White-backed Vulture Gyps africanus Scientific name definitions

94 cm; 4150–7200 g, mean 5450 g; wingspan 218 cm. White lower back and underwing-coverts conspicuous against dark brown plumage and black skin on neck and head of adult. Becomes paler and plainer with age, especially female. Dark eye and neck separate it from adult of larger, paler G. coprotheres. Juvenile is always darker, each contour feather streaked with lighter brown, and ruff feathers long and lanceolate.

Extreme S Mauritania and Senegambia E to S & E Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia, and S through E Africa to Namibia and N & E South Africa.

Various open woodlands, savannas and steppes; absent only from extreme desert and dense forest.

Sedentary in many areas, but in W Africa moves N in Jul–Sept wet season to less densely vegetated areas, and S again in dry season. There are several recent records from the Iberian peninsula, at least some of which are likely to have involved wild birds (2 de Juana, E., and E. Garcia (2015). The Birds of the Iberian Peninsula. Bloomsbury, London, UK. Close ). One photographed near Tétouan, on the Tangier Peninsula, in late May 2014 is the first reported from Morocco (3 van den Berg, A. B., and M. Haas, (2014). WP reports. Dutch Birding 36(3):195–208. Close ). Supposed occurrence (as vagrant) on island of Bioko, in Gulf of Guinea, long accepted, but has recently been comprehensively disputed as apparently involved confusion with juvenile Gypohierax angolensis (4 Mundy, P.J. (2001). What was Boyd Alexander's Bioko vulture? Malimbus. 23(1): 58-59. Close ). Possibly migrates down Rift Valley of Uganda in Jul. Marked birds indicate some long-distance movements, mainly dispersive, but also to exploit new food sources.

Carrion and bone fragments of larger carcasses , mainly soft muscle and organ tissue. Usually gregarious, feeding and fighting amid a hectic scrummage to obtain flesh, even thrusting the long bare neck under the skin or crawling into the rib cage. May also come down to small dead animals and afterbirth. Soars together with other vultures, using their behaviour and that of carnivores , including man , to locate food. After feeding, usually bathes together with other species at favourite sites.

Generally silent. Emits squealing and chittering sounds at carcasses, where dominant individuals also hiss; harsh cackling heard at nest (5 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Laying usually at start of dry season: Oct–Jan in W & NE Africa, all months in E Africa, and Apr–Jun in C & S Africa. Builds platform of sticks, lined with grass and green leaves, on crown of large tree or, less often, in an open fork, frequently along a watercourse; rarely, nests on a pylon. Frequently clumped in loose colonies of 2–13 nests, some of which persist for only a few years. Clutch 1 egg (rarely 2–3); incubation 56–58 days; chick has pale grey down; parents take turns to incubate, brood and feed offspring; fledging 120–130 days.

