Scavenging represents one of the least comprehensively understood ecological processes, despite growing research attention. Available knowledge is constrained by methodological limitations that frequently neglect the nutritional heterogeneity provided by carcasses of different species and tissue types. Carrion selection may thus depend not only on environmental factors but also on species-specific life-history traits. Here, we examine how carrion use by the globally endangered Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) varies throughout the breeding season, across a gradient of prey types ranging from livestock to small wild vertebrates. We analyzed bulk stable isotope values (delta 13C and delta 15N) in growing feathers of nestlings at the nest and assessed the influence of individual variables such as sex, age, and hatching order. Our results show that the consumption of small wild vertebrates is highest during early nestling development, likely driven by demand for micronutrients such as calcium during rapid skeletal growth. As nestlings mature, their diet shifts toward livestock carrion, particularly pig remains, likely supporting energy accumulation for fledging and post-reproductive migration. The trophic niche is broader early in development and narrows with age. These findings highlight a previously unrecognized temporal shift in diet that challenges conservation strategies relying solely on livestock carcass provisioning. Moreover, they may be relevant to other avian scavengers with similar ecological requirements. Overall, our study underscores the ecological importance of carrion diversity in shaping scavenger feeding strategies and has significant implications for conservation planning and ecosystem functioning.

Carrion is a ubiquitous resource in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, yet it has long been overlooked in ecological research. Over the past two decades, studies on carrion and the many organisms that exploit it have flourished, revealing not only wide-ranging ecological functions but also significance far beyond ecology. This growing body of knowledge underscores the need for the formal recognition and consolidation of carrion ecology as a distinct ecological discipline. In this review, we begin by outlining the ecological features that make carrion a unique resource, provide practical definitions of scavenger and scavenging to reduce persistent ambiguities, describe carcass decomposition by linking stages with insect succession, and position carrion within a broader scientific context. Building on this foundation, we then pursue three main goals. First, we show how incorporating carrion ecology enriches ecological concepts and paradigms across levels of biological organisation, from individuals to ecosystems. Second, we emphasise how expanding knowledge of carrion ecology informs many disciplines beyond ecology. Third, we present a conceptual framework that integrates the diverse ecological functions of carrion across eco-evolutionary timescales and addresses the structured and dynamic connections among the multiple disciplines concerned with carrion. By underscoring the ecological and interdisciplinary relevance of this resource, our framework not only clarifies the components and flows of the carrion system but also highlights opportunities for novel cross-disciplinary collaborations. As carrion ecology continues to mature as a scientific field, we expect that this review and synthesis will consolidate current knowledge, stimulate innovative research across disciplines, and firmly position carrion ecology within the broader ecological and scientific landscape.

Wildlife feeding and nutrition are key drivers of several demographic parameters, such as breeding success and survival, influencing long-term population viability. To comply with the diet requirements that ensure offspring survival, parents adapt their forage strategies to the environmental conditions and resource availability. This is especially important for central-place foragers like raptors, where prey availability in the surroundings of nest and livestock carcasses significantly impact both foraging efforts and breeding success. Here we take advantage of 20 years extensive monitoring (2001–2020) of the Canarian Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus majorensis) on the Fuerteventura Island (Canary Islands, Spain) to assess (1) what factors drive vulture diet diversity and, (2) how the number of livestock and diet diversity coupled together with environmental conditions affect breeding success and, ultimately, the conservation of vulture populations. We identified 3,787 prey items belonging to 37 different species. Diet diversity was positively related to the number of wild prey and to low livestock grazing pressure periods. Breeding success was positively related to the number of wild prey, low herbivory pressure and, to a lesser extent, to diet diversity. These results demonstrate the importance of wild prey on Canarian Egyptian vulture’s diet, albeit livestock carcasses are the most abundant feeding resource. We argue that livestock have controversial conservation implications for this species because it provides a stable feeding resource, but, in turn, is one of the major ecosystem disruptors. Overgrazing by livestock can negatively affect wild primary consumers, which are essential for this endemic vulture population.

