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

Taxonomic note
Gyps rueppelli (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) was previously listed as G. rueppellii.

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	A2abcd+3bcd+4abcd

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2021	Critically Endangered	A2abcd+3bcd+4abcd
2016	Critically Endangered	A2abcd+3bcd
2015	Critically Endangered	A2abcd+3bcd+4abcd
2013	Endangered	A2abcd+3bcd+4abcd
2012	Endangered	A2abcd+3bcd+4abcd
2008	Near Threatened	A2a,b,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	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	14,200,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	20,300,000 km2	medium
Number of locations	11-100	-
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	22000 mature individuals	poor	suspected	1992
Population trend	decreasing	medium	estimated	1980-2024
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	88-98%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	88-98%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	88-98%	-	-	-
Generation length	14.44 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	1	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	100%	-	-	-

Population justification:

Mundy et al. (1992) estimated a population perhaps of the order of 11,000 pairs, comprising 3,000 pairs in Tanzania, 2,000 in Kenya where ‘up to thousands’ concentrated at favoured sites, 2,000 in Ethiopia where it was said to be ‘common to locally abundant’, 2,000 in Sudan where was the ‘most common vulture in the North’, and 2,000 for West Africa. This could indicate a population of 22,000 mature individuals and perhaps c.30,000 individuals at the start of the 1990s. Subsequent extremely rapid population declines mean that the population is now likely to be much lower.

Trend justification: Recent data suggest this species has experienced a very rapid population decline of c.5.8% per year, equating to 92.5% (range: 88-98%) over three generations (43.32 years [Bird et al. 2020]) (Ogada et al. 2016). Extremely rapid declines have been reported in West Africa (Thiollay 2006; although in Gambia it appears to be stable): during vehicle-based transect surveys in the Sahel zone of Mali and Niger in 2006 the species was not recorded, despite being common during equivalent surveys in the early 1970s. Significant declines appear to have occurred elsewhere in the range, including Sudan (Nikolaus 2006), Uganda (D. Pomeroy in litt. 2006), Kenya (M. Virani in litt. 2006, Virani et al. 2011) and Tanzania (J. Wolstencroft in litt. 2006), but it may be stable in Ethiopia (Nikolaus 2006). Virani et al. (2011) documented an apparent decline of c. 52% over c. 15 years in the numbers of Gyps vultures present 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). Declines observed in the Masai Mara study may be representative of declines in Gyps populations ranging across East Africa from Southern Ethiopia to Southern Tanzania (C. Kendall in litt. 2012), although this species may be doing slightly better than other Gyps species in the Masai Mara as its relative abundance at carcasses has increased compared to G. africanus (Kendall et al. 2012).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Algeria	extant	native	yes
Benin	extant	native	yes
Botswana	extant	vagrant
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	vagrant	yes
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native	yes
Djibouti	extant	native	yes
Egypt	extant	vagrant			yes
Eritrea	extant	native	yes
Ethiopia	extant	native	yes
Gambia	extant	native	yes
Ghana	extant	native	yes
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native				yes
Guinea	extant	native	yes
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes		yes
Lesotho	extant	vagrant
Malawi	extant	vagrant
Mali	extant	native	yes
Mauritania	extant	native	yes
Morocco	extant	native				yes
Mozambique	extant	vagrant
Namibia	extant	vagrant
Niger	extant	native	yes
Nigeria	extant	native	yes
Portugal	extant	native			yes
Rwanda	extant	native	yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	uncertain			yes
Senegal	extant	native	yes
Sierra Leone	extant	vagrant			yes
Somalia	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	vagrant
South Sudan	extant	native	yes
Spain	extant	native			yes
Sudan	extant	native	yes
Tanzania	extant	native	yes		yes
Togo	extant	native	yes
Uganda	extant	native	yes
Zambia	extant	vagrant			yes
Zimbabwe	extant	vagrant

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Burkina Faso	Arli - W - Singou complex
Ethiopia	Mille-Sardo Wildlife Reserve North
Kenya	Hell's Gate National Park
Kenya	Kirisia Forest
Kenya	Kwenia
Kenya	Nairobi National Park
Kenya	Ol Ari Nyiro
Niger	Diffa-Kinzindi grassland and wetlands
Niger	Termit Mountains
Tanzania	Makao Wildlife Management Area
Tanzania	Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Desert	Hot	marginal	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)		major	breeding
Savanna	Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 4500 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		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		Majority (50-90%)		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%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		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
Climate change & severe weather	Habitat shifting & alteration	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Energy production & mining	Renewable energy	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Human intrusions & disturbance	Recreational activities	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species disturbance
Other options	Other threat	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Transportation & service corridors	Utility & service lines	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality

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

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Rüppell's Vulture Gyps rueppelli. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/ruppells-vulture-gyps-rueppelli on 22/11/2024.
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 22/11/2024.