A Tale about Eurasian Griffon on the island of C res Authors: Vesna Radek and Goran Sušić
ECO CENTER CAPUT INSULAE BELI INTRODUCTION... Cres the biggest island in the Adriatic sea (405 km²) which has two ornithological reservations: KRUNA and PODOKLADI Griffons also live on ornithological reservations on the ISLAND of PRVIĆ and KRK The ornithological reservation on Krk was the first to be established in the world for the protection of nesting griffons, 1969.
ECO CENTER CAPUT INSULAE BELI Eurasian Griffons yesterday... At the begining of the 20 th Century Eurasian Griffons use to live all over Croatia. About 100 years later this endangered and protected species now only lives on Kvarner
ECO CENTER CAPUT INSULAE BELI Eurasian Griffons... they live in colonies; so they nest, look for food and rest together IN THE COLONY THERE CAN BE TWO TO THREE COUPLES OR EVEN SEVERAL HUNDREDS
ONLY ONE EGG A YEAR... Couples spend most of the day in wedding flights (in Cres in October). The birds fly one above the other or one next to another, wing by wing. The one that flies from behind follows the movement of her partner with great accuracy They stay together for a lifetime THEY USUALLY MATE IN OR NEAR THE NEST
ONLY ONE EGG A YEAR... Both parents build the nest from dry branches, grass and wool on the cliffs above the sea. The nest is 60 cm to 1 m in diameter. Female lays only one egg a year during the winter. Both parents will sit on the egg for two months. This population of Eurasian Griffon is unique to the world because they build nests at 6-7 m above sea level Griffons become sexually mature at the age of 5-6 years. They can not produce offsprings before this stage.
PARENTS... After allmost two months the little chick cracks the egg shell and for the first time he sees daylight. He is covered with very soft feathers and is incapable of flying and finding food on his own. Both parents will take care of the chick. THE CHICK STAYS IN THE NEST FOR 4 MONTHS
YOUNG BIRDS... When 3 months old the young bird will start to leave the nest and is capable to fly for short distances. In the next two months, parents will teach them how to use air currents to fly and how to search for food. At the age of around 4 months young Griffons are ready to conquer the open sky.
JUVENILES AND ADULTS... Juvenile Griffons have almost black beaks and brown fluffy collar.the adults have yellowy-grey beaks and white dense collar. You can not tell the difference between the two sexes. GRIFFONS LIVE UP TO 50 YEARS Each year the appearence of Griffons will change. The feathers becomes lighter and their eyes changes from black to light yellow.
ONE OF THE BIGGEST FLYING BIRDS There are not many flying birds in the world that are bigger than the Eurasian Griffons. Some of them have bigger wing spans but are lighter (albatros) and some of them are heavier but with a smaller wing span (bustard). wing span: 235-280 cm height: 93-110 cm weight: 6-12 kg KRALJIĆ (one of our smallest birds) wing span: 13-16 cm height: 9 cm weight: 5-7 g Some of the Griffons that came to our shelter weighs only 5kg The Griffons in the ZOO in Zagreb can weigh 12 or even 15kg
GRIFFONS ARE......they are very tidy birds and will often clean their feathers......they like to ruffle their feathers......they like to bathe... do you see these... their fake eyes changes colour......they like to scratch... and rest......bare spots?...it shows their emotions- if they are calm or... excited
WHAT AND HOW THEY EAT... Eurasian griffons are raptors, but they belong to the group of vultures. Their diet consists of wild and domestic animal carcasses e.g cows, sheep, donkeys and sometimes small mammals like rabbits. The colonial way of life means that they will search for food together by gliding in the air in a special formation in a large group. In the formation they are able to spot one another as far as 12km. GRIFFONS DON 'T HAVE A SENSE OF SMELL, BUT THEIR SIGHT IS EXTREMELY SHARP. FROM 1 km THEY CAN SEE AN OBJECT THAT IS 6,4 cm BIG.
WHAT AND HOW THEY EAT Due to the shape of their beak and tongue they can eat very fast, Important adaptation to that kind of feeding is a crop they temporarly store the food here They have short feathers on their neck and head so they can easily.clean it after the meal. GRIFFONS CAN DIGEST MANY BACTERIA EVEN VERY DANGEROUS ONES WITHOUT INFECTION. IN THAT WAY THEY PREVENT CHOLERA AND RABIES FROM SPREADING They can live without food for 14 and survive even for 20 days but than they will not have the strength to fly. They need ½ kg of meat a day and in one meal they can eat up to 2 kg.
HOW DO THEY FLY?... THEY FLY LIKE AN AIR-GLIDERS Griffons have a special adaptions for flight, they can glide for hours looking for food and searching hundreds of kilometers below. They can fly like that for days and travel for thousands of km but find nothing to eat. Griffons use the air courrents to help them fly in two ways: 1. They lift on the upwelling air current which originates when the wind hits the cliffs or the mountain. This can lift them up to few hundred meters high. 2. They circle inside the bubble on the top of the warm arising air - " thermals. Circling inside the thermals they can go up to a few km high.
THEY FLAP, GLIDE AND STOOP Griffons fly in three different ways: GLIDING FLAPING WITH THEIR WINGS STOOPING After achieving the required height they travel trough the air streets by gliding with their wings and the main flight feathers on it s top are totally spread When landing, they slow down by lowering their legs and tail and by spreading their wings in a 90 angle to the ground The greatest height in which a bird has flown is 11km! At this height the temperature is 60 c and there is almost no oxygen. This world record height was set by a Griffon in Africa that was taken up so high on a thermal.
