, Egyptian vultures manage to break the thick shell of ostrich eggs by taking a stone and throwing it repeatedly until the shell gives way, this being one of the few cases of tool use in the animal world. Egyptian vultures are also regular visitors to landfills, where they gorge themselves on human waste. Everything that the others discard is used by the Egyptian vultures.

They usually nest in shelters located on cliffs and jagged valleys, where they lay two eggs between March and April in a nest lined with animal hair (the use of sheep's wool is common), branches and bones. They transport these materials with their beaks, unlike other vultures, which do so by holding them with their claws. The intensive use of pesticides can reduce the laying to a single egg, as has happened in various areas of Spain and Portugal where it is currently in decline, especially due to the illegal and indiscriminate use of prohibited poisons. Only one chicken survives, which will cross the Strait of Gibraltar with its parents. It will spend the first five years of its life in sub-Saharan Africa until it reaches sexual maturity, returning to the Iberian Peninsula, if it manages to survive, to form a new family.

The Egyptian vulture in Spain

In Spain, the Egyptian vulture is normally a summer visitor, although there are sedentary populations on the islands of Menorca and Mallorca. They winter in sub-Saharan Africa and cross the Strait of Gibraltar in early March. They spread throughout the Spanish geography to reproduce, each pair occupying the same territory year after year. They leave the country at the end of September.

El guirre in the Canary Islands

In the Canary Islands, Neophron percnopterus receives the common name of guirre, being a species totally adapted to the geography of the eastern islands, especially in Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. Although the number of specimens has suffered a setback in recent decades, their protection has guaranteed their survival in their natural spaces, mainly in the interior and midlands of the islands, such as the ravines of Guayadeque, Fataga, El Draguillo and Tirajana, in Gran Canaria, and Butihondo and Jandia, in Fuerteventura. On the island of Fuerteventura there is also an endemic subspecies, the Majorero guirre (Neophron percnopterus majorensis). The species conservation programs on these islands have increased the number to 150 specimens.

Hieroglyphics

In Egyptology, the Egyptian vulture comprises three hieroglyphics recorded in Gardiner's list:

They represent the sounds of ȝ, ȝȝ, and mȝ, respectively.