Introduction
I’ve never had a favourite animal in my life, and I have yet to find something in nature I don’t like. Still, if I was allowed to choose a small handful of animals instead of one, vultures would definitely feature in my list. Just don’t ask me to pick one species! They are misunderstood animals and are often underappreciated and overlooked.
Personally, I think they are beautiful and intelligent birds, perfectly at home in an incredibly harsh environment where they play a vital role in controlling the spread of diseases, and also getting rid of those smelly carcasses for us!
I have been very lucky over the years to have worked closely with all of the species I am about to highlight below; in the wild and in captivity. I know them all intimately, in ways that guide books can never teach you, and I hope I can at least share some of this information with you, and perhaps change some of the thoughts about these amazing birds.
WARNING! This blog contains a number of photos of vultures feeding, so if you are squeamish about such things, perhaps this is not a blog for you!
South Africa has nine species of vultures; Egyptian, Bearded, Palm-nut, Lappet-faced, Cape, White-backed, White-headed, Hooded and Rüppels. The Rüppels is not generally seen here, but there are records of it in the most northern parts of South Africa. The Egyptian is regarded as “extinct in the wild” in South Africa, and the Palm-nut and Bearded Vultures (also known as the Lammergeier) are quite a bit more specific in their functions and distribution.
For this blog, I will concentrate on the five main species you could encounter on a carcass. Each has a specific role to play and, although it looks like absolute chaos when they’re feeding, there is a system.
Their primary function
Contrary to popular belief, vultures are not there to clean up after the predators. A large pride of lions will decimate a buffalo carcass, leaving nothing but scraps for the hyenas, jackals and vultures. The bigger vultures can eat between 1 and 2 kg of meat each and will never get enough food to sustain themselves. They need whole meals; animals that have died from disease or injuries that haven’t been found by the predators. How do they do this? Through an intricate ‘communication’ system using body language and their astonishing eyesight.
The bigger vultures can see each other up to 70 km away across the sky! They see the smaller vultures at about 50 km. They will all fly at between 1 and 6 km high while in search of food (a Rüppels Griffon Vulture holds a record height flight of approximately 37 000 feet – over 11 kilometres!). There are also two species of eagle that help them search; the Bateleur and Tawny Eagle. These two generally fly pretty low and can cover vast distances; especially the Bateleur (flying up to 450 km per day). 5 species of vulture, two eagle, plus other animals like hyenas, jackals, crows and storks, all stretching out across the bushveld landscape, all keeping one eye on the distant birds, and another searching the ground. If one of them finds a carcass, the others will know and will come streaming in from every direction.
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- Bateleur
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- Tawny Eagle
Vultures will come barreling toward a meal at up to 200 km/h! I have a memory of exactly this that I will never forget. Standing on the road close to the Kruger National Park with vultures streaming in from the east. They were moving in toward some food we had put out for them that morning. We were close to the reserve and they were already very low; barely above the telephone lines. They whooshed past me so fast I could barely follow them with my eyes; a real spectacle.
Carcass degradation
Feeding frenzy
Watching a vulture feeding frenzy is out of this world, and something you have to see to truly understand. Tearing, swallowing, hissing, kicking, jumping, pulling and biting at each other, wings beating; absolute chaos, and every bird for themselves. This is extremely important. If that animal has died from a disease then their commotion, and ability to eat so much so quickly, ensures that the flies – the main spreader of diseases – cannot gain access to the meat. There is a huge difference between 100 vultures spreading a disease and 1 million flies spreading a disease.
Lappet-faced Vulture
Lappet-faced Vultures are widely considered the largest of Africa’s vulture species. Although they generally weigh less than the Cape Vultures, they are taller, with a much larger beak. Lappet-faced Vultures weigh around 6-8 kg, with a wingspan of around 2,5 to 2,8 metres.
These birds are ‘the openers’. They have massive, sharp and strong beaks that could bite your finger clean off! When it comes to thick-skinned animals such as rhino, elephant, buffalo and hippo, these are the only birds capable of tearing through the skin to gain access to the meat.
