A medium-sized, mostly dark vulture with an angular, naked, pale pink head and bulky coral-colored beak. In flight, the adult’s white “armpits” extend out as a stripe along the middle of the underwing; the larger females differ from males by having all-white innermost flight feathers. Widespread in open country but declining rapidly outside of protected areas. Often one of the first vultures to arrive at a carcass but also scavenges the kills of eagles; sometimes hunts and kills small mammals, birds, and reptiles.