HOW DO WE MONITOR THEM? We mark them with rings and wing markers so that we can follow their migration patterns, protect them, learn more about their behaviour and collect some important scientific data. Young Griffons are ringed when they are around 100 days old with two different kind of rings the green one on the right leg and the metal one (aluminium) on the left leg. Beside the rings we use wing markers that we put on the right wing of the Griffon (every country has a different colour wing marker). In Kvarner the marking of Griffons started in 1990 and over 500 Griffons were marked. Our Griffons have white wing markers with blue letters
WHERE DO YOUNG GRIFFONS GO? In the first year, after they learn how to feed and fly (at the end of August to September), young Eurasian griffons start their five year long migration. It is known that these Griffons use three migration routes: North: over Slovenia, Italy, Austria ria, Hungary, Germany, Poland and Netherland East : to BulgarB garia, Romania, Greece eece, Turkey, Ukranie ranie, Israel and tot Chad in Africa West: to France and Spain During these five years they become sexualy mature and will come back to Cres. Sometimes they find a partner somewhere else and will then stay abroad. Unfortunately during these five years of wondering their mortality is very high. One of our Griffons, flew from Kvarner to Chad, in the middle of Africa, in less than two months (4000km) Chad is also the most southernly area where the Eurasian Griffon has been seen
SOME RELATIVES The Eurasian Griffon is the only European vulture and in Africa and Asia there are 7 close relatives. The scientific name is Gyps fulvus. Gyps is the name of genus, and fulvus is the name of species. All of the 7 relatives are found in the genus gyps. After the Himalayan, the Eurasian Griffon is the largest in this genus. HIMALAYAN VULTURE (the most similar in appearence) CAPE VULTURE
SOME RELATIVES There are two main groups of vultures: the American Vultures (condors, king vulture, turkey and yellowheaded vultures), and real vultures. American vultures live only on the American continent of which there are 7 species. They look like real vultures but are more related to storks. Real vultures live in Europe, Asia and Africa (15 species). LAPPED - FACED VULTURE ANDEAN CONDOR
MAN... AND GRIFFONS In many cultures (Iran, India, Tibet ) there is a ritual of sky funeral they leave the corpse for Griffons to clean them and after they will collect the bones A LEGEND SAYS :In Siofok city, Hungary, bjeloglavom je supu podignut spomenik jer je, prema legendi, long time ago they saved the princess from the enemy
AND IMAGINE THE SKY WITHOUT THE BIRDS. At the beggining of 20th Century there was lots of Eurasian Griffons in Croatia but now at the beggining of the 21th Century, kvarner islands Cres, Krk and Prvić are the only place where we cand find them. putting 150 m high windmills lower quantities of food because of decreased sheep farming disturbing of nestlings by tourists electrocution poisoning poaching, stealing eggs or nestlings from the nests Griffons are endangered:
WE HELP THEM SURVIVE... Thanks to the great effort and big enthusiasm of several people, during the years of the Eco-center Caput Insulae Beli has managed: - to establish the special legal protection on the nesting place of the Griffon vultures -to savedesetke of young Griffons from drowning, that every year fall to the sea - to build a hospital for Eurasian Griffons and establish two feeding places - to monitoring the Griffon population in two ornithological reservation on Cres island - to mark young birds in cooperation with a Ornithologic station Cres HAZU
... AND MORE... As a result of many years of expirience, we have developed a lot of programs : Biodiversity protection program - we clean the freshwater ponds - we explore the wildlife - we prepare scientific proposals for the legal protection of the most important natural areas on the island Ecotourism program - educational trails - labyrinths - birdwaching Educational program - We learn about nature in nature program - adopting Griffon program Protection of cultural heritage -we repare the stonewalls -we explore historical, traditional and ethnological heritage and try to prevent it from falling into oblivion Interpretation center - exhibitions, Griffon hospital" Volunteering program
HOW CAN YOU HELP? BY ADOPTING A GRIFFON BY ACTING IN OUR EDUCATIONAL AND VOLUNTEERING PROGRAMMS BY BUYING OUR SOUVENIRS
PRIČA O BJELOGLAVIM SUPOVIMA EKO CENTAR CAPUT INSULAE BELI WHAT TO DO WHEN......you see a Eurasian Griffon in the sea... or find it injured...even dead? You are supposed to take them out of the water and put them in the boat or on the beach, in a dry place and wait until someone from the Eko-cent centerer comes or take them as soon as possible to the Eco-Center in Beli. The procedure is the same when you find a hurt griffon or one which can t t fly. If you find a dead one don t touch it but call the Eko- center. THE MOST IMPORTANT IS: to call Eco-center as soon as possible!
...and the story goes on... INTERNATIONAL RESEARCHING AND EDUCATIONAL CENTER FOR NATURE PROTECTION Caput Insulae Beli 4, 51559 Beli, island Cres, Croatia Tel/fax 051 840 525 e-mail: caput.insulae@ri.t-com.hr www.caput-insulae.com MADE BY: GORAN STRAHIJA, TRANSLATION:LANA MALOVIĆ