Captive breeding

The Egyptian vulture breeding programme aims to conserve a stock of individuals in captivity with high genetic diversity and to provide juveniles for release into the wild in Italy.

The CERM Endangered Raptors Centre is the core of the programme, managing the world’s largest captive population of Egyptian vultures, 39 at the beginning of 2025. Two individuals from the CERM stock are currently housed at the Wild Animal Recovery Centre in Matera.

Created by the Union of Amiata Grossetana Mountain Municipalities thanks to the Biarmicus LIFE Project, CERM is located in southern Tuscany (Rocchette di Fazio, GR) and managed by our association. Extending over one hectare, the Centre consists of 18 aviaries and small service structures.

Started in 1993 by the WWF, the Egyptian vulture captive breeding programme has been based at this specialized center since 2006, leading to a significant intensification of species conservation efforts thanks to the activities of the CERM Association.

The breeding animals hosted at CERM are of various ages and origins: eight non-releasable animals from Spanish recovery centres, 29 born at CERM, and two born in the Zoological Garden of Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.

In the period 2018-2023, the captive breeding and release into the wild of young CERM Egyptian vultures formed an integral part of the Egyptian vulture LIFE Project.

The results

In Italy, between 1993 and 2024, captive breeding led to the birth and raising up to the fledging age 73 Egyptian vultures.

Unfortunately, breeding Egyptian vultures in captivity is extremely difficult and requires specialized skills, extensive experience, and high dedication. Getting pairs to breed successfully on their own is difficult, as the partners’ behavioral irregularities often prevent them from producing viable eggs and chicks. The intelligence of this small vulture and the complexity of its reproductive ethology are likely contributing factors to its poor adaptation to captivity.

Recently, artificial incubation (lasting 41-43 days) has been frequently used. Eggs close to hatching or, more often, newly hatched chicks are transferred to parental nests, fostering pairs, or a fostering male. Alternatively, the chicks are raised by hand using measures designed to prevent imprinting on humans, and they are transferred to the aviary as soon as possible to interact with their conspecifics.