Understanding how animals respond to the energy landscape is crucial for elucidating the mechanisms of habitat selection, movement strategies, and connectivity dynamics. However, assessing the responses of highly mobile and long-lived species is challenging, as movement behaviors related to distinct life-history requirements may operate at extreme spatial and temporal scales. We combined movement and genetic data to investigate how energy landscape features influence ecologically and evolutionarily relevant dispersal patterns in an extreme soaring specialist, the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus). We analyzed GPS data via Resource Selection Functions and conducted Landscape Genetic models for Andean condors from southern South America, considering static and dynamic landscape features. Connectivity models were used to identify conservation priority areas by integrating behavioral states critical for ecological (encamped and exploratory movements) and evolutionary processes (gene-flow). Topographic features emerged as key determinants of gene-flow patterns, while climatic variables were crucial for exploratory and encamped flights. Condors increased space use and connectivity during summer. While Resource Selection Function failed to predict gene-flow routes via path-based analysis, landscape-wide approaches identified connectivity barriers in flat terrain with poor uplift conditions for soaring. Our study revealed the critical role of the energy landscape and life-history requirements in shaping habitat selection and population connectivity in Andean condors. The distinct, yet complementary patterns of habitat usage across various flight behaviors highlight the nuanced and complex use of the landscape. These findings highlight how variation in movement behaviors affects connectivity planning, urging conservation studies to incorporate movement-mode distinctions.

We analyzed the variation in the secondary sex ratio of Magellanic Penguin Spheniscus magellanicus breeding in six colonies on the Patagonian coast of Argentina. We tested the effects of laying date and hatching sequence on the probability of producing sons and daughters. The global secondary sex ratio did not differ from equality, and there were no differences among the colonies. However, regardless of the colony, laying date, and hatching sequence, there was a significant effect on the proportion of males and females reared. Pairs that were laid early in the breeding season were more likely to raise a male. In addition, offspring that hatched first were more likely to be male than those that hatched second. Our results are consistent with the adaptive importance of producing males, likely the costliest sex, early in the breeding season or early in the brood when food resources are still abundant.

Lead ammunition stands out as one of the most pervasive pollutants affecting wildlife. Its impact on bird populations have spurred efforts for the phase-out of leaded gunshot in several countries, although with varying scopes and applications. Ongoing and future policy changes require data to assess the effectiveness of adopted measures, particularly in the current context of biodiversity loss. Here, we assessed the long-term changes in blood lead (Pb) levels of Egyptian vultures from the Canary Islands, Spain, which have been severely affected by Pb poisoning over the past two decades. During this period, the reduction in hunting pressure and changes in legislation regarding firearms usage for small game hunting likely contributed to a decrease in environmental Pb availability. As anticipated, our results show a reduction in Pb levels, especially after the ban on wild rabbit hunting with shotgun since 2010. This effect was stronger in the preadult fraction of the vulture population. However, we still observed elevated blood Pb levels above the background and clinical thresholds in 5.6% and 1.5% of individuals, respectively. Our results highlight the positive impact of reducing the availability of Pb from ammunition sources on individual health. Nonetheless, the continued use of Pb gunshot remains an important source of poisoning, even lethal, mainly affecting adult individuals. This poses a particular concern for long-lived birds, compounding by potential chronic effects associated with Pb bioaccumulation. Our findings align with recent studies indicating insufficient reductions in Pb levels among European birds of prey, attributed to limited policy changes and their uneven implementation. We anticipated further reductions in Pb levels among Egyptian vultures with expanded restrictions on hunting practices, including a blanket ban on Pb shot usage across all small game species.

Environmental conditions and resource availability shape population dynamics through direct and indirect effects of climate, biological interactions and the human modification of landscape. Even when a species seems dependent on predictable anthropogenic food resources or subsidies, ecosystem-level factors can still determine population dynamics across taxa. However, there is still a knowledge gap about the cascade effects driven by climate, vegetation functioning, resource availability and governmental policies on key aspects of species reproduction for top scavengers. Here we put to good use 22 years (2000-2021) of extensive population monitoring from the endemic Canary Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus majorensis) on the Fuerteventura Island (Canary Islands, Spain) to study the relative importance of demographic factors, ecosystem conditions and availability of anthropogenic food sources on breeding success. Our results suggest that ecosystem-level primary productivity, the number of livestock animals present on the island and Density-dependent processes determine the temporal changes in the breeding success of this species. We firstly accounted for a top-down effect of livestock on island vegetation, where overgrazing directly reduces landscape-level vegetation biomass. We, consequently, found a bottom-up effect between vegetation and the Egyptian vulture's breeding success. In this context, minimal changes in ecological conditions can impact the species inhabiting these ecosystems, with direct consequences on a key population stage, such as breeding season, when energy requirements are higher. These results are especially relevant because cascading and indirect effects of ecosystem processes and governmental policies are often overlooked when pursuing conservation goals of endangered species.

