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Information about Griffon Vulture

Griffon Vulture

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Falconiformes
Family:Accipitridae
Genus:Gyps
Species:G. fulvus
Binomial name
Gyps fulvus
Hablizl, 1783
Enlarge picture
Dark Green; areas of all-year round habitation

Dark Green; areas of all-year round habitation


The Griffon Vulture, Gyps fulvus is an Old World vulture in the bird of prey family Accipitridae.

The Griffon Vulture is 95-110 cm (37-43 in) long with a 230-265 cm (91-105 in) wingspan, and it weighs between 6 and 13 kg (13.2 and 29 lb). It is a typical Old World vulture in appearance, with a white bald head, very broad wings and a short tail. It has a white neck ruff and yellow bill. The buff body and wing coverts contrast with the dark flight feathers.

Like other vultures it is a scavenger, feeding mostly from carcasses of dead animals which it finds by soaring over open areas, often moving in flocks. It grunts and hisses at roosts or when feeding on carrion.

It breeds on crags in mountains in southern Europe, north Africa, and Asia, laying one egg. Griffon Vultures may form loose colonies. The population is mostly resident.

Rüppell's Griffon

Main article: Rüppell's Vulture
Rüppell's Griffon is the highest flying bird on record, once spotted at an altitude of over 10,000 m (33,000 feet) in the skies of West Africa. From a standing start the Rüppell's vulture can fly over three miles in six minutes. They can cruise at over 35 km/h (22 mph), and will fly as far as 150 km (90 mi) from a nest site to find food. When thermal currents start to develop enough lift, about two hours after sunrise, Rüppell's vultures leave the roost and begin to patrol over the plains, using their exceptionally keen eyesight to find large animal carcasses, or carnivores which have made a kill. The Rüppell's vulture often stays in the air for six to seven hours a day.

Status in Europe

  • In Italy, the species survived only in Sardinia, but was re-introduced in a few other areas of the peninsula. As a result, several specimens been spotted again in August 2006 on the Gran Sasso massif (central Italy).
  • A colony of Griffon Vultures can also be found near the town of Beli on the island of Cres in Croatia.
  • On Cyprus, there is a colony at Akrotiri, at the south of the island.
  • Colonies of Griffon Vultures can be found in northern Israel, especially at the Golan heights where a large colony breeds at Gamla, and at Mount Carmel, where they were repeatedly re-introduced from captivity.
  • In Greece, there are nearly 1000 birds. On Crete they can be found on the slopes of Mount Ida.
  • Griffon Vultures have been re-introduced successfully into the Massif Central in France; about 500 animals are now found there.
  • In Belgium and the Netherlands, around 100 birds were present in the summer of 2007. These were vagrants from the Pyrenees population (see below).[1]
  • In Germany, the species died out in the mid-18th century. Some 200 vagrant birds, probably from the Pyrenees, were sighted in 2006[2], and several dozen of the vagrants sighted in Belgium the following year crossed into Germany in search for food[3]. There are plans to reintroduce the species in the Alps.
  • In Switzerland, there is a population of several dozen birds.
  • In Austria, there is a remnant population around Salzburg Zoo, and vagrants from the Balkans are often seen.
  • In Spain, there are tens of thousands of birds, from a low of a few 1000 around 1980.
The Pyrenees population has apparently been affected by an EC ruling that due to danger of BSE transmission, no carcasses must be left on the fields for the time being. This has critically lowered food availability, and consequently, carrying capacity. Although the Griffon Vulture does not normally attack larger living prey, there are reports of Spanish Griffon Vultures killing weak, young or unhealthy living animals as they do not find enough carrion to eat.[4]

Gallery


Portrait

Subadult or young adult, landing

In flight

Wild birds, near Ayerbe


References

Footnotes

1. ^ n-tv.de, 2007-JUN-18: Gänsegeier in Flandern. Retrieved 2007-JUN-20.
2. ^ Handelsblatt, 2006-JUN-30: Großer Geier-Einflug über Deutschland. Retrieved 2007-JUN-20
3. ^ n-tv.de, 2006-JUN-22: Gänsegeier in Deutschland. Retrieved 2007-JUN-25
4. ^ New Scientist, 2007-JUN-01: Starving vultures switch to live prey. Retrieved 2007-JUN-20.

