Rüppell's Vulture
Sperber vulture (Gyps rueppellii )
Appearance
The Sperbergeier works - especially in flight - stocky. It reaches a wingspan of 240 cm and a body length of 101 cm and a body height of 85 cm ( while standing) weight 6-9 kg. The wide creamy white edged feathers on the body and on the elytra give the otherwise brown, adult bird a speckled ( gesperbertes ) appearance. Head, neck, and feet are feathered white. Characteristic of the yellow beak and pale yellow eye in adults (young birds have a dark brown iris ). On the wing underside there are two white bands. The featherless, outlined white shoulder patch on the upper chest are particularly striking.
Way of life
This Old World vulture is very sociable and usually occurs in large aggregations, both on carrion as well as bathing and drying feathers courses and a sailing flight over the savannah in search of food. He is often associated with white-backed vultures. Sperbergeier are colony breeders that breed on steep shelves or in caves. The only one white, greenish in some areas existing with pale brown spots egg clutch is incubated 55 days. The feeding period of the nestlings to 150 days, fledge, the young bird with 3 months. The nest and fed on carrion vulture nestlings are vulnerable to ravens. Sperbergeier likely to live in life-long monogamy, a pair often used for several years, the same breeding sites. Sexual maturity is reached after 5-7 years. This Geierart eats especially lean meat and viscera of large ungulates, only very occasionally meat is eaten by smaller animals weighing less than 20 kg. So you hit the Sperbergeier only on larger carcasses. In the course of Sperbergeier able to eat up to 20% of its own body weight, which makes it difficult to start him in the plane so that it often takes a long start-up. The life expectancy is 30-40 years.
Dissemination
The Sperbergeier lives south of the Tropic of Cancer, from the Atlantic to Senegal to Ethiopia, south into middle Tanzania.
Habitat
The habitat is dry open savannahs of Africa. He also lives on rocks when sufficient carrion of animals with more than 20 kg body weight is obtained, however, is not to be found in jungles and deserts. Sperbergeier can fly surprisingly high. On November 29, 1973 Sperbergeier collided with a commercial aircraft - in 11.274m height. He holds the record for the flight of birds.
Hazardous situation
The Sperbergeier is rated by the World Conservation Union IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Near Threatened ( Near Threatened ). The global inventory is currently suffering from a slight decline, which is likely to continue. The main threats are habitat loss through agricultural -related land-use changes and related persecution by humans as well as the loss of food supply by wild ungulates.