The Black Vulture: a jewel
on Mallorca (3/3/2000)
The Black Vulture is the most emblematic inhabitant of the Mallorcan
mountains. The observation of its majestic flight over the highest
mountain tops of the Tramuntana range is an unforgettable experience.
At present, the Black Vulture is extinct in nearly all the European countries. Only the Iberian population is important, with over a thousand reproductive pairs, and the Mallorcan population are the only insular ones in the world. The Black Vulture is the largest bird of prey in Europe and can live over forty years. It feeds exclusively on dead animals, thus cleansing the countryside of dead bodies, which situates it at the top of the trophic chain as it has no predators. The Vulture depends in a great way on the mountain livestock and its preservation is closely connected to the farming tradition of the Range.
Only fifteen years ago, the Mallorcan vulture was almost extinct. Thanks to the efforts of many people, together with a preservation programme for the Black Vulture on Mallorca carried out together by the Balearic Government and the Foundation for the Preservation of the Black Vulture - Black Vulture Conservation Foundation (BVCF), based at Lloseta, the population has increased from some 20 at the beginning of the eighties, to the present 70.
The efforts dedicated to the conservation of the Black Vulture favour the recovery of the whole ecosystem of the Tramuntana Range, with all its protected species, such as the osprey, the Eleanora Falcon, the Ferreret (endemic toad) or the endemic plants.
The increase of the use of illegal poison to control predators has become one of the main menaces to the conservation of protected species in general and for the Black Vulture in particular. With a view to eradicating its use, the BVCF is celebrating, since Thursday, in Alcúdia, an International Congress about the "Illegal use of poison in natural surroundings" that will continue until March 5 at the installations of the Club Pollentia. In the organisation of the congress, together with the BVCF are participating the Sociedad Española de Ornitología (SEO/Birdlife) and the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS), collaborating many other organisations such as the GOB, the Alcudia Town Council, the Federación Española de Caza, WWF - Adena, etc.
More information:
- Juan Sánchez (BVCF) bvcf@jet.es