• 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)	23,400,000 km2	medium
Number of locations	11-100	-
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	medium	-	2001
Population trend	decreasing	poor	estimated	1990-2030
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	63-89%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	63-89%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	63-89%	-	-	-
Generation length	13.22 years	-	-	-

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	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Angola	extant	native	yes		yes
Benin	extant	native	yes
Botswana	extant	native	yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native	yes
Burundi	extant	native	yes
Cameroon	extant	native	yes		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
Eritrea	extant	native	yes
Eswatini	extant	native	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		yes
Lesotho	extant	vagrant	yes
Liberia	extant	vagrant	yes
Malawi	extant	native	yes
Mali	extant	native	yes
Mauritania	extant	native	yes
Mozambique	extant	native	yes		yes
Namibia	extant	native	yes
Niger	possibly extant	native	yes
Nigeria	possibly 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
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	Hell's Gate National Park
Kenya	Kirisia Forest
Kenya	Nairobi National Park
Kenya	Ol Ari Nyiro
Senegal	Dindefello Natural Reserve
South Africa	Benfontein
South Africa	Botsalano Nature Reserve
South Africa	Dronfield
South Africa	iSimangaliso Wetland Park
South Africa	Mapungubwe

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

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: White-backed Vulture Gyps africanus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/white-backed-vulture-gyps-africanus 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.