The widespread and accelerated transformation experienced by our planet results in populations of endangered species having to survive in highly-altered environments and increasingly relying on resources provided by human subsidies. Presently, vultures rank among the most imperiled functional groups of large vertebrates globally, a situation that is largely attributed to the rapid intensification of agriculture and the subsequent transformation of farming practices and agro-grazing landscapes. Hence, documenting the long-term fluctuations in the vultures’ dietary patterns in response to environmental changes, particularly in livestock management, is of utmost significance. Here, by means of bulk stable isotope analysis (δ13C and δ15N), we examined long-term variations in diet composition and niche breadth in a population of the endangered Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. We specifically focused on the effect of European sanitary regulations enacted in 2014, which allow sheep farmers to abandon livestock remains for consumption by scavenging birds, except for pig carcasses. We found that the implementation of these new regulations did not cause a change in the diet of vultures. Changes were only detected in scrubland areas and were driven by an increase in the consumption of wild rabbit which, in turn, lead to expansion of the trophic niche. These results indicate that these endangered vultures are heavily dependent on food sources derived from intensive farming, mostly of pigs illegally disposed in the wild, and moreover, highlight the importance of carcasses of small vertebrates, often disregarded in conservation programs in favor of the contribution of livestock remains. Our research provides valuable insights into the spatiotemporal dynamics of trophic strategies among avian scavengers, specifically in the context of changes resulting from intensified human-pressures on agro-grazing Mediterranean landscapes.

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) have been identified as a significant factor driving declines in wildlife populations. These contaminants exhibit a dual tendency to biomagnify up the food chains and persist within tissues, rendering long-lived vertebrates, such as raptors, highly vulnerable to their adverse effects. We assessed the concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in fledglings of two vulture species, the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) and the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), coexisting in northern Spain. Vultures, currently facing a severe threat with a population decline exceeding 90%, represent one of the most critically endangered avian groups in the Old World. Despite this critical situation, there remains a scarcity of research examining the intricate relationship between contaminant levels and individual foraging behaviors. In parallel, we analyzed stable isotope levels (δ15N and δ13C) in fledgling's feathers and prey hair to determine the association between individual dietary and contaminant burdens. Our findings revealed higher levels of PCBs in Egyptian vultures, while pesticide concentrations remained very similar between focal species. Furthermore, higher individual values of δ13C, indicating a diet based on intensive farming carcasses and landfills, were associated with higher levels of PCBs. While the levels of POPs found do not raise immediate alarm, the presence of individuals with unusually high values reveals the existence of accessible contamination sources in the environment for avian scavengers. The increasing reliance of these birds on intensive livestock farming and landfills, due to the decline of extensive livestock farming, necessitates long-term monitoring of potential contaminant effects on their populations.

Protected areas in southern Europe are important for the conservation of large avian scavengers. However, the effects an increasing number of visitors may have on the scavengers' patterns of movement are unknown. Here, we took advantage of data collected from seven GPS-tagged adult Griffon Vultures Gyps fulvus breeding in the Bardenas Reales Natural Park in northern Spain to determine whether foraging birds moved to more remote areas on the days when the number of visitors increased. We found that although the number of visitors did appear to affect movement patterns, this had a smaller effect size compared with the mean temperature of the day. Additionally, males moved further than females. If the number of visitors to natural areas continues to increase, local exclusions of Griffon Vultures may become more common, so further research is needed to address the potential consequences for the scavenger population and ecosystem functions and services they provide.