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED. Not considered of conservation concern until 2007, after which its threat status has been successively elevated, becoming Critically Endangered in 2015 following severe decline in several parts of range and likelihood of continuing decline. The commonest and most widespread vulture in Africa, now suffering rapid declines. Found across Sahel from Senegal E to Ethiopia and Somalia, and S (outside forested areas) through mainly E Africa into Namibia, Botswana and N South Africa. In 2014, BirdLife International put global population at estimated 270,000 individuals. As with other vulture species, has declined massively, by approximately 83% over three generations (53 years) (6 Ogada, D., Shaw, P., Beyers, R.L., and others (2015). [Full list of authors: Ogada, D., Shaw, P., Beyers, R.L., Buij, R., Murn, C., Thiollay, J.M., Beale, C.M., Holdo, R.M., Pomeroy, D., Baker, N., Krüger, S.C., Botha, A., Virani, M.Z., Monadjem, A. & Sinclair, A.R.] Another continental vulture crisis: Africa's vultures collapsing toward extinction. Conservation Letters. Close ) BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Gyps africanus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 04/11/2015. . Population has fallen by more than 90% in W Africa, where it has largely disappeared from Ghana (survives only in Mole National Park), Niger (no records away from W National Park since 1997) and Nigeria (possibly extirpated, with no recent sightings anywhere, even in last stronghold, Yankari Game Reserve). Distinct declines noted also in Sudan and South Sudan, Somalia and Kenya, e.g. reduction of c. 52% in Masai Mara (SW Kenya) over c. 15 years (7 Virani, M.Z., Kendall, C., Njoroge, P. and Thomsett, S. (2011). Major declines in the abundance of vultures and other scavenging raptors in and around the Masai Mara ecosystem, Kenya. Biological Conservation. 144(2): 746–752. Close ); of eight raptors surveyed in SW Kenya, comparison of numbers counted in roadside transects in 1976 and 1988 with those in surveys in and around Masai Mara National Reserve during 2003–2005 revealed massive declines in abundance of this and six other avian scavengers (7 Virani, M.Z., Kendall, C., Njoroge, P. and Thomsett, S. (2011). Major declines in the abundance of vultures and other scavenging raptors in and around the Masai Mara ecosystem, Kenya. Biological Conservation. 144(2): 746–752. Close ). Apparently more stable in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and across S of range, where c. 40,000 individuals thought to remain. General picture, however, is one of very rapid decline overall. Main causes of such heavy decreases in this species’ numbers appear to be habitat loss and conversion to agro-pastoral systems, big reductions in wild-ungulate populations (resulting in reduced availability of carrion), hunting for trade, persecution, poisoning, and collisions with powerlines. In E Africa, poisoning (especially from highly toxic pesticide carbofuran) the main problem; although this occurs mainly outside protected areas, the large ranges covered by both present species and G. rueppelli mean that they spend much time outside such areas and are therefore at considerable risk (8 Kendall, C.J. and Virani, M.Z. (2012). Assessing mortality of African vultures using wing tags and GSM-GPS transmitters. Journal of Raptor Research. 46(1): 135–140. Close ). However, up to 191 poisoned vultures, most of them G. africanus, were found in Jul 2011 around the carcass of an elephant killed by poachers in Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbawe (9 Groom, R.J., Gandiwa, E., Gandiwa, P. and van der Westhuizen, H.J. (2013). A mass poisoning of White-backed and Lappet-faced Vultures in Gonarezhou National Park. Honeyguide. 59(1): 5–9. Close ). Evidence from wing-tagging and telemetry studies suggests that annual mortality of present species, principally from incidental poisoning, perhaps as high as 25% (8 Kendall, C.J. and Virani, M.Z. (2012). Assessing mortality of African vultures using wing tags and GSM-GPS transmitters. Journal of Raptor Research. 46(1): 135–140. Close ). In addition, populations of wild ungulates, on which this species relies, have fallen alarmingly throughout E Africa, even in protected areas. Moreover, the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac, often used for livestock and fatal for Gyps vultures when ingested at carcasses, was found on sale at veterinary practice in Tanzania, where a Brazilian manufacturer said to have aggressively marketed the drug for veterinary purposes and exported it to 15 African countries. In S parts of range, vultures are captured and consumed for (erroneously) perceived medicinal and psychological benefits, and in Nigeria possible extirpation of this species has been attributed to trade in vulture parts for traditional juju practices. The same problems, coupled with environmental pressures, have led to prediction that Zululand population could become locally extinct by c. 2030–2035 or, if harvest rates currently underestimated, local extinction could occur by c. 2018. Some evidence that this species is captured for international trade; in 2005, for example, 13 individuals kept illegally in Italy were reportedly confiscated. Breeding birds vulnerable to disturbance by humans, possibly to greater degree than is G. rueppelli, which nests on inaccessible cliffs. Electrocution on powerlines is a problem in some parts of range. Conservation measures include campaigns and press releases to raise awareness of impact of hunting for medicinal and cultural reasons, chiefly in S Africa, and of dangers posed by use of diclofenac. Occurs in a number of protected areas throughout range.