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Ecology of the Lappet-Faced Vulture Torgos Tracheliotus in Saudi Arabia

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Ecology of the Lappet-Faced Vulture Torgos Tracheliotus in Saudi Arabia https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ Theses Digitisation: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/research/enlighten/theses/digitisation/ This is a digitised version of the original print thesis. Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Ecology of the Lappet-faced Vulture Torgos tracheliotus in Saudi Arabia Mohammed Shobrak Presented for candidature for Doctor of Philosophy to the Faculty of Science, University of Glasgow, January 1996. ProQuest Number: 10391303 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10391303 Published by ProQuest LLO (2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLO. ProQuest LLO. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.Q. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Ion I IBRM ri THIS BOOK IS BOUND BY M. DOWNIE & SON UNITS F &G, PURDON ST PARTICK GLASGOW G il 6AF TEL: 0141-339-0333 Contents Dedication 1 Acknowledgements 2 Abstract 3 Chapter 1. Introduction 5 1.1 Vultures in Saudi Arabia 5 1.2 The lappet-faced vulture in Saudi Arabia 7 1.3 Feeding ecology of the lappet-faced vulture 8 1.4 Social behaviour of vultures 10 1.5 Movements 11 1.6 Introduction to the study 12 1.7 Aims and lay-out of the thesis 12 Chapter 2. Study area 16 2.1 Mahazat as-Sayd reserve 16 2.2 Vulture study area 16 2.3 Topography 17 2.4 Climate 18 2.5 Fauna and flora 19 2.5.1 Fauna 19 2.5.2 Flora 21 2.6 Social economy 22 Chapter 3. Food availability 34 3.1 Introduction 34 3.2 Material and methods 36 3.2.1 Size of the wild and domestic ungulate herds 36 3.2.2 Husbandry practices of pastoral agriculture 40 3.2.3 Rate of mortality and the cause of death 41 3.2.4 Crop size of lappet-faced vultures in the reserve 41 3.3 Results 42 3.3.1 Numbers and mortality rates of wild ungulates in the reserve 42 3.3.2 Size of the livestock population in the study area 42 3.3.3 The husbandry practices of pastoral agriculture 47 3.3.4 Mortality rates and causes of death of the domestic ungulates 49 3.3.5 Crop size of lappet-faced vultures roosting in the reserve 51 3,4 Discussion 52 Chapter 4. Food selection 71 4.1 Introduction 71 4.2 Material and methods 72 4.3 Results 73 4.4 Discussion 76 Chapter 5. Locating and exploiting the carcasses 85 5.1 Introduction 85 5.2 Material and Methods 86 5.3 Results 88 5.3.1 At what time of day do lappet-faced vultures commence foraging? 88 5.3.2 Factors affecting the presence of scavengers at carcasses 88 (I) lappet-faced vulture 88 (II) brown-necked raven 90 (III) eagle 90 (IV) Egyptian vulture 91 (V) mammalian scavengers 91 5.3.3 The feeding behaviour 92 (I) smaller scavenging birds 92 (II) larger scavenging species 93 5,4 Discussion 94 Chapter 6. Competitive interactions between scavenging species 100 6.1 Introduction 100 6.2 Methods 101 6.3 Results 102 6.3.1 the amount of food removed from the carcasses by deferent group of 102 scavenging animals. 6.3.2 the dominance hierarchy between scavenging species and among scavenging 105 birds. 6.3.3 the importance of the lappet-faced vulture as a scavenger in this desert 107 ecosystem. 6.4 Discussion 108 Chapter 7. Parental investment in breeding 120 7.1 Introduction 120 7.2 Methods 121 7.3 Results 125 7.3.1 the timing of the breeding season, copulation, and the time spent incubating 125 by the two sexes. 7.3.2 guarding the nestling and the post fledging dependence period. 