The eight species of vulture in Africa are: Hooded, White-backed, Lappet-faced, White headed, Egyptian, Palmnut, Cape Griffon and Ruppel’s Griffon.

Vultures are generally solitary birds – or pairing – only gathering at carcasses. White-backed vultures are gregarious out of the breeding season when they more often than not nest alone as a pair. The Cape Griffon is the most gregarious of the vultures, nesting in colonies on cliff faces.

The lappet face vulture is the largest and has the most powerful beak enabling it to break open the skin of dead animals, making it easier for others species to feed. The hooded is one of the smallest and has a very sharp, hooked beak enabling it to pick pieces of meat off places inaccessible to other vultures. As it is the smallest it is usually pushed aside by the larger species and only gets to feed once the others have left. The sharp, hooked beak is ideal to pick the tiny pieces of meat that the other larger vultures could not reach.

Species heirarchy

It is not unusual to find four species of vulture at one carcass, however there is a hierarchy involved with the lappet-faced as the dominant species. The white-backed will be there in the greatest numbers ensuring that they get close to the food source by sheer force of numbers. The hooded will be the species waiting for a morsel on the outside or wait until all the others have left before moving in. With their sharp, hooked beak they are able to pick morsels off bones that the other vultures are unable to get to.

Vultures find food by sight. They are able to pick up a carcass lying on the ground from a very high distance and will also watch the sky for other vultures descending as a sign that food is available.

Vultures rely on thermals to keep them in the air and they can soar for hours but cannot fly for long periods. It is for this reason that they lift into the air only once the temperature rises and on cold days are often still found in the trees during mid-morning, leading to the mistaken belief that they are waiting on a kill.

I have observed lions making a kill on the Chobe floodplains on a few occasion and each time white-backed vultures would be there within minutes of the kill. Whether they heard the death cries of the prey or saw the incident from their roosting area cannot be determined.

Vultures and Jackals

Jackals and hyenas will have dominance over vultures at a carcass with one individual keeping the vultures off. I have observed a jackal keeping more than thirty vultures from a carcass. When the jackal was full he still kept the vultures at bay without eating himself.

Among the vultures the lappet-faced is the dominant species at a carcass where it keeps the others away through its sheer size and strength. White-backed vultures will often move in on a carcass and shift the lappet faced away through sheer force of numbers. The white-backed will also move in whilst the predator is still feeding to steal a morsel. This can result in a lion retaliating and I have observed a vulture been bitten on the back by a lion, leaving the vulture paralysed and dying while the lions continued feeding on the carcass. Marabou storks and tawny eagles are often found at a carcass with vultures.

Some vulture species kill live prey. The lappet-faced will kill animals as large as hares and is known to feed on fish such as the barbel that are caught in shallow pools. Hooded vultures will dig for insects and I have observed them feeding on lion dung on occasions.

Once thought to kill domestic livestock vultures were persecuted by farmers and even today fall prey to poisoned carcasses set out to kill small-stock predators such as the jackal.