The King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa), the main vulture within the Neotropical zone, extends from Southern Mexico to Northern Argentina, but despite the extension of its distribution range, the species has been little studied.
The King Vulture is an endangered species in our country mainly due to the forest destruction and the myths around this beautiful species. Cattle farmers believe they kill their cattle as they see them eating the carcass of their cows, lambs or goats, but actually these birds feed on carrion and are not capable of hunting live animals.
Africam Safari in conjunction with El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR) is studying this species closely and determining their movement patterns and home range in the Southern area of the Reserve of Calakmul Biosphere. To this purpose, live King Vultures must be hunted to be put a radio-transmission system to follow them up.
For the design and test of collars, King Vulture specimens found in exhibition at Africam Safari were used. |
In addition, Africam is taking advantage of the opportunity to hunt them to study their health condition drawing blood samples, and stool and parasite specimens.
Up to now we have hunted a King Vulture on June 15th, 2009, which was put a collar with a transmitter. We hope to be able to hunt more specimens and that the information provided to us by the radio-transmitter will be helpful to determine how much space they need to live, feed and reproduce, and thus be able to develop plans that guarantee protection and survival of this wonderful species.
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