128 7.3.3 chick feeding and energy requirements 131 7.3.4 the importance of shading the chick from direct sunlight 132 7.3.5 the activity pattern of the chick in the nest 134 7.4 Discussion 136 Chapter 8. Movements 152 8.1 Introduction 152 8.2 Methods 153 8.3 Results 157 8.3.1 seasonal abundance of lappet-faced vultures in the reserve 157 8.3.2 resighting of marked birds 157 8.3.3 movements of radio-tagged juveniles 158 8.3.4 movements of the birds fitted with satellite transmitters 159 8.3.5 home range 160 8.3.6 mortality 160 8.4 Discussion 161 Chapter 9. General discussion and conservation 169 9.1 General discussion 169 9.1.1 food supply 169 9.1.2 competition over the food supply 170 (I) with mammals 170 (II) with other birds 171 9.1.3 breeding and chick rearing 171 9.1.4 bird movements 172 9.2 Factors affecting the lappet-faced vulture population 173 9.3 Conservation implication 175 9.3.1 nest management 175 9.3.2 public awareness 175 9.3.3 monitoring and future research 175 References 179 Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my wife, my parents, and HRH prince Saud AJ-Faisal for their support and encouragement throughout my academic career. Acknowledgements I am thankful to HRH prince Sultan ben Adulaziz, Second Deputy Premier, Minister of Defence and the head of the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD) board of governors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for his support and co-operation. My deep gratitude to HRH prince Saud A1 Faisal the Saudi foreign Minister and Managing director of NCWCD for his support and encouragement, without whose interest this study would not have been possible. My sincere thanks to Professor Abdulaziz Abuzinada, Secretary General of NCWCD for his support and encouragement at every stage of the study. I am grateh.il to the British Council for giving me the opportunity to make this study through their scholarship. I am grateh.ll to Dr. David Houston for all his advice and encouragment over the last few years. Many thanks must go to Dr. Stephen Newton for his supervion in the field and encouragment during the period of the study. I am also grateful to Dr. Anna Newton for her useflil discussions and suggestions. At the NCWCD I wish to thank the following people for help and their support; Yusuf A1 Wetaid, Borhan Qarri, Hamed Melebari and Mohammed Al-Harbi. I am grateftil to Milton Hinshaw, aviation consultant of the NCWCD, for organizing the aerial survey. Special thanks to the pilots captain Hans, captain Erick, captain Clarck. Special thanks to Mr. Hieko for his help and advice on the GIS. At the NWRC I am grateful to the following people: Abdul Rahman Khoja, Jacques Renaud, Patrick Paillat, Dr. Neyerul Haque, Dr. Stéphane Ostrowski, Dr. Philipe Sedone, Ahmad A! Bouq, Dr. To my Smith, and Mr. Kirre Ismail. Special thanks to all the rangers at Mahazat as-Sayd, and the helpers the in the mammal and bird camps. Lastly I wish to acknowledge the help of C. Abdul Rahman, M. Basheer, M. Kunhi and M. Ad-douh in explaining some of the computer packages. Abstract 1- Food availability for the lappet-faced vultures was examined between 1993 and 1995. Several methods were used to estimate the number of ungulates in the area, such as aerial suiweys, ground counts, questionnaires and the Ministry of Agriculture reports. The density of domestic livestock was estimated as 2.66 LSU's (LSU= Livestock Unit, one LSU equal one camel or ten sheep or ten goats). Based in studies in northern Saudi Arabia the expected carrying capacity of livestock in the study area is 0.3. This mean that the number of domestic livestock outside the reseiwe was nine times the predicted carrying capacity of the study area. A high mortality rate among the domestic herds provided a reliable food source for all the scavenging species in the study area. The wild ungulates were also examined, but their number was low, and their distribution was restricted to inside the reserve. There was no evidence of food shortage for the vulture population. s 2- The pellets analysed from the lappet-faced vulture roost and nests sites at Mahazat as- Sayd reseiwe showed that they were heavily reliant on domestic ungulate carcasses. The birds might occasionally feed on live prey such as rodents and spiny-tailed lizards, but this was not a major source of food. However, there was no evidence of any seasonal variation in the type of carcasses used by the lappet-faced vultures. 3- The way in which different scavenging species located and exploited the carcasses was examined. Observations at carcasses placed in random sites showed that the brown-necked raven was the first species to arrive to the carcass.
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