The Rüppell’s or spotted vulture is an African species in critical danger of extinction due to the use of poison, poaching or electrocutions. In recent years, specimens have been arriving in Spain. But now, for the first time, it has reproduced with one of the Iberian species of vulture in the mountains of Malaga. Last year, a male spotted vulture formed a mixed pair with a female griffon vulture from the area, achieving…
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
The Rüppell’s or spotted vulture is an African species in critical danger of extinction due to the use of poison, poaching or electrocutions. In recent years, specimens have been arriving in Spain. But now, for the first time, it has reproduced with one of the Iberian species of vulture in the mountains of Malaga. Last year, a spotted male formed a mixed pair with a female griffon vulture from the area, they managed to incubate an egg and the chick hatched. This scavenger from tropical Africa was observed in the Iberian Peninsula in the nineties of the last century, when it made the leap to Europe by crossing the Strait of Gibraltar from the sub-Saharan region (it extends through Senegal, Gambia and Mali in the west, to Somalia and Ethiopia in the east). Hybrid couples had already been detected, but they were not able to breed, indicates the information published by researchers from the University of Malaga in the magazine Ardeola. Now scientists are considering what is the best option to conserve the species and whether its hybridization is an opportunity to escape extinction or will it end up absorbed by the griffon vulture.
“The chick was born in January of last year in the Chorro mountains, in Malaga, and left the nest in October,” says Antonio Román Muñoz, professor in the Department of Animal Biology at the University of Malaga and one of the authors of the article. The juvenile remained near his parents for a few days, until he decided that same month to leave for the African continent. He took a direct route that took him to the Strait of Gibraltar and crossed it “without a second thought.” Already in Africa, Morocco descended from the east and was lost on November 19, in Mali, when it had traveled 1,600 kilometers and had another 2,000 left to reach the most likely wintering place, between Senegal and Gambia. “Surely it was because there is no coverage, but as soon as the GPS it has captures a signal, all the data will be downloaded, because it continues to be recorded,” Muñoz confides. “In this profession you have to be optimistic,” reflects the researcher.
Overcoming the 14 kilometers that separate Spain from Africa through the Strait, the point of shortest distance, is not without danger. They are large, gliding birds (they take advantage of thermal currents) that if they fall into the water they cannot take flight and will most likely die. If you’re lucky, a boat can pick it up. Once that obstacle has been overcome, they face the challenge of crossing the Sahara desert.
“Spain is surely the best country in the world for vultures, all the populations of the species we have [buitre negro y leonado, quebrantahuesos y alimoche] They are growing by being protected and having food, but we have doubts about how Rüppell’s will fare,” says Muñoz. In principle, it is genetically very similar to the fawn, which facilitates hybridization, although its external appearance is different: the plumage of the African is very dark brown, with lighter edges and dotted with specks. The questions arise because there are only a few dozen specimens of the African species, which could be absorbed by the overwhelming majority of the griffon vulture, which has between 31,000 and 37,000 breeding pairs and a number of specimens between 95,000 and 122,000. according to the latest census carried out by SEO/BirdLife in 2019.
Information is the first tool against climate change. Subscribe to it.
Subscribe
“Imagine that the hybrid chicken returns from Africa, which is fertile and mates with another fawn, which would be logical because there are more, what would happen in the end is that in several generations it will be more fawn than Rüppell if that type is always produced of crosses,” Muñoz describes. We will have to wait for his return from the Sahel, which is expected “if he is well and behaves as usual” between the end of May and the beginning of June. It will do so camouflaged among the young griffon vultures that migrate there in winter and when they return to the Iberian Peninsula they are accompanied by immature African spotted vultures, which join the Iberian colonies.
They also face different weather conditions, because it is a tropical species, which is used to temperatures of 40 degrees when it incubates in January. “And in Malaga, we can have values close to zero degrees in the area where it has bred, so the conditions are not the most favorable, even though it has achieved it this time,” he maintains. There are other mixed couples who have tried, but have failed. For example, “Juanita [le han puesto nombre] “He has been after it since 2020, building the nest, copulating with the griffon vulture, but they don’t succeed,” he comments. The scientist believes that the best way to help the species is in its region of origin, in the Sahel, with conservation work and research, and letting natural dispersal take its course, without carrying out reintroductions.
A plummet
There are other opinions on the matter. In an article published in the magazine Quercus, José Rafael Garrido, Justo Martín, and Rachid El Khamlichi, experts in the species, explain that the birth of the chicken from the mixed pair confirms the increase in its presence in the Mediterranean area. The Rüppell’s vulture, they continue, has recorded a reduction of more than 90% of its population in Africa in just three generations, which makes it “a unique colonization”, because it is not an expanding species, but rather a displacement. at a time of decline in their home territory, they say.
“An interesting conservationist dilemma” arises, they indicate. You can do nothing and let nature take its course, which would mean “being spectators” of how the population is diluted among the fawns. The ideal would be, they add, to develop actions in Africa, but it is a very complicated mission to carry out from here. For this reason they think it is “essential” to implement urgent measures in the Mediterranean area. Among them, they raise the possibility of creating reproductive nuclei in suitable places in Spain and North Africa, both in Algeria and Morocco. They even talk about starting captive breeding programs to try to reduce the risk of hybridization with fawns. “That is where we disagree, we believe that it is worth investing funds in recovering the species here, but since this vulture is not native, a priori it is not being done,” explains Garrido.
It seems to Muñoz that “as an idea it is good to raise it, because science is a debate, but the important thing is to really know the situation of the species in Africa, because the lack of knowledge is total.” “We cannot start raising animals in captivity and release them, we forget that it is essential to conserve species and habitats, which is the most complicated and currently we do not even know what the real census is in Africa,” he concludes.
You can follow Climate and Environment in Facebook and xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter