Gyps
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| Griffon vulture Gyps fulvus | |
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Gyps
Savigny, 1809
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See text. |
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Gyps is a genus of Old World vultures in the bird family Accipitridae. Created by Marie Jules César Savigny in 1809, it contains the following extant species:[1]
- White-backed vulture, Gyps africanus
- White-rumped vulture, Gyps bengalensis
- Cape griffon, Gyps coprotheres
- Griffon vulture Gyps fulvus
- Himalayan vulture Gyps himalayensis
- Indian vulture, Gyps indicus - formerly long-billed vulture
- Rüppell's vulture, Gyps rueppelli
- Slender-billed vulture, Gyps tenuirostris - formerly included in G. indicus
These are the typical vultures, with bald head, broad wings and mainly dark plumage. They are large scavenging birds, feeding mostly from carcasses of dead animals. Old World vultures find carcasses exclusively by sight. Representatives of this group are found throughout warmer parts of the Old World.
Compared to other vultures, Gyps species have quite feathered heads, with characteristic downy covers. Indeed, rather than being an adaptation for scavenging as once thought, it seems to be related to thermoregulation.
A prehistoric species is known only from fossil remains found in Middle to Late Pleistocene sites all over the central and eastern Mediterranean: Gyps melitensis. Recently, a fossil species Gyps bochenskii has been described from the late Pliocene in Bulgaria[2]
References
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