Quantifying space use and segregation, as well as the extrinsic and intrinsic factors affecting them, is crucial to increase our knowledge of species-specific movement ecology and to design effective management and conservation measures. This is particularly relevant in the case of species that are highly mobile and dependent on sparse and unpredictable trophic resources, such as vultures. Here, we used the GPS-tagged data of 127 adult Griffon Vultures Gyps fulvus captured at five different breeding regions in Spain to describe the movement patterns (home-range size and fidelity, and monthly cumulative distance). We also examined how individual sex, season, and breeding region determined the cumulative distance traveled and the size and overlap between consecutive monthly home-ranges. Overall, Griffon Vultures exhibited very large annual home-range sizes of 5027 +/- 2123 km(2), mean monthly cumulative distances of 1776 +/- 1497 km, and showed a monthly home-range fidelity of 67.8 +/- 25.5%. However, individuals from northern breeding regions showed smaller home-ranges and traveled shorter monthly distances than those from southern ones. In all cases, home-ranges were larger in spring and summer than in winter and autumn, which could be related to difference in flying conditions and food requirements associated with reproduction. Moreover, females showed larger home-ranges and less monthly fidelity than males, indicating that the latter tended to use the similar areas throughout the year. Overall, our results indicate that both extrinsic and intrinsic factors modulate the home-range of the Griffon Vulture and that spatial segregation depends on sex and season at the individual level, without relevant differences between breeding regions in individual site fidelity. These results have important implications for conservation, such as identifying key threat factors necessary to improve management actions and policy decisions.

The ongoing demand for renewable energy has boosted the development of wind farms worldwide. Given the impact these facilities have on flying species, a spatially explicit assessment of collision risk in vulnerable species is needed to guide management actions and prioritise areas for installing these infrastructures. We used GPS-tracking data of 127 adult and 50 juvenile griffon vultures in peninsular Spain gathered between 2014 and 2022 to evaluate factors influencing vulnerability and exposure and predict collision risk. We validate the observed collision risk with recorded long-term mortality data (1999-2022) at regional and wind farm scales and evaluate the estimated impact of current and future turbine facilities. Our results showed that overall food availability increases vulnerability and exposure, whilst distance to nesting areas and the presence of conspecifics decreased both vulnerability and exposure in adults and juveniles, respectively. Our maps revealed that 19% and 10% of the Spanish peninsular area had a high collision risk for adults and juveniles, respectively. Importantly, the number of turbine casualties was positively related to collision risk at the regional and wind farm scale and similar to 18 of the breeding population lies within high collision risk areas.Moreover, the areas with the highest risk of collision also have the highest number of turbines and largely overlap with areas suitable for developing new wind farms. Our study highlights the need to reduce collision risk mapping uncertainties by validating model outputs with actual mortality data. Moreover, it emphasises the urgent need for spatial planning of wind energy development, searching for safer alternatives for biodiversity. This approach undoubtedly serves as a tool to define "not go to" areas for installing new turbines for one of the most sensitive species.

One of the primary goals of conservation translocation programs should be the maintenance of both population demographic stability and genetic diversity. Here, we provide genetic management recommendations to inform a population reinforcement of the declining Egyptian Vulture population in the Balkans. Specifically, we examined whether the number of released individuals is sufficient to prevent genetic diversity loss due to random genetic drift and what the origin of the individuals should be that comprise the captive breeding pool. To this aim, we estimated and assessed genetic diversity levels and genetic structure of Egyptian Vulture populations across much of the species’ range using both neutral and non-neutral candidate loci involved in migration. We then evaluated the effects of the currently proposed population management scheme and candidate source populations on retaining allelic diversity. Our results show low differentiation values among populations and absence of genetic structure which point to past high gene flow. Furthermore, there was no predicted significant impact of different source populations on the genetic diversity of the recipient Balkan population. We also found that the declining Egyptian Vulture population in the Balkans still retains high levels of genetic diversity and therefore genetic diversity restoration is not currently needed. However, without any management, diversity is likely to decrease fast because of increased genetic drift as the population size continues to decline. Population reinforcement with nine birds per year for 20 years would provide sufficient demographic support for the population to retain > 85% of rare allelic diversity. Birds originating from the Balkans would ensure ecological and behavioral similarity and thus would be the best option for reinforcement. Nevertheless, our results demonstrate that to prevent further population contraction and loss of adaptive alleles, releasing individuals of different origin would also be appropriate.

