With their large wingspan and spectacular flights, vultures are without any doubt impressive birds, capable of leaving a lasting memory in all those that see them at close range. One Spanish veterinary though will certainly remember griffon vultures for ever \u2013 through a rather unique and unlikely angle. He once found a griffon vulture imprisoned in the entrails of a horse carcass!<\/p>\n
Almost two years ago Dr. Juan Luis Mu\u00f1oz Roldan was working with livestock in a large estate in Ronda, Andalusia when he detected, in a nearby property, the desiccated carcass of a horse. When Dr. Mu\u00f1oz Roldan went to investigate, he saw something yellow flashing inside the abdomen of the dead horse! Dr. Roldan was surprised to find a trapped griffon vulture with a yellow wing tag inside the\u00a0 carcass. The bird, a weakened young griffon vulture, could not come out, as the dried-out skin of the horse was too tough to force.<\/p>\n
Subsequent enquiries revealed that the horse had died about 10 days before, and it had been eaten by the vultures soon after death, so the griffon was already trapped there for at least one week.<\/p>\n
Dr. Roldan could not break the horse\u00b4s skin alone \u2013 it was that tough!, so he went for help to a nearby village (La Algaba). With the help of a knife they finally could punch a bigger hole in the horse\u00b4s leathery skin, and free the griffon, which ate immediately a couple of dead chicken, before being taken to a nearby wildlife rehabilitation center.<\/p>\n
Griffons often enter the entrails of large carcasses they are feeding on \u2013 and sometimes they eat so much that they have some difficulty moving around. This individual may have squeezed through a hole to gorge on the horse\u00b4s entrails \u2013 and then, bloated and full, became trapped inside the carcass, which dried out in the following days.<\/p>\n
Photos: Dr. Juan Luis Mu\u00f1oz Roldan<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With their large wingspan and spectacular flights, vultures are without any doubt impressive birds, capable of leaving a lasting memory in all those that see them at close range. One Spanish veterinary though will certainly remember griffon vultures for ever \u2013 through a rather unique and unlikely angle. He once found a griffon vulture imprisoned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-6200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-griffonvulture"],"yoast_head":"\n