The Lappet-faced Vultures have bald heads, but are feathered on their necks. As they are there to open up carcasses, they seldom need to go into the animal they are feeding on, and just stick their heads in. They usually gain access around the throat, buttocks, and/or stomach. These are the softer areas of skin and, once they have gained access to the meat, they can swallow between 1,5 and 2 kg before moving off. The featherless head means that meat cannot get stuck in that area. Vultures don’t allopreen – where birds will clean each others feathers – and cannot reach their own heads. This is why the various vulture species are bald on their heads and/or necks; indicating what role they play on the carcass.
Cape & White-backed Vultures
Capes and White-backs are very similar to each other. Both have bald heads and necks because they are the ‘dirtiest’ of our vultures. These guys take their meals very seriously, and will often be covered in blood…and other delightfully gory items. They will happily climb into their meals; especially the White-backs. The Capes are up to double their size, and have been weighed at between 8 and a whopping 14 kg! White-backs normally weigh between 5 and 8 kg.
Look carefully at the photo below and you can spot a White-backed Vulture about to climb into the dead rhino. This is what they do best; eating the animal from the inside. They will even burrow up along the inside of a giraffes neck like a mole!
Most of the vultures have been quite aptly named, and it only takes watching a White-backed Vulture take off to see where it gets its name from. These are the most common of all of Africa’s vulture species, and will always be seen around carcasses.
The Cape Vulture, also known as a Cape Griffon, is a bit different. Once common throughout most of Southern Africa, it is now an endangered species. It is endemic to Southern Africa; found primarily in South Africa, with limited numbers in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. They are the only one of the 5 species I am highlighting that nest on cliff faces (their Afrikaans name directly translates as the ‘cliff vulture’). The others are on top of large trees.
Table manners & body language
White-headed & Hooded Vultures
These are the two smaller species that come in after most of the devouring has been done by the Cape and White-backed Vultures. The White-headed Vultures are Africa’s rarest vulture and, in South Africa, are only really found in and around the Kruger National Park and other parts of the Limpopo Province.
The Hooded Vulture – the smallest of the five – is definitely one of the feistiest. As with all things small, they make up for size by being cheeky. They have one of the coolest scientific names; Necrosyrtes monachus, which is Greek for “monk-like corpse dragger”.
Getting photos of Cape and White-headed Vultures is not easy. Vultures are quite shy creatures at the best of times. Most of the photos on this blog have been taken from a long distance away. Added to this the rarity of the two species, and you can understand why I get very excited whenever I do see them in the wild. Hooded Vultures are a bit of an exception. Although the photos I’ve taken are still fairly distant; their agility and speed give them an advantage over the others, and they tend to stay when the others fly away.
They also hang around the carcasses for days after the bigger vultures have concluded their business. They have specialized beaks, long and thin, which helps them to reach anywhere on a meal. They get to the brains through the eye sockets, and also gain access to the bone marrow and sinews. As seen in the photos below; even when there seems to be nothing left on a meal, they will fight like crazy for it.
The threats
This subject could be a blog on its own. Vultures face a lot of problems throughout Africa, and indeed, the world. The major ones are poisoning, illegal trade, habitat loss and collisions with power-lines. I have, sadly, dealt extensively with the poison problems over the years. There isn’t much out there more devastating for a conservationist, than investigating a poisoning. My toughest case was the intentional poisoning of a flock of guineafowl; approximately 50 birds. The damage to the area was far-reaching and long-lasting. Multitudes of vultures dead and dying over the next two weeks. Half a dozen Vervet Monkeys dead. There was spoor and other signs of many different animals that were guaranteed to have been affected by it all; various doves, francolins, civets, genets, porcupines, various eagles, and more. Hundreds of thousands of ants were pouring out of their nests and dying. It was a day I will never forget, and it changed me forever.
I worked for the above rehabilitation centre for a number of years at the beginning of my career. There was a lot of hands on work being done, and our education programmes – both in situ and outreach – were amazing. There were always vultures there, in various stages of rehabilitation. The wonderful thing with vultures is that, once they had been through their primary rehabilitation, they could be used to interact with public without any fear of it affecting their future release. Once in captivity, these birds adapt very quickly, and they are a marvelous educational tool; teaching people about their functionality, beauty and intelligence. A lot of respect was gained for vultures in these public feeding sessions.
Let us all hope that places like Moholoholo above continue to do the good work they do and, perhaps most importantly, that we learn to respect animals more than we love them.
