Age class and natal origin drive foraging patterns in a reintroduced Cinereous Vulture population

This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 2 of this Preprint. You must log in to post a comment. There are no comments or no comments have been made public for this article. This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 2 of this Preprint. Add a Comment You must log in to post a comment. Comments There are no comments or no comments have been made public for this article. Widespread vulture population declines are often counteracted by conservation strategies including reintroduction programs and supplementary feeding schemes. However, the role of supplementary feeding – focusing on specific, predictable, feeding sites - on movement behaviour, has been little explored, especially within populations in which reintroduced and wild born birds of different age-classes may show differing behavioural movement patterns. However, such information becomes crucial for improving conservation and management actions. We analysed GPS data from both reintroduced (n = 31) and wild born (n = 28) cinereous vultures Aegypius monachus in Catalonia, North-eastern Spain, collected during a long-term study (2009–2020), to assess SFS use patterns according to natal origin, release method, and age-classes of individuals. We found high age-related variation in SFS use; juveniles revisited fewer SFS, and spent much longer in these locations compared with immatures, subadults, and adults, pointing to a dependence of juveniles on social information, along with a lack of foraging and flight skills. Regular adult revisits to multiple SFS suggests that these vultures can develop a comprehensive spatial memory of SFS by adulthood. Additionally, birds that were released via an acclimatisation aviary showed lower affiliation with SFS compared with ‘hacked’ birds and wild-born nestlings perhaps suggesting a tendency to spend more time exploring the wider environment. Our study has particular relevance in light of the potential public health-related legislation changes within the European Union or the changes in management of SFS, which could alter movement patterns and demographic parameters of Iberian vulture populations. https://doi.org/10.32942/X2GT07 Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Ornithology : Foraging, revisitation analysis, supplementary feeding, movement ecology, spatial memory Published: 2026-02-04 10:22 Last Updated: 2026-02-06 12:03 CC-By Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Conflict of interest statement: None Data and Code Availability Statement: Code and data used for GLMMs will be publically available on publication: 10.17605/OSF.IO/DG39B Language: English