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Griffon Vulture

The Griffon Vulture is a large, Old World Vulture that can be found in mountainous areas of Europe, North Africa, and Asia. They have light, buff colored bodies, white neck ruffs, and bald heads that help them to stay disease free when digging around in corpses.

Gyps fulvus
As one would expect, Griffon Vultures are scavengers. They have excellent eyesight that helps them to locate dead and dying animals. Because the Vultures typically only swoop down when prey is spotted, other Vultures know what is going on when they spy one of their kind making a plunge. This behavior is how a newly dead corpse can be covered with Griffon Vultures in only a short matter of time. Griffon Vultures are also built for soaring, and can fly around for several hours and up to 100 miles looking for a meal.

Griffon Vultures are not actually territorial, though they do live in roughly the same area their entire lives. It is believed that pairs mate for life, and they lay only one egg at a time. Griffon Vultures are quite long lived, with ages frequently reaching over 40 years.

Griffon Vultures are listed as being of Least Concern, though populations in many localized areas are on the decline. This is due in part to changes in farming methods that have affected the Vultures' food supply; dead domesticated animal carcasses are seldom left laying around anymore.
IUCN Status :  Least Concern
Location : Europe, North Africa, and Asia
Size : Body Length 40in (102cm), Wingspan 100in (2.5m), Weight up to 30lbs (13.6kg)
Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Aves -- Order : Falconiformes
Family : Accipitridae -- Genus : Gyps -- Species : G. fulvus
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