Lappet-faced Vulture (Torgos tracheliotos) lives in savannah grassland across Sub-Saharan Africa. It feeds on carrion and scraps. Its conservation status is Endangered.
Fascinating facts about the Lappet-faced Vulture
- At up to 115 cm long and a 2.9 m wingspan, the lappet-faced vulture is the longest and largest winged vulture in Africa. Wild individuals weigh between 4.4 kg and 9.4 kg, with East African birds averaging just 6.2 kg, while captive Arabian birds can reach 13.6 kg. Its massive 10-cm bill lets it tear the hide of an elephant-sized carcass.
- A lappet-faced vulture can fill its crop with up to 1.5 kg of meat in a single feeding. Its powerful bill and aggressive nature let it dominate carcasses, forcing smaller vultures to step aside, and it can even rip through the tough skin of elephants. This feeding dominance means the species can exploit the biggest food sources.
- The species builds a massive stick nest 120-220 cm across and 30-70 cm deep, usually perched 5-15 m up in an Acacia or similar tree. Both parents share incubation for 54-56 days, then raise a chick that fledges after 124-135 days but may stay dependent for a year. Such a long, resource-intensive breeding cycle makes each successful brood a critical investment, explaining why the birds are highly sensitive to disturbance at nesting sites.
- World numbers are now under 9,000 individuals, and the IUCN upgraded the species to Endangered in October 2015. Human-driven threats have driven sharp declines, illustrated by 86 deaths in Namibia after poisoned cattle carcasses and 14 deaths in a single Botswana poisoning event in June 2019.
- South Africa's Tswalu Kalahari Reserve set aside a 114,000-hectare (282,000-acre) vulture safe zone in 2019, 120,000 ha (296,000 acre), specifically to protect nesting lappet-faced vultures among other threatened species. By covering key breeding and foraging habitats, the zone aims to shield the birds from poisoning and lead-shot threats, showing how large-scale land protection can directly benefit a species whose range spans dry savannahs and deserts.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.
At a glance
RangeSub-Saharan Africa
HabitatSavannah grassland
DietCarrion and scraps
About the Lappet-faced Vulture
In the scorching savannas, the Lappet-faced Vulture reigns as a monarch of the skies, its broad wings beating with a slow, deliberate rhythm as it soars in search of carrion. With eyes that seem to hold a deep, ancient wisdom, this majestic bird surveys its realm, its distinctive fleshy lappets flapping gently in the breeze like tattered banners. As it banks and turns, its wingspan casting a fleeting shadow on the sun-baked earth, the Lappet-faced Vulture embodies a raw, unyielding power that is both beautiful and heartbreaking, a poignant reminder of a world that is rapidly losing its most magnificent creatures.
Hear the Lappet-faced Vulture, and 4,400+ more
Real recorded sounds, 11 nature games and a free Daily 5, 1v1 quiz duels, conservation wins and a safe Kids mode. Free on Feravox.
