The importance of the nutritive value of old bones in the diet of Bearded vultures Gypaetus barbatus

Vultures are central-place foragers and need to optimize their foraging behaviour to offset travel costs by increasing their energy gain. This process is more obvious in certain vulture species that do not feed their young by regurgitation and so must carry food items back to the nest. The Bearded V...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Margalida, Antoni, Villalba Mata, Daniel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10459.1/60258
Acceso en línea:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08812-2
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/60258
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Biodiversity
Conservation biology
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spelling The importance of the nutritive value of old bones in the diet of Bearded vultures Gypaetus barbatusMargalida, AntoniVillalba Mata, DanielBiodiversityConservation biologyVultures are central-place foragers and need to optimize their foraging behaviour to offset travel costs by increasing their energy gain. This process is more obvious in certain vulture species that do not feed their young by regurgitation and so must carry food items back to the nest. The Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus is the only species with a bone-diet based. We analysed the chemical composition of bones and the age-related changes in their nutritive value to assess the differences in energy content between bones of differing age, body part and species. We found differences between specific anatomical parts, species and the age of the bones. Fresh bones contain 108% as much energy as fresh meat and, interestingly, dry bones retain 90% of the protein found in fresh bones. Dry femurs weighing 140 g retain enough protein to be comparable to 111 g of fresh meat, in energy terms. Compared to meat-eating species, the specialized osteophagous diet of the Bearded Vulture seems to have certain advantages. A better understanding of nutrient levels in food remains could help to improve theoretical foraging models, assist in conservation management, and even improve our understanding of the use of bones by early hominids.This research was supported by project CGL2015-66966-C2-2-R2. A.M. was supported by a Ramón y Cajal research contract from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (RYC-2012-11867) and the project CGL2015-66966-C2-2-R2Springer Nature2017info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08812-2http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/60258reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunyainstname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)Inglésinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO//CGL2015-66966-C2-2-RReproducció del document publicat a https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08812-2Scientific Reports, 2017, núm. 7, article number 8061cc-by, (c) Margalida et al., 2017info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/oai:recercat.cat:10459.1/602582026-05-29T05:05:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv The importance of the nutritive value of old bones in the diet of Bearded vultures Gypaetus barbatus
title The importance of the nutritive value of old bones in the diet of Bearded vultures Gypaetus barbatus
spellingShingle The importance of the nutritive value of old bones in the diet of Bearded vultures Gypaetus barbatus
Margalida, Antoni
Biodiversity
Conservation biology
title_short The importance of the nutritive value of old bones in the diet of Bearded vultures Gypaetus barbatus
title_full The importance of the nutritive value of old bones in the diet of Bearded vultures Gypaetus barbatus
title_fullStr The importance of the nutritive value of old bones in the diet of Bearded vultures Gypaetus barbatus
title_full_unstemmed The importance of the nutritive value of old bones in the diet of Bearded vultures Gypaetus barbatus
title_sort The importance of the nutritive value of old bones in the diet of Bearded vultures Gypaetus barbatus
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Margalida, Antoni
Villalba Mata, Daniel
author Margalida, Antoni
author_facet Margalida, Antoni
Villalba Mata, Daniel
author_role author
author2 Villalba Mata, Daniel
author2_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Biodiversity
Conservation biology
topic Biodiversity
Conservation biology
description Vultures are central-place foragers and need to optimize their foraging behaviour to offset travel costs by increasing their energy gain. This process is more obvious in certain vulture species that do not feed their young by regurgitation and so must carry food items back to the nest. The Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus is the only species with a bone-diet based. We analysed the chemical composition of bones and the age-related changes in their nutritive value to assess the differences in energy content between bones of differing age, body part and species. We found differences between specific anatomical parts, species and the age of the bones. Fresh bones contain 108% as much energy as fresh meat and, interestingly, dry bones retain 90% of the protein found in fresh bones. Dry femurs weighing 140 g retain enough protein to be comparable to 111 g of fresh meat, in energy terms. Compared to meat-eating species, the specialized osteophagous diet of the Bearded Vulture seems to have certain advantages. A better understanding of nutrient levels in food remains could help to improve theoretical foraging models, assist in conservation management, and even improve our understanding of the use of bones by early hominids.
publishDate 2017
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2017
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08812-2
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/60258
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08812-2
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/60258
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO//CGL2015-66966-C2-2-R
Reproducció del document publicat a https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08812-2
Scientific Reports, 2017, núm. 7, article number 8061
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv cc-by, (c) Margalida et al., 2017
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
rights_invalid_str_mv cc-by, (c) Margalida et al., 2017
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Springer Nature
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Springer Nature
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
instname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
instname_str Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
reponame_str Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
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