The Return of the Griffon Vulture: A Conservation Success Story in Europe

The sighting of a griffon vulture in Switzerland used to be exceptional, but they have been circling our skies regularly again for around ten years. The return of the griffon vulture to Europe is a conservation success story.

Although griffon vultures have always been observed with us, the observations were very sparse. By the 1960s, the griffon vulture had practically disappeared from Western Europe and was only found in Spain. Now the observations in Switzerland are rapidly increasing, as the Swiss Ornithological Institute writes in a statement. The reason for this is a resettlement project in France. The population there has increased since the 1980s, so that there are currently over 3000 pairs breeding in France again. In the meantime, several hundred griffon vultures are likely to spend the summer in our mountains. However, since these are mainly young birds, there are no broods in Switzerland. Even historically, the griffon vulture is not known to us as a breeding bird.

The journey to us is not a challenge for the gifted pilots: equipped with a huge wingspan of over 2.5 meters, a griffon vulture can cover several hundred kilometers in one day while soaring in the thermals! This trait is an adaptation to its feeding habits. As a scavenger, the griffon vulture often has to fly long distances before it finds a carcass. Its keen eyes also help it in its search for food: the griffon vulture is able to recognize a 30 cm piece of food from a distance of more than 3.5 kilometers. Despite this ability to see, griffon vultures do not find food nearly every day. Thanks to large fat deposits, however, an adult griffon vulture can easily survive two to three weeks without food.

Despite these fascinating traits, vultures don’t have the best reputations. They are considered deadly and dirty. But nothing could be further from the truth: by quickly digesting carcasses, vultures ensure that decaying meat is quickly disposed of and disease-causing microorganisms are prevented from spreading. They thus fulfill an important ecological function.

The decline of various species of vultures in Africa and Asia, for example due to shooting and poisoning, is therefore worrying. Given this nature conservation success story, we should be all the more pleased that, following the successful resettlement of the bearded vulture in the Alps, the griffon vulture can now also be regularly observed here.

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