In Spain we have one of the world’s largest Egyptian vulture populations ( Neophron percnopterus ). It is a small vulture, with a wingspan of no more than a meter and a half, which nests in cavities in walls and cliffs. In Spain they are usually summer visitors ; they reproduce, each pair always in the same area, and then migrate to spend the winter in Sub-Saharan Africa.
They feed mainly on carrion , being one of the last animals to go to the carcasses, to scavenge the remains of meat and skin that remains on the skeleton after the passage of carnivores and many other scavengers. They supplement their diet with insects, small reptiles, and very often with eggs .
A vulture that uses tools
Tool use is rare in birds. Aside from corvids, not many other examples exist. The Egyptian vulture is one of those minority and privileged species with the ability to use objects with a purpose .
It usually cracks open small eggs with its beak, and if the shell is particularly hard, it grabs the eggs with its beak and throws them to the ground. But some eggs have shells so tough they won’t even break, or they’re so big she can’t hold it in her beak. When an Egyptian vulture finds a large egg, such as that of an ostrich or a bustard, it looks for a suitable stone , generally rounded, and repeatedly hits the egg with it until it breaks.
Another tool they use is the reel. It has recently been observed that a population of Egyptian vultures in Bulgaria uses small sticks to wrap fibers and hair around them, which they then use to line the nest.
A world population of between 12,000 and 36,000 mature Egyptian vultures is estimated, which is continuously decreasing. For this reason, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the species as ” endangered “. It is a bird that has a large number of threats.
poisoning and intoxication
One of the main threats Egyptian vultures face is intoxication and poisoning. Up to 95% of poisoning cases are due to the illegal use of poisons to control predators.
Three out of four Egyptian vultures that die in this way do so in small hunting grounds, since the remains they feed on coincide with the type of bait used to illegally control foxes, wolves and other animals considered unwanted by certain sectors. of the society.
Likewise, the use of long-lasting pesticides, which remain in the environment for a long time and accumulate in the soil, can have a negative effect on Egyptian vulture populations: these contaminants pass into food webs and can be consumed by Egyptian vultures, final consumers of the intoxicated carrion .
Another source of poisoning that is gaining strength is contamination by diclofenac, ibuprofen, and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs . Raptors, like many other bird species, do not tolerate this type of drug. When they are consumed by people, some of the drug is excreted in the urine and ends up in wastewater. If the water is not properly purified, these drugs reach the natural environment, where they can affect wildlife. On the other hand, the veterinary use of these drugs directly affects Egyptian vultures, if the treated animal dies and is abandoned for free consumption by scavengers. These problems are being observed, above all, in the Asian populations of the Egyptian vulture.
The danger of power lines and wind turbines
Another of the great threats to birds of prey in general, and to Egyptian vultures in particular, is electrocution due to accidents on power lines . Unlike small birds, such as sparrows or blackbirds, which can safely perch on wires —as they only make contact with a wire without ground contact, electricity does not pass through their body— Egyptian vultures often use poles and towers to rest or to sleep. If, while doing so, they accidentally touch one of the high-voltage cables with any part of their body, the circuit is closed and they suffer a lethal electric shock.
Adding to the danger from power lines is the constant growth of wind farms . Accidental collisions with wind turbines have a great impact on birds. The blades move at high speed, and the force of the blow is devastating for any animal.
All these impacts must be taken into account when building new infrastructures or renovating existing ones, trying to predict the behavior of these birds, placing the facilities where there is no risk of fauna approaching, and if it is not possible, use dissuasive methods that keep animals away from these facilities, without causing them harm.
References:
Cuthbert, R. et al. 2006. Rapid population declines of Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) and red-headed vulture (Sarcogyps calvus) in India. Animal Conservation, 9(3), 349-354. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2006.00041.x
García-Alfonso, M. et al. 2021. Disentangling drivers of power line use by vultures: Potential to reduce electrocutions. Science of The Total Environment, 793, 148534. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148534
IUCN. 2021. Neophron percnopterus. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Sanz-Aguilar, A. et al. 2015. Action on multiple fronts, illegal poisoning and wind farm planning, is required to reverse the decline of the Egyptian vulture in southern Spain. Biological Conservation, 187, 10-18. DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2015.03.029
Stoyanova, Y. et al. 2010. Twig Used as a Tool by the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus). Journal of Raptor Research, 44(2), 154-156. DOI: 10.3356/JRR-09-20.1
Van Lawick-Goodall, J. et al. 1966. Use of Tools by the Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus. Nature, 212(5069), 1468-1469. DOI: 10.1038/2121468a0