Transhumance is the traditional livestock practice consisting in the seasonal movement of herds between winter and summer pastures. Transhumance have important effects on the ecosystem functions from local to regional scales. Here, we 1) explored the relationship of vultures to transhumant herds, and 2) tested whether there is a shift on the use of space by vultures due to the decline of transhumance. For that, we first assessed whether vultures follow transhumant herds in two mountain areas with transhumant tradition, Pyrenees (Spain) and Andes (Argentina). Second, we compared both systems to determine whether the impact of transhumance on the use of space of vultures is greater in the area where transhumance is still relevant (Andes) than where this activity is in decline (Pyrenees). For this purpose, we analyzed the use of the summer pastures made by 50 griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) and 18 Andean condors (Vultur gryphus), as assessed by GPS tracking. Our findings showed that both species respond to transhumance by making greater use of summer pastures when herds are present. A higher proportion of condors made use of summer pastures than griffons, and condors individually made a more intense use of it than griffons. Differences could be explained by the fact that transhumance in the Andes is still important while in the Pyrenees is declining and the amount of carrion provided is lower. Given that the abandonment of traditional activities is a phenomenon underway, it is urgent to evaluate the effects it will have on biodiversity conservation.

Understanding the drivers and consequences of global environmental change is crucial to inform predictions of effects on ecosystems. We used the mammal community of Białowieża Forest, the last lowland near-primeval forest in temperate Europe, as a sentinel of global change. We analyzed changes in stable carbon (δ13 C) and nitrogen (δ15 N) isotope values of hair in 687 specimens from 50 mammal species across seven decades (1946-2011). We classified mammals into four taxonomic-dietary groups (herbivores, carnivores, insectivores, and bats). We found a significant negative trend in hair δ15 N for the mammal community, particularly strong for herbivores. This trend is consistent with temporal patterns in nitrogen deposition from (15 N depleted) industrial fertilizers and fossil fuel emissions. It is also in line with global-scale declines in δ15 N reported in forests and other unfertilized, non-urban terrestrial ecosystems and with local decreases in N foliar concentrations. The global depletion of 13 C content in atmospheric CO2 due to fossil fuel burning (Suess effect) was detected in all groups. After correcting for this effect, the hair δ13 C trend became non-significant for both community and groups, except for bats, which showed a strong decline in δ13 C. This could be related to an increase in the relative abundance of freshwater insects taken by bats or increased use of methane-derived carbon in food webs used by bats. This work is the first broad-scale and long-term mammal isotope ecology study in a near-primeval forest in temperate Europe. Mammal communities from natural forests represent a unique benchmark in global change research; investigating their isotopic temporal variation can help identify patterns and early detections of ecosystem changes and provide more comprehensive and integrative assessments than single species approaches.

Potential exposure of the Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus) to pharmaceuticals is of high conservation interest, as these compounds can produce catastrophic consequences for populations of avian scavengers. Due to the extensive livestock management in most of Patagonia, we expected Andean condors to be rarely exposed to veterinary pharmaceuticals through scavenging of free-ranging livestock. Unexpectedly, we found a high prevalence (78.6 %) of pharmaceuticals in the plasma of a small sample of randomly captured condors (n = 14), of all age classes and sexes. The antibiotic enrofloxacin was detected in all 11 drug-positive condors (78.6 %). Two antibiotics and two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were found simultaneously or in combinations of two or three different pharmaceuticals in 3 of the 14 (21.4 %) condors: marbofloxacin and phenylbutazone were found in a single adult female together with enrofloxacin, while flunixin meglumine was found in two adult males and also in the presence of enrofloxacin. Our study suggests that livestock grazing in the vast Patagonian region may be subject to more frequent medication than expected a priori. Today, it should not be assumed that livestock in remote, sparsely populated, or low-income areas are free of veterinary pharmaceuticals with a possible negative impact on wildlife and public health.

Immature individuals move from their natal area to the area where they settle and reproduce, and this may take several years. This process is essential for long-lived species such as vultures and condors, which spend long periods as immature and move extensively. We studied the movement behavior of 26 GPS-tagged immature Andean condors (Vultur gryphus) from northwestern Patagonia throughout the immature stage, analyzing whether these patterns differed according to age, sex and season. We found that season and age influenced home range size and flight distances, the warm season being when immature condors move most; movement patterns were greater in sub-adults than in juveniles. The age effect was associated with the sex of individuals, with males increasing their home range more than females. Our results provide the first description of how immature Andean condor movement patterns are affected by internal and external factors. This information could be key to understanding condor responses to environmental change and threats at different stages during their immature phase. Until now, condor conservation efforts have not considered the areas used by dispersing individuals. Our results increase our understanding of ranging behavior during the immature stage of this threatened bird, enabling us to improve the conservation policies and management strategies designed to protect them.

