• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• 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.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2023	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
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	high
Land-mass type		Average mass	3,400 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	22,600,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	inferred	-
Generation length	11.57 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The population size has not been quantified, but the species is generally infrequently observed, described as rare and mostly seen in small numbers (Reid 1989, del Hoyo et al. 1994, Haenn et al. 2014, Holste et al. 2020, J. Barrio in litt. 2023).

Trend justification: There is no data on the population trend (Santangeli et al. 2022). However, local declines have been reported in parts of the range, including in Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, northern Ecuador and Paraguay (R. Clay in litt. 2023, P. Monar in litt. 2023, J. F. Restrepo Mesa in litt. 2023, C. Ruiz-Guerra in litt. 2023, J. Van Dort in litt. 2023). The drivers of the decline are somewhat unclear, but loss and degradation of habitat are likely contributing factors (per Holste et al. 2020). The population trend however appears to vary, as the species is reported to be stable in Brazil and Bolivia (B. Hennessey in litt. 2023, E. R. Luiz in litt. 2023, B. Phalan in litt. 2023, R. Subirá in litt. 2023).
Considering that the majority of the global population is found in Brazil (per Fink et al. 2022, Monroy-Ojeda 2022) it is likely that the declines detected in the periphery of the range are to a certain extent balanced out by the presumed stability in its core. Nevertheless, as there is strong evidence that population reductions are taking place in parts of the range, it is assumed that the overall population is undergoing a slow decline.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Argentina	extant	native	yes
Belize	extant	native	yes
Bolivia	extant	native	yes
Brazil	extant	native	yes
Colombia	extant	native	yes
Costa Rica	extant	native	yes
Ecuador	extant	native	yes
El Salvador	extant	native	yes
French Guiana	extant	native	yes
Guatemala	extant	native	yes
Guyana	extant	native	yes
Honduras	extant	native	yes
Mexico	extant	native	yes
Nicaragua	extant	native	yes
Panama	extant	native	yes
Paraguay	extant	native	yes
Peru	extant	native	yes
Suriname	extant	native	yes
Trinidad and Tobago	extant	native	yes
Venezuela	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	major	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	suitable	resident
Savanna	Dry	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 3180 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		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Small-holder farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Agro-industry grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Causing/Could cause fluctuations		Low Impact: 5
		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 Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
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 Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

Purpose	Scale
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: King Vulture Sarcoramphus papa. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/king-vulture-sarcoramphus-papa on 22/12/2024.
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 22/12/2024.