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  Profile

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  In flight

Vultures & Condors

Hooded Vulture

Necrosyrtes monachus

• epic
• 72 km/h
• Critically Endangered

The smallest African vulture, nimble enough to dodge into a carcass while bigger birds squabble.

Population

~197,000 individuals total (approximately 131,000 mature individuals), decreasing

Habitat

Open grassland, savanna, forest edge, desert margins, wooded areas, and coastal regions; often near human settlements and rubbish dumps, favoring well-foliaged trees along watercourses for nesting; mostly below 1,800 m elevation but recorded up to 4,000 m

Fun fact

Despite being the smallest Old World vulture, the Hooded Vulture provides a critical urban sanitation service in African cities by cleaning up carrion and refuse near human settlements — yet it has crashed by an estimated 83% over roughly three generations (~53 years) due to poisoning, belief-based use, and habitat loss.

Range

Sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal, Mauritania, and Guinea-Bissau in the west, across Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia in the east, south through Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique to South Africa and Eswatini

Diet

Carrion and scavenged waste (non-specialized, highly versatile scavenger); also insects, especially during termite/ant emergences

Size

0.67 m

Wingspan

1.68 m

Lifespan

21.3 years