The griffon vultures have returned to the Madonie Mountains: confirmation comes from the Park which announces the first flight of the young born from two couples who had nested in the rocky walls. It’s not just a naturalistic curiosity: it’s a historic event, because it hasn’t happened in the Park for 70 years. And this is the first confirmation that the reintroduction project of this vulture was a real success.
Something extraordinary is happening in the Madonie UNESCO Global Geopark – we read on the Facebook page of the Madonie Park Authority – This year there were two pairs of griffon vultures confirmed to have nested in the rocky walls, and the respective two juveniles have already spread their wings for their first flight; it may seem like simple naturalistic news, but for all those who love the Park it is a historic moment
Yes, because for the first time after about 70 years, the success of the reintroduction project of this vulture has been sealed.
(…) finally the old dream that many of us have always believed in, bringing the griffon vulture back to the territory of our Park, which had become extinct since the 1950s, has given its first concrete fruits – comments Antonio Spinnato, Park zoologist – and it is an immense satisfaction to follow the first flights of the 2 young people
The project started by bringing the first griffins to the Madonie from Spain and released after the acclimatization period at the Isnello aviary, to create the “founding” nucleus of the colony: there were 35 young individuals and 16 of these were equipped with satellite GPS, which allowed us to obtain data that tells us an extraordinary story: the griffons love to make very long journeys around Sicily, but then always return to the Madonie.
The turning point then took place in 2021 thanks to an intense collaboration between theMadonie Park AuthoritytheExperimental Zooprophylactic Institute of SicilytheNebrodi Park AuthorityThe Municipality of IsnelloThe Rotary Clubs (who built the acclimatization aviary at Isnello) and theRegional Department of Territory and Environment.
Subsequently, the role of International Mediterranean Biodiversity Foundationwhich supported the arrival of the “founding” griffins from Spain together with the Spanish association GREFA.
The even better news is that the original group has started to attract other adventure companions; other griffons, arriving spontaneously from different areas of Sicily and even from other regions of Italy, joined the colony. Today it is estimated that at least 80 griffins fly in the skies of the Madonie
Griffon vultures are very important animals for biodiversity but also for safety because they are scavengers, or “pasture scavengers”: in other words they feed on the carcasses of animals they find in the area, helping to avoid the spread of any epidemics.
These beautiful wild animals classified globally as a species of “Least Concern” byInternational Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), but in Italy the situation is a little different: the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) is in fact included in the IUCN Red List of Italian vertebrates 2022, even if the situation, fortunately, is improving.
These two nests represent much more than a wildlife result: they are the concrete sign that a project built over the years is giving back to nature its ability to regenerate”, highlights Giuseppe Ferrarello, President of the Madonie Unesco Global Geopark – The griffon vulture has once again become an integral part of the Madonie ecosystem. The real victory is knowing that the animals have found the conditions to carry out their ecological function, feeding on the carcasses of the animals they find in the territory, but above all that they have started to reproduce
Those two newborns who sail the sky above the Madonie mountains today represent the most beautiful victory: that of a nature that is finally doing things for itself again.”