External Links

conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing the conservation status of a species: not simply the number remaining, but the
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Least Concern (LC) is an IUCN category assigned to extant species or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category. As such they do not qualify as threatened, nor Near Threatened, nor (prior to 2001) Conservation Dependent.
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IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List), created in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Falconiformes
Sharpe, 1874

Families

Accipitridae
Pandionidae
Falconidae
Sagittariidae

The order Falconiformes is a group of about 290 species of birds that include the diurnal birds of prey.
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Accipitridae
Vieillot, 1816

Subfamilies
  • Accipitrinae
  • Aegypiinae
  • Buteoninae
  • Circaetinae
  • Circinae
  • Elaninae
  • Milvinae
  • Perninae
but see text

The Accipitridae
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Gyps
Savigny, 1809

Species
See text.

The Gyps vultures are a genus of Old World vultures in the bird family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks.
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binomial nomenclature is the formal system of naming species. The system is also called binominal nomenclature (particularly in zoological circles), binary nomenclature (particularly in botanical circles), or the binomial classification system.
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Carl Ludwig Hablizl or Hablitz (1752 - 1821), also known as Karl Ivanovich Gablits, was a Russian botanist.

He was born in Kaliningrad. He was the author of Physical description of Taurichesky area, its position and three empires of nature (1785).
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8th century - 9th century - 10th century
850s  860s  870s  - 880s -  890s  900s  910s
885 886 887 - 888 - 889 890 891

:
Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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Aegypiinae

Genera

See text.

Old World vultures belong to the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, buzzards, kites, and hawks.
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    Accipitriformes
  • Pandionidae
  • Accipitridae
  • Sagittariidae
  • Falconiformes
  • Falconidae


A
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Accipitridae
Vieillot, 1816

Subfamilies
  • Accipitrinae
  • Aegypiinae
  • Buteoninae
  • Circaetinae
  • Circinae
  • Elaninae
  • Milvinae
  • Perninae
but see text

The Accipitridae
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Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds. They are the outstanding characteristic that distinguishes the Class Aves from all other living groups. Other Theropoda also had feathers (see Feathered dinosaurs).
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VULTURE is the name of a fictional international crime cartel in the DC Comics universe. It first appeared in House of Mystery #160 July (1966), created by Jack Miller and Joe Certa.
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Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled until (UTC) due to vandalism.
If you are prevented from editing this page, and you wish to make a change, please discuss changes on the talk page, request unprotection, log in, or
..... Click the link for more information.
Carrion refers to the carcass of a dead animal. Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion eaters, or scavengers, include hyenas, vultures, Tasmanian Devils, Bald Eagles, and Blue-tongued lizards.
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Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. Physically and geologically, Europe is the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, west of Asia. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea,
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Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,221,532 km² (11,668,545 sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.4% of the total land area.
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Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area (or 29.4% of its land area) and, with almost 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population.
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G. rueppellii

Binomial name
Gyps rueppellii
(A. Brehm, 1852)

Rüppell's Vulture (Gyps rueppellii
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Wilhelm Peter Eduard Simon Rüppell (November 20, 1794 - December 10, 1884) was a German naturalist and explorer. Rüppell is occasionally transliterated to "Rueppell" for the English alphabet.

Rüppell was born at Frankfurt-on-Main, the son of a very prosperous banker.
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thermal, see thermal (disambiguation).


A thermal column (or thermal) is a column of rising air in the lower altitudes of the Earth's atmosphere.
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Sunrise is the time at which the first part of the Sun appears above the horizon in the east. Sunrise should not be confused with dawn, which is the (variously defined) point at which the sky begins to lighten, some time before the sun itself appears, ending twilight.
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Anthem
Il Canto degli Italiani
(also known as Fratelli d'Italia)


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Regione Autonoma della Sardegna
Regione Autònoma de sa Sardigna


Map highlighting the location of Sardegna in Italy

Capital Cagliari
President Renato Soru
(Independent
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Reintroduction is the deliberate release of animals from captivity into the wild. It usually involves species that are endangered or extinct in the wild. In some cases, reintroduction involves a species that had been wiped out in a particular ecosystem, but survived elsewhere in
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