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

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
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
A3cd+4acd	A2acd+3cd+4acd	A2acd+3cd+4acd

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Critically Endangered	A3cd+4acd
2016	Critically Endangered	A2acd+3cd+4acd
2015	Critically Endangered	A2acd+3cd+4acd
2012	Endangered	A2acd+3cd+4acd
2011	Endangered	A2a,c,d; A3c,d; A4a,c,d
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
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	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	22,500,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	23,500,000 km2	medium
Number of locations	11-100	-
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	131000 mature individuals	poor	suspected	2011
Population trend	decreasing	poor	inferred	1996-2035
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	68-79%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	68-90%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	68-90%	-	-	-
Generation length	13 years	-	-	-

Population justification: Given evidence of recent declines in various parts of its range, this species' population is suspected to number a maximum of 197,000 individuals (Ogada and Buij 2011). This equates to a maximum of 131,320 mature individuals, rounded here to 131,000 mature individuals. This is a very approximate value, and it is noted that the number may have reduced considerably in the past decade.

Trend justification: This species' population has declined rapidly (Ogada et al. 2016). Based on road transect data from West Africa collected between 1969/70 and 2003/4 (Thiollay 2006), subsequently adjusted for area (P. Shaw in litt. 2022), the population was undergoing an estimated annual decline of -2.8%, equivalent to a reduction of 68% over three generations. This is estimated/projected to have been the minimum rate of population reduction up to 2022.
However, since the West Africa data was collected, population crashes have been reported across many West African countries, including Côte d’Ivoire (Salewski 2021, A.A. Asso, N. A. Koné and V. Salewski in litt. 2022), Togo (N. Arcilla and Z. Kolani in litt. 2022), Benin (C. Dabone in litt. 2022) and Ghana (outside of Mole National Park) (Gbogbo et al. 2016, S. Goded and S.B. Yiadom in litt. 2022) and from the wider landscape in Nigeria (Awoyemi 2021, Williams et al. 2021a, b), along with the evidence of illegal killing occurring in areas considered more secure (Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso and Gambia). It has been almost entirely extirpated in some parts of its range, for example in Edo State, southern Nigeria (Nosazeogie et al. 2018). Roost counts in Dakar, Senegal, found a drop in numbers from c.3,000 in 1969-1971 to c.400 in 2016, equating to a decline of 82% over three generations (Mullié et al. 2017). Although the tiny proportion of the population in South Africa and Eswatini seems to be experiencing only marginal declines, more recent transect data also shows rapid reductions in Kenya and northern Botswana, and the current small population size in southern African countries appears to stem from rapid declines in earlier decades. Updated trends are therefore urgently required for West Africa, but recent reductions are suspected to have been at a rate that considerably exceeds the 68% estimated from the road transect data (Ogada et al. 2016, P. Shaw in litt. 2022). As such the rate of reduction over the past three generations is placed in a band of 68-79%. Given how recently very large numbers remained in many West African countries, meaning this area held a large majority of the remaining population approximately two generations ago (26 years), and the extremely rapid and recent reductions and local extirpations reported from these countries, the overall (current and future) rate of reduction is suspected to be significantly higher. It is here placed in a suspected band of 67-90% over three generations, for the period from 1996-2035 (covering a period one generation into the future), and also for the future three-generation period, 2023-2062.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Angola	extant	native	yes
Benin	extant	native	yes
Botswana	extant	native	yes		yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native	yes
Burundi	extant	native	yes
Cameroon	extant	native	yes
Central African Republic	extant	native	yes
Chad	extant	native	yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native	yes
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native	yes
Djibouti	extant	native	yes
Eritrea	extant	native	yes
Eswatini	extant	native	yes		yes
Ethiopia	extant	native	yes
Gambia	extant	native	yes
Ghana	extant	native	yes
Guinea	extant	native	yes
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes
Liberia	extant	native	yes
Malawi	extant	native	yes
Mali	extant	native	yes
Mauritania	extant	native			yes
Morocco	extant	vagrant			yes
Mozambique	extant	native	yes
Namibia	extant	native	yes		yes
Niger	extant	native	yes
Nigeria	extant	native	yes
Rwanda	extant	native	yes
Senegal	extant	native	yes
Sierra Leone	extant	native	yes
Somalia	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes		yes
South Sudan	extant	native	yes
Sudan	extant	native	yes		yes
Tanzania	extant	native	yes
Togo	extant	native	yes
Uganda	extant	native	yes
Zambia	extant	native	yes
Zimbabwe	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Ethiopia	Mille-Sardo Wildlife Reserve North
Kenya	Kirisia Forest
Kenya	Ol Ari Nyiro
Senegal	Delta du Saloum
Senegal	Dindefello Natural Reserve
Senegal	Parc National de Basse Casamance
Sierra Leone	Sierra Leone River Estuary

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	resident
Desert	Hot	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	resident
Savanna	Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	breeding
Altitude	0 - 4000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Small-holder farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		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%)		Very Rapid Declines		Medium Impact: 7
		Stresses 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		Minority (<50%)		Rapid Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (large scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Human intrusions & disturbance	Work & other activities	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Viral/prion-induced diseases - Avian Influenza Virus (H5N1 subtype)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Natural system modifications	Other ecosystem modifications	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Other
Other options	Other threat	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Residential & commercial development	Housing & urban areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Transportation & service corridors	Utility & service lines	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Medicine - human & veterinary	national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/hooded-vulture-necrosyrtes-monachus on 25/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 25/11/2024.