Each year in May, World Migratory Bird Day draws attention to the billions of birds that migrate long distances with the changing of the seasons, a living braid of ecosystems separated by thousands — even tens of thousands — of kilometers. According to Kariuki Ndang’ang’a, BirdLife International Africa’s regional director, about 2 billion birds fly […]
Tag: vultures
Africa’s vulture safe zones face tough test across vast landscapes
Protecting vulture populations in Africa presents some unique challenges for conservationists. These slow-breeding and ecologically vital scavengers range over vast territories and are vulnerable to poisons targeting other species and expanding infrastructure like power lines. Creating “vulture safe zones” has emerged as a way to address these broad and varied threats, but putting them into […]
Artificial incubation gives Colombia’s threatened Andean condor a new lifeline
In an isolated backroom of a nature reserve near Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, Wayra, a recently hatched condor chick, is a symbol of hope for Fernando Castro, a wildlife specialist. Castro, 33, says he sees in the small fluff of gray down the future of the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) in Colombia. Wayra is the latest […]
As large scavengers decline, disease risk soars, study finds
Scavengers aren’t the most charismatic of animals, but they perform a vital task: by eating carrion, they remove dead animals from our environments. Yet large-bodied scavengers are declining worldwide, increasing the risk of the spread of diseases, according to a recent study. Researchers found that 1,376 animal species have been recorded in the scientific literature […]
In West Africa, hooded vultures vanish as abattoirs modernize
Critically endangered hooded vultures in Nigeria that once fed on the carcasses of wild animals are now largely dependent on scraps discarded by people. But changes in the way waste is disposed of at slaughterhouses has left them desperately short of food, researchers say. In the 1970s, hooded vultures (Necrosyrtes monachus) were among at least […]