• 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
-	A2abcd+3bcd+4abcd	A2abcd+3bcd+4abcd; C1

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2021	Endangered	A2abcd+3bcd+4abcd
2016	Endangered	A2bcd+3bcd
2015	Endangered	A2bcd+3bcd+4bcd
2012	Vulnerable	C2a(ii)
2008	Vulnerable	C2a(ii)
2007	Vulnerable
2004	Vulnerable
2000	Vulnerable
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type	continent	Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	34,200,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	6500 mature individuals	medium	estimated	1992
Population trend	decreasing	poor	estimated	1992-2036
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	52-71%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	52-71%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	52-71%	-	-	-
Generation length	14.69 years	-	-	-

Population justification: Data from Mundy et al. (1992) suggest the African population is at least 8,000 individuals, equating to c.5,330 mature individuals. National estimates for Africa include 160-500 individuals in Uganda (Pomeroy et al. 2015), 150-200 pairs in South Africa (Barnes 2000), c.2,000 individuals in Tanzania (Shimelis et al. 2005), 300 pairs in Zimbabwe (Boshoff et al. 1997), 400-500 pairs in Ethiopia (Shimelis et al. 2005), 10-20 pairs in Egypt (Shimelis et al. 2005) and 500 pairs in Namibia (Simmons and Brown, cited in Shimelis et al. 2005). There are an estimated 600 pairs in the Arabian Peninsula (Jennings 2010, cited in Botha et al. 2017). The total population is therefore estimated to be least 9,200 individuals, of which c.6530 are mature individuals, although this may prove to be an overestimate given current trends for this species.

Trend justification: The global population is estimated to be declining at a very rapid rate. Ogada et al. (2016) estimated the population in Africa was declining by 3.5% per year. equating to a decline of 79% over three generations (44.07 years [Bird et al. 2020]) (range: 64-87%). Recent surveys of raptor populations in  northern Botswana support this rate of decline, with a decline of 61% between 1991-1995 and 2015-2016 for this species (Garbett et al. 2018), equating to a decline of 84% over three generations. Assuming a stable population of 1,200 mature individuals in Arabia, and a population of 5,330 mature individuals in Africa in 1992 declining at a rate of 79% over three generations, the global decline is estimated to be 64.5% over three generations (range: 52-71%).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Algeria	extant	vagrant			yes
Angola	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Benin	extant	native	yes
Botswana	extant	native	yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Burundi	extant	vagrant			yes
Cameroon	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Central African Republic	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Chad	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Djibouti	extant	native	yes
Egypt	extant	native	yes
Equatorial Guinea	extant	vagrant			yes
Eritrea	extant	native	yes
Eswatini	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Ethiopia	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Gambia	extant	native	yes
Israel	extinct	native	yes
Jordan	extinct	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Libya	extant	vagrant			yes
Malawi	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Mali	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Mauritania	extant	native	yes
Morocco	extant	vagrant			yes
Mozambique	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Namibia	extant	native	yes
Niger	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Nigeria	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Oman	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Palestine	extinct	native			yes
Rwanda	extant	native	yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Senegal	extant	native	yes
Somalia	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
South Sudan	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Sudan	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Syria	possibly extinct	native
Tanzania	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Togo	extant	vagrant			yes
Uganda	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native	yes
Western Sahara	extinct	uncertain
Yemen	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Zambia	extant	native	yes		yes	yes
Zimbabwe	extant	native	yes		yes	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Israel	Judean desert
Israel	Northern Arava valley
Jordan	Dana
Jordan	Wadi Araba
Kenya	Nairobi National Park
Niger	Termit Mountains
Oman	Jabal al Akhdar
Saudi Arabia	At-Tubayq
Saudi Arabia	Mahazat as-Sayd
Senegal	Delta du Saloum
Senegal	Dindefello Natural Reserve
South Africa	Benfontein
South Africa	Botsalano Nature Reserve
Syria	Jabal Sis
Tanzania	Makao Wildlife Management Area
United Arab Emirates	Al Marmoom Desert
United Arab Emirates	Dubai Desert
United Arab Emirates	Jebel Hafeet
Yemen	Desert west of Al-Ghayda
Zambia	Lusenga Plain National Park
Zambia	Mbulo Forest
Zambia	Mutinondo Wilderness
Zambia	Mutulanganga
Zambia	Simungoma
Zambia	Sumbu National Park and Tondwa Game Management Area

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Desert	Hot	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Savanna	Dry	major	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 3500 m	Occasional altitudinal limits	(max) 4500 m

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%)		Rapid Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses 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
Human intrusions & disturbance	Recreational activities	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success
Human intrusions & disturbance	Work & other activities	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success
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
		Future		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 Other
Transportation & service corridors	Roads & railroads	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species disturbance
Transportation & service corridors	Utility & service lines	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality

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

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Lappet-faced Vulture Torgos tracheliotos. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/lappet-faced-vulture-torgos-tracheliotos on 26/12/2024.
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 26/12/2024.