• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Climate Change maps
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
A2abcd+3bcd+4abcd	A2abcd+3bcd+4abcd	A2abcd+3bcd+4abcd

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2021	Critically Endangered	A2abcd+3bcd+4abcd
2018	Critically Endangered	A2bcd+3bcd+4bcd
2016	Critically Endangered	A2bcd+3bcd
2015	Critically Endangered	A2bcd+3bcd+4bcd
2012	Endangered	A2bcd+3bcd+4bcd
2008	Near Threatened	A2b,c,d; A3b,c,d; A4b,c,d
2007	Near Threatened
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	Low
Land mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence breeding/resident (km2)	23,400,000	medium
Number of locations	11-100	-
Severely Fragmented		-

	Value	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
No. of mature individuals		medium		2001
Population trend	Decreasing	poor	estimated	-
Decline (3 years/1 generation past)		-	-	-
Decline (5 years/1 generation past)		-	-	-
Decline (10 years/1 generation past)		-	-	-
Decline (10 years/3 generation future)	63-89	-	-	-
Decline (10 years/3 generation past and future)	63-89	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations		-	-	-
Percentage in largest subpopulation		-	-	-
Generation length (yrs)	13.22	-	-	-

Population justification: The species's global population was estimated at 270,000 individuals in 1992 (Mundy et al. 1992), but it may now be more than an order of magnitude lower than this due to rapid population declines in recent years (Global Raptor Information Network 2015). The median estimate of the rate of decline, 4.1% annually (2.5-5.4%) (Ogada et al. 2016a), is equivalent to a three generation reduction of 81% (63-89%).

Trend justification: The most recent data on this species's population indicates the species's population has declined extremely rapidly, with a median estimate of 4.1% decline per year (range 2.5-5.4%) (Ogada et al. 2016a), equating to a decline of 81% (range: 63-89%) over three generations (39.7 years [Bird et al. 2020]). Declines have exceeded 90% in West Africa (Thiollay 2006), and have also occurred in other parts of the range, e.g. in Sudan (Nikolaus 2006), Kenya (M. Virani in litt. 2006), South Africa (Thorley and Clutton-Brock 2017; Murn et al. 2017) and Botswana (53.5% decline during 2006-2017 [Leepile et al. 2020]). Populations were apparently stable in Ethiopia (Nikolaus 2006) and Tanzania (D. Peterson in litt. 2006). Virani et al. (2011) documented an apparent decline of c. 52% over c.15 years in the numbers of Gyps vultures present in Masai Mara (Kenya) during the ungulate migration season, while in central Kenya an apparent decline of 69% was noted in the numbers of Gyps vultures between 2001 and 2003 (Ogada and Keesing 2010). As these are visiting individuals from a wide-ranging population, declines observed in Masai Mara may be representative of declines in Gyps populations ranging across East Africa from southern Ethiopia to southern Tanzania (C. Kendall in litt. 2012).

Country/Territory	Occurrence status	Presence	Resident	Breeding	Non-breeding	Passage
Angola	N	Extant	Yes		Yes
Benin	N	Extant	Yes
Botswana	N	Extant	Yes
Burkina Faso	N	Extant	Yes
Burundi	N	Extant	Yes
Cameroon	N	Extant	Yes		Yes
Central African Republic	N	Extant	Yes
Chad	N	Extant	Yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	N	Extant	Yes
Côte d'Ivoire	N	Extant	Yes
Eritrea	N	Extant	Yes
Eswatini	N	Extant	Yes
Ethiopia	N	Extant	Yes
Gambia	N	Extant	Yes
Ghana	N	Extant	Yes
Guinea	N	Extant	Yes
Guinea-Bissau	N	Extant	Yes
Kenya	N	Extant	Yes		Yes
Lesotho	V	Extant	Yes
Liberia	V	Extant	Yes
Malawi	N	Extant	Yes
Mali	N	Extant	Yes
Mauritania	N	Extant	Yes
Mozambique	N	Extant	Yes		Yes
Namibia	N	Extant	Yes
Niger	N	Possibly Extant	Yes
Nigeria	N	Possibly Extant	Yes
Rwanda	N	Extant	Yes
Senegal	N	Extant	Yes
Sierra Leone	N	Extant	Yes
Somalia	N	Extant	Yes
South Africa	N	Extant	Yes		Yes
South Sudan	N	Extant	Yes
Sudan	N	Extant	Yes
Tanzania	N	Extant	Yes
Togo	N	Extant	Yes
Uganda	N	Extant	Yes
Zambia	N	Extant	Yes
Zimbabwe	N	Extant	Yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
South Africa	Zululand
South Africa	Kalahari-Gemsbok National Park
South Africa	Phongolo Nature Reserve
South Africa	Barberspan and Leeupan
Senegal	Dindefello Natural Reserve
South Africa	Dronfield
South Africa	Benfontein
South Africa	Mapungubwe
Kenya	Ol Ari Nyiro
Kenya	Hell's Gate National Park
South Africa	Ndumo Game Reserve
Kenya	Kwenia
Kenya	Lolldaiga-Mugogodo-Ewaso N'yiro
Kenya	Nairobi National Park
Guinea	Foret Classe de Balayan Souroumba
Mozambique	Gorongosa National Park and Marromeu Complex

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	resident
Desert	Hot	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Savanna	Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 3500 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Rapid Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Persecution/control	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Rapid Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Unintentional effects (species is not the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Rapid Declines		Medium Impact: 7
		Stresses Species mortality, Other
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Energy production & mining	Oil & gas drilling	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Energy production & mining	Renewable energy	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Human intrusions & disturbance	Recreational activities	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Other options	Other threat	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Residential & commercial development	Housing & urban areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Transportation & service corridors	Roads & railroads	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Transportation & service corridors	Utility & service lines	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality

Purpose	Primary form used	Life stage used	Source	Scale	Level	Timing
Medicine - human & veterinary	-	-			Non-trivial	Recent
Pets/display animals, horticulture	-	-		International	Non-trivial	Recent

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2022) Species factsheet: Gyps africanus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 19/08/2022. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2022) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 19/08/2022.