Lappet-faced Vulture(Torgos tracheliotos)
They are also known as the Nubian Vulture. The lappet-faced vulture is a huge species, ranking as the longest and largest winged vulture in its range, behind the closely related cinereous vulture. This species measures around 95–115 cm in body length, with a wingspan of 2.5–2.9 m. The standard measurements is that the wing chord is 71.5–82.5 cm, the tail is 33–36 cm and the tarsus is 12.2–15 cm. The bill, at up to 10 cm long and 5 cm deep, a culmen length of 7.2 cm.
The lappet-faced vulture is blackish above with a strongly contrasting white thigh feathers. The underside can range from pure white to buff-brown. Like many vultures, it has a bald head. The head coloration can range from reddish in southern Africa to dull pink in more northern Africa to pink on the back of the head and grey on the front in the Arabian Peninsula. The combination of the colorful head and fleshy folds on the side of it are distinctive. The bald head of the lappet-faced vulture is advantageous, because a feathered head would become spattered with blood and other fluids, and thus be difficult to keep clean. While flying, lappet-faced vultures have large, broad wings held with the front edges held parallel and slightly pointed, serrated-looking wingtips. Compared to the somewhat similarly marked hooded vulture, it is considerably larger with a more massive bill and can only be confused at a great distance. The cinereous vulture (which may overlap in range in the Arabian area) has a similar body shape but is all dark, with no contrasting plumage.
Habitat
This species is patchily distributed through much of Africa, though it is absent from much of the central and western parts of the continent and declining elsewhere in its range. The lappet-faced vulture breeds in Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia.
On the Arabian Peninsula, it breeds in Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. It is also present in Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Benin, the Central African Republic and Angola.
This vulture prefers to live in dry savannah, thornbush, arid plains, deserts with scattered trees in wadis, open mountain slopes. They are usually found in undisturbed open country with a scattering of trees and apparently prefer areas with minimal grass cover. While foraging, they can wander into denser habitats and even into human inhabited areas, especially if drawn to road kills. They may be found in elevation from sea-level to 4,500 m.
Diet
The lappet-faced vulture is a scavenging bird, feeding mostly from animal carcasses, which it finds by sight or by watching other vultures. More so than many other African vultures, they often find carrion on their own and start tearing through the skin. They are the most powerful and aggressive of the African vultures. However, lappet-faced vultures frequently hang around the edges of the throngs at large carcasses, waiting until the other vultures are done, to feed on remnant skin, tendons and other coarse tissues that the others will not eat. Big game animals, up to the size of elephants, are preferred as carrion, since they provide the most subsistence at a sitting. A full crop can contain up to 1.5 kg of meat.
Breeding
This species nests in November through to July in the north of its range, throughout the year in eastern Africa and May to January in southern Africa. The huge nest, a pile of neatly formed sticks, measures 120–220 cm across and 30–70 cm deep. The nest is lined with green leaves, as well as animal hair and skins. Nests are always placed in the main fork or top of an Acacia tree, Balanites and Terminalia trees are sometimes also used, at 5-15 m off the ground. The clutch contains one or two eggs, which are incubated by both parents over the course of 54 to 56 days. The young fledge at 124 to 135 days old, although can be dependent on their parents for up to an age of 1 year or more, sometimes forcing parents to only nest in alternate years. The lappet-faced vultures does not usually breed until it is around six years of age.
Population
According to the IUCN Red List, they are classed as Endangered(EN). Data suggests that the African population is at least 8,000 individuals, and there may be 500 in the Middle East. This gives a total population of at least 8,500 individuals, roughly equivalent to 5,700 mature individuals, although this may prove to be an overestimate given current trends for this species. The total population is estimated to be declining at a very rapid rate. It was estimated the population in Africa was declining by 80% over three generations (range: 65-87%). Assuming a stable population of 500 mature individuals in Arabia, applying the median decline in Africa (80%) to a population of 5,700 mature individuals in 1992 results in a global decline at a rate of around 74%, taking the upper quartile for the African data (65%) results in a global decline of 58%.
Threats
Widespread accidental poisoning, largely due to strychnine, used by many farmers for predator control, and more recently carbofuran, has contributed significantly to declines. Several Lappet-faced Vultures were found to have died after feeding on the carcass of a poisoned jackal in Namibia and two birds were killed as a result of feeding on a poisoned carcass in Kenya. A mass poisoning event involving at least 15 Lappet-faced Vultures occurred in Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbabwe in 2012. The upper beaks of eight of these birds were removed suggesting that they may be traded for traditional medicine. It is also often mistakenly persecuted as a livestock predator: one major deliberate poisoning incident killed 86 individuals in Namibia. Other major threats to the species include nest predation by humans, reduced food availability and electrocution. Increasing use of agricultural pesticides may also be a problem for the species, including those breeding at Tayma, Saudi Arabia. Nest disturbance, to which it is extremely sensitive, may be growing with an increase in forest settlements in Ethiopia and the increasing recreational use of off-road vehicles. In Saudi Arabia, suitable nesting trees may be subject to the most intense human disturbance as shepherds also use the same large trees for shelter for themselves and their livestock. Breeding birds at Tayma could face disturbance from motorised vehicles in the desert. Nest trees are also susceptible to fire and are often pushed over by elephants.
