Rüppell's vulture
Rüppell's vultures scour the African plains at high altitude, looking for carcasses to eat. In doing so, they fulfil an important role in their habitat; keeping the savanna clean. This way, they prevent the outbreak of diseases, which can also be dangerous for humans. In addition, they ensure that the nutrients from the carcasses are returned to the soil. Unfortunately, things are going very badly for the vultures in Africa. As coordinator of the European population management program of the Rüppell's vulture, Rotterdam Zoo is committed to protecting the African vultures.
40 years
± 1 meter
6.4 – 8 kilograms
The Rüppell's vulture is a large, scavenging bird. Like many other vultures, it has a nearly bald head and neck, which it can easily tuck into a carcass without getting dirty. It is distinguished from other vultures by its dark gray feathers with white tips.
...the Rüppell's vulture can reach a wingspan of up to 2.5 metres?
...a vulture's stomach is so acidic that even bones dissolve in it?
Rüppell's vultures are found throughout Africa, especially in the area around the equator. Their habitat extends from the west coast of Senegal to the east coast of Somalia and Tanzania. They are also increasingly spotted in Spain or Portugal. They fly mostly over vast savannas and steppes, but also require rocks and cliffs for nesting.
Because vultures are so good at detecting carcasses, they also descend on poached rhinos and elephants. Vultures flying around above a carcass can reveal the location of poachers to rangers. Therefore, poachers pour poison over the carcasses they kill. The vultures that descend on them die en masse from the poison, allowing the poachers to proceed unseen. Partly because of this, 7 of the 11 African vulture species are critically endangered today, including the Rüppell's vulture.
Diergaarde Blijdorp supports the Peregrine Fund in Kenya, an organization dedicated to the protection of birds of prey worldwide. They send teams into Africa to clean up poisoned carcasses and try to raise awareness among local people about the important role of vultures. They also use GPS transmitters to track Rüppell's vultures. When a transmitter does not move for a suspiciously long time, a team jumps into action to investigate what happened to the vulture. They can then remove the poisoned carcass as quickly as possible. This way they prevent more vultures from dying from poisoning.
Rüppell's vultures only lay one egg per year. The chance of this one successfully hatching and the young growing up is very small. To lend an extra hand, Rotterdam Zoo uses a trick, based on a natural mechanism of the vultures. When a vulture has laid an egg, caretakers remove it and place it in the incubator. In response, the vulture lays a second egg after four weeks. The first egg hatches in the incubator and the chick is returned to the parents by the zookeepers. At that time, the second egg is removed and continues to hatch in the incubator. This second chick is then placed with adoption parents, which fortunately is quite easy. In this way, twice as many vultures can grow up.
As in the wild, the Rüppell's vultures at Rotterdam Zoo share their habitat with other scavengers, including three other species of vultures and the African marabous. The vultures are given carcasses to provide them with as natural a diet as possible. The nest boxes at the back of the aviary offer the Rüppell's vultures a sheltered place in winter and a good nesting site. This appears to be very successful: several Rüppell's vultures have already hatched at Rotterdam Zoo.
