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conservation status

IUCN: Critically endangered
CITES: Appendix II

Diet

  • Prefer carrion, specifically after carcass has been picked open by larger vultures, such as lappet-faced vultures.
  • Will also eat insects.

reproduction

  • 52 day average incubation period
  • 80-130 fledge period
  • 3-4 month period when fledgling remains with parents
  • Males and females rear chick in tandem
  • 1 egg per clutch
  • Breeding can occur year round, depending on the population location

Range and distribution

​Sub-Saharan Africa, with a wide northern range from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east. Populations are also resident in Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda.  

According to IUCN, the list of countries in which current populations have been found: Angola; Benin; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Côte d'Ivoire; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Gambia; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Kenya; Liberia; Malawi; Mali; Mauritania; Mozambique; Namibia; Niger; Nigeria; Rwanda; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Somalia; South Africa; South Sudan; Sudan; Swaziland; Tanzania, United Republic of; Togo; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe.

characteristics

  • Wingspan: 5 feet
  • Avg weight: 4-5 lbs
  • Avg life span in captivity: 25-35 years

conservation issues

  • ​According to Ogada & Buij, 2011, the maximum total population as of 2011 is 197,000 individual birds. The researchers also reported an average population decline across Africa of 62%, but a more recent paper by Ogada et al. in 2016 projected an 83% population decrease over 3 generations, qualifying them for the status of critically endangered.
  • The largest threat facing hooded vultures is poisoning, primarily via agricultural pesticides. The main sources of poisoned carcasses are a) elephants or rhinos killed by poaching whose carcasses are poisoned to deter circling vultures from giving away the location of poaching events, b) large predators such as lions that were poisoned in retribution for killing livestock, and c) feral dogs that were poisoned in an effort to curb their population growth. The trade in traditional medicine and collisions with electrical infrastructure are also important causes of population decline.
​Date of Last PVA/B&T Plan
Current Population Size (N)
Current Number of Participating AZA Member Institutions
Projected % GD at 100 Years or 10 Generations
SSP Program Designation
5 Year Target Population Size
Space Needed (Target population minus current space)
Recent 5 Year Population Trend (increasing, decreasing, or stable)
Studbook: 9/2015
B&T Plan: 
1/2017
40 (21.17.2)
​9
43.3%
Red SSP
51
51-40 = 11
Stable
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Sustainability Report (updated 6/13/2017)


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Population Analysis & Breeding & Transfer Plan (updated 2/10/2017)


Officers

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Studbook (updated 10/23/2015)
Name
Organization
Position
Tom Schneider
​Taylor Rubin
Detroit Zoo
Zoo Atlanta
SSP Program Leader ​​& Studbook Keeper 
Education Advisor
​An official Care Manual has not yet been written. However, please check out the fact sheet prepared by the SSP Program Leader and the Avian Scientific Advisory Group (ASAG).