The population collapse in West Africa may be a result of higher nest disturbance, local extinctions of wild ungulates through habitat modification and over-hunting, intensified cattle farming in which sick or dying animals are rarely abandoned, and an increase in accidental poisoning, although the latter threat, in particular, requires further study. National vaccination campaigns in West Africa have reduced illness in domestic livestock, and sick animals can now be sold off, rather than abandoned, due to the proliferation of markets and abattoirs. The species may be hunted for medicine and cultural reasons in West Africa, and some ethnic groups in the sub-region hunt vultures for food, though the impact on this species is unknown. It is also thought to be used for traditional medicine in South Africa, with all vultures having the potential for traditional medicine use in southern Africa and has been recorded in trade in West and Central African markets. With 858-1,284 individuals reported to have been traded over a six year period in West Africa, numbers traded represent a potentially significant proportion of the regional population. In central Mozambique, the population has declined due to a scarcity of game and livestock following the armed conflict of the 1970s and 1980s, and the surviving population continues to be threatened by the over-exploitation of game by poachers. There are incidences of deliberate poisoning by poachers, due to the belief that the arriving vultures will give away the locations of poached animals. In Ethiopia, the principal threat to the species is habitat loss on the lowland plains. Potential introduction of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac, which is fatal to vultures, when ingested at livestock carcasses may represent a potential future threat to the species.
Conservation
Conservation and Research Actions Underway
CITES Appendix II. CMS Appendix II. The species was put forward as a candidate for the CITES Review of Significant Trade in 2004. It breeds in a number of protected areas within its extensive range. Ecological research is ongoing, notably in Saudi Arabia and southern Africa. Following a workshop, a five-year international action plan for the species was published in 2005, with the aims of stabilising or increasing its populations, improving knowledge of its distribution, population size and trends and minimising the impact of human activities at key sites. A comprehensive study of the species in Botswana was planned for 2007, and 221 chicks have been marked with patagial tags between 2006 and 2009. In 2007, a survey began to establish the extent of diclofenac use for veterinary purposes in Tanzania, and in 2008 an awareness-raising campaign at a conference of the World Organisation for Animal Health in Senegal led to a resolution being adopted unanimously by more than 160 delegates to request Members to consider their national situation with the aim to seek measures to find solutions to the problems caused by the administration of diclofenac in livestock. The Hawk Conservancy along with the Endangered Wildlife Trust are currently working on providing training and equipment for anti-poisoning teams so that field staff will have the skills and equipment to respond to neutralise poisoned carcasses. In 2008 feeding stations were set up in the south of Egypt, at Shalatin, following the decline of vultures in the area. The species is listed as locally Vulnerable in Namibia, Endangered in the Eskom Red Data Book of Birds of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, and Critically Endangered in the National red list for Uganda. The production of a multi-species action plan for the conservation of Africa-Eurasian vultures is underway.
Conservation and Research Actions Proposed
Organise coordinated surveys and monitoring throughout its range to clarify population size and decline rates. Conduct further ecological research. Initiate awareness campaigns aimed at farmers, local communities, developers and ecotourists to reduce mortality from persecution, accidental poisoning and disturbance. Identify important nesting areas. Carry out research into the effects of nest disturbance and nest loss. Improve awareness amongst utilities and NGOs of hazardous pylon designs and suitable measures to prevent collisions through training courses and literature such as posters and best practice manuals. Increase awareness amongst farmers of suitable reservoir and drinking trough modification methods. Enforce legislation concerned with incorrect use of poisons and pesticides. Carry out research into the impacts of different poisons across its range. Study the impact of the species on livestock numbers and share information with stakeholders. Enact legislation against the persecution of the species. Encourage vulture feeding sites and the abandonment of livestock carcasses from death by natural causes.
Provide enforcement for existing nature reserves in West Africa and design of a new one in northern Mali. In West Africa, determine the severity of accidental poisoning, hunting of the species for medicine and cultural reasons, hunting for food, and the threat from the development of powerlines. Complete a vulture census for West Africa. Eliminate the veterinary use of diclofenac and other toxic drugs in Africa. A number of recommendations were produced at the 2012 Pan-Africa Vulture Summit: 1) Regulate import, manufacture and sale of poisons; 2) Legislate and enforce measures to prosecute those involved in illegal killing and trade in vulture species; 3) Protect and effectively manage breeding sites; 4) Ensure new energy infrastructure is vulture-friendly and modify existing unsafe infrastructure; 5) Support activities to conserve vulture populations, including research and outreach activities.