A century after it became
extinct in the Alps, the bearded vulture has taken flight in
northern Italy once more, officials in the northeastern
Trentino-Alto Adige region said Friday.
The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is a bird of prey
that eats mainly carrion and lives and breeds on crags in high
mountains in Africa, the Caucasus, southern Europe, the Indian
subcontinent, and Tibet.
Females lay one or two eggs in midwinter, which hatch at
the beginning of spring.
Eleven young bearded vultures were released into the wild
in Italy's Stelvio National Park between 2000 and 2008, and the
birth of the first "made in Alto Adige" fledgling was confirmed
in July last year.
"The reintroduction of this bird into the Alps is
proceeding positively," said Alto Adige councilmember for the
environment, Richard Theiner.
"Of course more time, constant monitoring, and adequate
protection measures are needed".
Stelvio National Park - the largest in Italy, covering
parts of Trentino-Alto Adige and Lombardy - is part of an
international bearded vulture repopulation project. The first
specimen was set free in 1986, and the first birth in the wild
of a bearded vulture was documented in France in 1997, with a
couple of specimens settling in Stelvio National Park the
following year.
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