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22-01-2019

GPS-GSM technology enables the transcontinental tracking of the Egyptian vulture

The Egyptian vulture is an endangered migratory species we usually find in our area between March and September, and which stays in Africa during the rest of the year. However, there is not a lot of information about how this animal’s migration takes place –whether it stops to eat, where it stops and for how long- and about its mortality –number of losses and causes- during its transcontinental journeys.Therefore, during the breeding season in 2018, the Conservation Biology Team of the UB marked six Egyptian vultures with GPS emitters to conduct its tracking: Ros, Obac, Avenc, Orís, Picatxo and Asticot. The first three birds were born in 2018: Ros and Obac came from the Natural Park of Sant Llorenç del Munt i l’Obac, and Avenc, from Espai Natural de les Guilleries-Savassona. Orís was born in 2017 and came from another recovery center; Picatxo was born in 2016 in la Garrotxa, and Asticot was born in 2014 in southern France. The three last ones formed a group of Egyptian vultures that had been caught and released in Osona.

The GPS-GSM technology allowed the precise tracking of the movements, use of space and migration process of these Egyptian vultures to Africa. “This is one of the first times that GPS-GSM emitters have been used in these species, which is endangered worldwide, with the aim to know about their transcontinental movements and to track their way back to Catalonia in Spring”, says lecturer Joan Real, head of the Conservation Biology Team of the UB. This study was carried out as part of the project “Aplicació de noves tecnologies per conèixer els efectes del canvi global i local en les poblacions ibèriques d’aufrany. Aplicacions per a la conservació”, led by the Conservation Biology Team of the UB, from the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio) of the University of Barcelona. The project, which has the support of Red Eléctrica de España SAU, Fundació Catalunya – La Pedrera and Diputació de Barcelona, counts on the collaboration of other researchers and naturalists, as well as foresters.

Further information

Photos: Conservation Biology Group (UB-IRBio)