Rüppell's Vulture

Dark brown or blackish body plumage with pale fringes on the wing coverts giving a scaly appearance. Adults have a white ruff around the base of the neck. Juveniles are darker overall with less distinct patterning and a brownish neck ruff.

Large size, dark scaly-patterned wings and body, white neck ruff, pale bill, and a bare bluish head and neck.

Length: 85–101 cm, Wingspan: 2.2–2.6 meters, Weight: 7–9 kg.

Generally silent away from breeding colonies and feeding sites, but emits grunts, hisses, and cackles when squabbling over food.

Strictly carnivorous, feeding almost exclusively on the soft tissues of medium to large mammalian carcasses.

Open habitats, including semi-desert, savanna, grasslands, and rocky mountainous areas up to high altitudes.

Resident, though individuals can roam vast distances daily in search of food.

Colonial nesters, building stick platforms on remote cliff ledges. Usually lays a single egg per breeding season, incubated by both parents.

White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus), which is generally smaller, lacks the distinct scaly wing pattern, and has a white lower back visible in flight.

Acts as an essential scavenger by quickly removing animal carcasses from the environment, thereby preventing the spread of diseases.

Critically Endangered, with populations experiencing rapid declines due to poisoning, habitat loss, and hunting.

Look for them soaring high in thermals or gathered in large numbers around recent mammal carcasses in open savannas and near cliffs.

Rüppell's Vulture holds the record for the highest-flying bird, with a confirmed collision with a commercial aircraft at an altitude of 11,300 meters (37,000 feet) over West Africa.