The TRUE story of MIM, the little vulture 

The TRUE story of MIM, the little vulture
The Eurasian Black Vulture (Aegypius monachus) is a large, long-lived and more or less monogamous raptor species of conservation concern. It's a slow breeder, with just one egg per year and great bi-parental care, and it's exceptionally shy and sensitive. Over the past centuries this beautiful species lost most of its European distribution range, leaving currently only about 2.000 pairs in Europe on the Iberian and Balkan Peninsula (about 10.000 worldwide). Especially on the former and in France, massive efforts are undertaken to repopulate lost habitats in recent decades: individuals are transferred from population strongholds to reintroduction sites and an international captive breeding network tries to produce additional young for release to the wild in suitable regions.
One such currently repopulated site is the Boumort-Alinyà region in the Spanish Pyrenees, where this story took place in 2013. It's the story of a complex cross-fostering mission to save the life of a vulture chick. With the help of a rehabilitation centre, a mock egg and a mock chick from a related species, the precious Eurasian Black Vulture chick is rescued and successfully introduced to a wild foster family.
Information on the actual cross-fostering can be found in GREFA's recent annual report here:
www.grefa.org/multimedia/desca...
Information on the young MIM in 2014 can be found here:
www.grefa.org/56-proyectos/vul...
My vulture page on Facebook is this one:
/ 105568059479527
And I am this one:
/ kawolfram
If you have comments or questions, drop me a line!