(Europe) Mighty vulture back from near extinction (Boston Globe)

[Eugene]

Mighty vulture back from near extinction
Austrian project breeds success

By Colin Nickerson, Globe Staff | October 31, 2006

HARINGSEE, Austria -- Europe's immense bearded vulture, sometimes called
the "bone crusher," boasts a wingspan of nearly 10 feet, plucks meals
from avalanche debris, and breeds its chicks in the subzero temperatures
of the wintertime Alps. Its gastric juices register a "1" on the pH scale,
nearly pure acid. Seething belly bile is a necessity for a creature that
subsists mainly on weather-bleached bones.

One tough bird, to be sure, but Gypaetus barbatus has been suffering hard
times for the past 100 years or so, all but eradicated from its Alpine
roosts. Today, however, the bone crusher is soaring toward a comeback as
the continent's most ambitious -- and priciest -- wildlife reintroduction
project achieves small but biologically significant success.

The species was hunted nearly to extinction in the Alps by the start of
the 20th century, mainly by farmers and sportsmen seeking government-paid
bounties on eagles, vultures, and other raptors. But it was ornithologists,
ironically, who administered the coup de grace. Dismayed by the bearded
vulture's sharp decline, natural history museums dispatched collectors
to kill specimens for mounted display.

-snip-

The released birds -- an estimated 120 have survived -- have formed only
nine "breeding pairs."

-snip-

Full article: http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/10/31/mighty_vulture_back_from_near_extinction

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1. I love stories like this! Thanks! nt