One of the 6 old world vultures on WAnimals
Birds · Accipitriformes · Accipitridae
Gyps fulvus
The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk.
Its stomach produces an extraordinarily corrosive acid, able to digest carrion in advanced decay and even to neutralise botulinum toxin and anthrax spores.
Weight
6 kg – 11.3 kg
Size
93 cm – 1.2 m
Life expectancy
25 years
Diet
Carnivore
Feeds mainly on other animals.
Activity
Diurnal
Active mainly during the day.
Social structure
Colony
Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.
Sighting difficulty
Easy
Estimated population
30,946 pairs in Spain according to the fifth national survey of 2018, more than 90% of the European total; the population went from 2,283-3,240 pairs in 1979 to 7,529-8,074 in 1989. Aragon (4,832 pairs) and Castile and León (7,489) hold most of them
AI-generated images: illustrations, not photographs.
Sources consulted: AnAge (genomics.senescence.info); A-Z Animals; Birdfact; The Animal Facts; White Marmotte; Wikipedia (Eurasian griffon vulture); Animalia.bio; Taylor & Francis (age identification study); SEO/BirdLife, V censo nacional (2018): 5.407 parejas más que en 2008, un crecimiento del 17,5-26 % en una década, aunque cada vez menos pronunciado || Del Moral y Molina (Eds.) 2018, El buitre leonado en España, SEO/BirdLife || SEO/BirdLife, III Atlas de las aves en época de reproducción en España, ficha del buitre leonado
Best time: All year round: it is essentially a resident species, and in winter its movements to feeding grounds allow it to be seen almost anywhere in Spain. The cliff colonies are easiest to watch during the breeding season, between January and July
Parks and dive sites where this species has been documented — showing 10 of 28.
Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Griffon Vulture — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.
Based on what we already know about griffon vulture.
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The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.