Individual dietary variation has important ecological and evolutionary consequences. However, it has been overlooked in many taxa that are thought to have homogeneous diets. This is the case of vultures, considered merely as 'carrion eaters'. Given their high degree of sociality, vultures are an excellent model to investigate how inter-individual transmissible behaviours drive individual dietary variation. Here, we combine GPS-tracking and accelerometers with an exhaustive fieldwork campaign to identify the individual diet of 55 griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) from two Spanish populations that partially overlap in their foraging areas. We found that individuals from the more humanized population consumed more anthropic resources (e.g. stabled livestock or rubbish), resulting in more homogeneous diets. By contrast, individuals from the wilder population consumed more wild ungulates, increasing their dietary variability. Between sexes, we found that males consumed anthropic resources more than females did. Interestingly, in the shared foraging area, vultures retained the dietary preference of their original population, highlighting a strong cultural component. Overall, these results expand the role of cultural traits in shaping key behaviours and call for the need of including cultural traits in Optimal Foraging models, especially in those species that strongly rely on social information while foraging.

Variation in offspring sex ratio, particularly in birds, has been frequently studied over the last century, although seldom using long-term monitoring data. In raptors, the cost of raising males and females is not equal, and several variables have been found to have significant effects on sex ratio, including food availability, parental age, and hatching order. Sex ratio differences between island populations and their mainland counterparts have been poorly documented, despite broad scientific literature on the island syndrome reporting substantial differences in population demography and ecology. Here, we assessed individual and environmental factors potentially affecting the secondary sex ratio of the long-lived Egyptian vulture Neophron percnopterus. We used data collected from Spanish mainland and island populations over a ca. 30-year period (1995-2021) to assess the effects of insularity, parental age, breeding phenology, brood size, hatching order, type of breeding unit (pairs vs. trios), and spatial and temporal variability on offspring sex ratio. No sex bias was found at the population level, but two opposite trends were observed between mainland and island populations consistent with the island syndrome. Offspring sex ratio was nonsignificantly female-biased in mainland Spain (0.47, n = 1112) but significantly male-biased in the Canary Islands (0.55, n = 499), where a male-biased mortality among immatures could be compensating for offspring biases and maintaining a paired adult sex ratio. Temporal and spatial variation in food availability might also have some influence on sex ratio, although the difficulties in quantifying them preclude us from determining the magnitude of such influence. This study shows that insularity influences the offspring sex ratio of the Egyptian vulture through several processes that can affect island and mainland populations differentially. Our research contributes to improving our understanding of sex allocation theory by investigating whether sex ratio deviations from parity are possible as a response to changing environments comprised by multiple and complexly interrelated factors.

Summary It is widely acknowledged that the conservation of vultures, a group of birds threatened worldwide, requires the management of safe, high-quality human subsidies, free of potentially harmful toxic compounds. Additionally, in Europe, the supply of livestock carcasses is subject to current sanitary regulations. It is largely unknown how vultures use sources of food of different abundance, predictability, or different legal status and how individual features shape these preferences. To answer these questions, we took advantage of information yielded by 35 GPS-tagged adult Eurasian Griffon Vultures Gyps fulvus living in a region of northern Spain, which hosts one of the most important European populations. Our results indicated that vultures preferably used predictable feeding sites, such as carcass dumping sites, intensive farms and landfills which together account for the 62% of the observed feeding sites. Less than 10% of all observed sites had permission of authorities for the disposal of the carcasses. Interestingly, sites with large accumulations of carcasses were less used that those with intermediate amounts of food probably because of high intraspecific competition. In addition, sex and breeding status also played a role with males and breeding birds being more prone to visit the studied intensively managed feeding places. This vulture population is heavily dependent on food sources which are not under legal control where the birds could be at risk of intoxication and pathogen acquisition. Hence, current legal scenario allowing farmers to abandon carcasses in their exploitations seems insufficient. The future of vultures in highly anthropized regions is uncertain if interdictory regulations on the abandonment of carcasses of intensive livestock are applied. Additionally, conservation scenarios based on food subsidization must consider the effects of environmental and individual variability. We need science-based strategies ensuring the long-term viability of avian scavenger populations within a scenario of anthropized landscapes and livestock farming intensification.