Rüppell's vulture

Rüppell's vultures eat dead animals.

They spot them with their sharp eyes, high in the sky.

Rüppell's vultures eat only carrion, the bodies of animals that have died. They find it by sight alone. When a vulture spots a carcass, it lands nearby and runs toward it with its wings spread and its neck stretched out.

Most of what they eat was not killed by lions or other hunters. It comes from animals that died of old age or illness. A big meal can last a vulture at least four days.

Smithsonian's National Zoo describes a diet only of carrion, located by vision alone (the IUCN text agrees that it finds food entirely by sight). The bird lands near a carcass and runs at it with wings spread and neck extended, then reaches in under the skin with its long neck. Much of its food comes not from predators' kills but from animals that died of old age, disease, injury or stillbirth.

The Zoo adds that it can digest rotten meat containing anthrax, botulism or cholera bacteria, which are destroyed in its stomach, and that a large meal can sustain it for at least four days. At a carcass, birds compete by grunting, hissing and stomping, and the neck can flush deep red as a sign of dominance.

Rüppell's vultures like to be together.

Many of them share one meal.

Rüppell's vultures are very social birds. They nest together, soar together in flocks and gather in large numbers where there is food.

Sharing a carcass can lead to squabbles. The birds grunt, hiss and stomp, and the skin of the neck can turn deep red to warn others away. The Peregrine Fund says these vultures are thought to live up to 40 or 50 years.

The IUCN text describes a gregarious species that congregates at carrion, soars in flocks and breeds mainly in colonies; Smithsonian's National Zoo describes nesting and gathering in flocks numbering in the thousands.

Competition at carcasses involves grunting, hissing, stomping and a deepening red color of the neck as a dominance signal (National Zoo). Both The Peregrine Fund and the Zoo say the species is thought to live up to 40 to 50 years; neither gives a measured wild record, so this is an estimate, not a typical lifespan.

There are far fewer Rüppell's vultures than before.

Most of them now live in parks where they are protected.

Rüppell's vulture is Critically Endangered. In parts of West Africa its numbers have fallen by more than 90 percent, and none were seen in Nigeria in 2011.

The main dangers are poison, often put out to kill other animals, a livestock medicine that is deadly to vultures, hunting for trade, power lines, and fewer wild grazing animals to feed on. Most remaining vultures live in protected areas, and plans to save them include stopping poisoning and protecting nesting cliffs.

BirdLife International assessed Gyps rueppelli as Critically Endangered (A2abcd+3bcd+4abcd) for the IUCN Red List (assessed 9 July 2021, published 2021), with a decreasing trend. An early-1990s estimate of about 22,000 mature birds is now likely much too high. Surveys in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger found 61.3 birds per 100 kilometers in 1969 to 1973 but 2.5 in 2003 to 2004, and Cameroon lost 87 percent from 1973 to 2000.

Threats include habitat conversion, loss of wild ungulates, hunting for trade (parts are used in traditional medicine), persecution, poisoning (especially the pesticide carbofuran in East Africa), the veterinary drug diclofenac, and electrocution and collisions with power lines. The species is listed on CITES Appendix II and CMS Appendices I and II and covered by a multi-species vulture action plan (IUCN).