1. TRACKING VULTURES IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
VULPRO
TRACKING VULTURES IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

2. BACKGROUND
Established in 2007

4. ACTIVITIES Rehabilitation
Captive breeding for supplementation and reintroduction
Cliff and tree nesting monitoring and surveys
Threat mitigation
Education and awareness
Workshops and training
Research
NSAID
Tracking
Tagging

5. TRACKING African White-backed Vultures (15) Cape Vultures (68)
Hooded Vultures (5)
Lappet-faced Vultures (2)
Martial Eagle (1)
Secretary bird (1)

6. WILDLIFE TRACKING 3 data points per day Text messages for each reading
240 gram device
GSM/GPS
“Yrless” website portal
Battery powered
Lasted up to max. 10 months

7. CELLULAR TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES
Third generation devices
1 data point every minute Once a day download
75 grams
GSM/GPS
Up to 5 years lifespan

8. DIGITAL TELEMETRY Digital telemetry from Germany
GSM/GPS: Solar with Lithium battery
4 data points per day, but 15min interval stored for UHF downloads
Unique 3D-accelerometer with raw data recording i.e behaviour of the bird
UHF Pinger (VHF tracking equivalent) as well as a high-speed radio-link for wireless on-site data download.
2 year lifespan

9. ECOTONE GSM/GPS (SMS) Solar with Lithium Battery
1 data point every 30 minutes downloaded every 2 hours
3 Year lifespan
NB:- The model that was used does not Log Altitude, Speed and Heading!!!! 

10. MICROWAVE TELEMETRY Backpack 70 grams Wing mount 50 grams
Downloads every second day
Data point every 2 hours
Mortality feature
Additional VHF transmitter
ARGOS PTT, 3 Year lifespan

11. MAX PLANCK PROTOTYPE www.movebank.org Made in Germany 15 grams GSM/GPS
Solar
1 fix every 20 / 30 MINUTES
Lifespan unknown

12. Released February 2015 and still transmitting
CV 017: 7 countries, 21 months
Released February 2015 and still transmitting

14. CV VIRTRYX: WILD CAUGHT ON 23 MARCH 2012 AT VULPRO – 23 July 2013

15. CV 025: EASTERN CAPE REHABILITATED AND RELEASED
14/03/2015 – 07/07/2015

17. CV 129: EASTERN CAPE REHABILITATED AND RELEASED
24/01/2016 – continuing

18. AWB Vulture: rehabilitated and released: 10 April – 10 November 2015

20. LFV: wild caught and tracked from 2 April – 23 March 2016

21. AWBV rehabilitated at Victoria Falls and released
AWBV rehabilitated at Victoria Falls and released. Travelled straight to Kasane and then back to Zimbabwe

22. RESULTS / PUBLICATIONS
POSTERS
Wolter K., Botha A, Von’t Foort W and Bartels P Monitoring the success of released rehabilitated vultures. Poster. South African Wildlife Management Association Symposium. EWT Birds of Prey Working Group Annual General Meeting, uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, South Africa.
Wolter K, Naidoo V, Whittington-Jones C and Bartels P Does the presence of vulture restaurants influence the movement of Cape Vultures (Gyps coprotheres) in the Magaliesberg? Poster. Southern African Wildlife Management Association conference, uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, South Africa.
PUBLICATIONS
Protocol on correct handling, capture and fitting of devices and patagial (wing) tags
Monadjem A, Kane A, Wolter K, Neser W, Kotze A, Naidoo V. submitted manuscript. Movements of foraging Cape Vultures in relation to the location of supplementary feeding points.
Monadjem A, Wolter K, Neser W and Kane A Effects of rehabilitation on survival rate of endangered Cape Vultures. Animal Conservation. 17: 52–60.
Phipps WL, Willis SG, Wolter K, Naidoo V. Foraging ranges of immature African White-backed vultures (Gyps africanus) and their use of protected areas in southern Africa PLOS ONE. 8(1): e52813.
Phipps WL, Wolter K, Michael DM, MacTavish ML and Yarnell WR. Do power lines and protected areas present a catch-22 situation for Cape Vultures (Gyps coprotheres)? PLOS ONE. 8(10): e76794.
Naidoo V, Wolter K, Espie I, Kotze A. Vulture rescue and rehabilitation in South Africa: an urban perspective Journal of South African Veterinary Association. 82: 24–31.
Bartels P, Van’t Fort W and Wolter K Monitoring the success of released rehabilitated vultures. Vulture News. 57:

23. FUTURE PUBLCATIONS AND RESEARCH
Identify new roosts, breeding sites etc as shown by tracking data – ongoing
Busy finalising CV 017 foraging paper
PhD student looking at vulture feeding sites in southern Africa in relation to vulture movements and their nutritional requirements and comparing wild foraging to vulture restaurant foraging
Wind farm EIA studies and guidelines
Looking at land use preferences with regards to vultures foraging ranges and trying to understand choice selection of hotspot sites
Looking at key sites for threat mitigation and educational programmes based on hotspot areas
GAPS
Data storage
Limited time to analyse and write papers
Collaboration of data to look at CVs holitically

24. THANK YOU