Black and white vulture (scientific name:Gyps rueppellii）: It is a large African vulture belonging to the genus Vulture of the hawk family, with a body length of 85-107cm, a wingspan of 220-255cm and a weight of 5.5-9kg.Male and female birds are very similar, with broad wings and a short square tail.The head is bulging, and the long neck will fold and roll into its body.The black brown feather has a white edge, showing a shrunken appearance.The head and neck are covered with white fluff.The bottom of the neck has a white collar, the whole body has brown or black spots, and the lower body is white brown.Eyes are yellow.A strong beak is suitable for tearing flesh and bones.There are backward spines on the tongue, which can help tear the meat from the bones.
It can fly at an altitude of 11000 meters, which is one of the highest birds found in the sky known to mankind.This giant bird, which lives in south central Africa, generally hovers at about 6000 meters for food with the help of the hot air flow on the ground. The black and white vultures broke the flight height record because in 1973, a plane flying at 11000 meters hit a black and white vulture.Take rotten meat as the main food.It usually eats various ungulates in Africa, and occasionally eats livestock when it is close to humans.It is mainly distributed in the African continent from Senegal, Gambia to Ethiopia, with a small part from southern Ethiopia to Tanzania.
(Reference source of overview drawing:[1]）
Chinese name
Black and white vulture
Latin name
Gyps rueppellii
Foreign name
English R ü ppell's Vulture, Rueppell's Grifon, Ruppell's Vulture, R ü ppell's Grifon Vulture French Vautour de R ü ppell
The scientific name of the black and white vulture is in memory of the 19th century German zoologist Eduard R ü ppell.It is found in some areas of Ethiopia's biogeographic region.This species occupies the area from Senegal Gambia to Eritrea, and some native areas extend southeast.Their original range extends from northwest to northeast Africa, about 5 ° south latitude and 20 ° north latitude.[3][5]
morphological character
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The black and white vulture is a large African vulture with a body length of 85-107cm, a wingspan of 220-255cm and a weight of 5.5-9kg.Male and female birds are very similar. Like other vultures, they cut a unique contour in flight. They have broad wings and a short square tail.The head is bulging, and the long neck will fold and roll into its body.The black brown feather has a white edge, showing a shrunken appearance.The head and neck are covered with white fluff.There is a white collar at the bottom of the neck, and the eyes are yellow.The powerful and slightly hooked beak is orange, suitable for tearing flesh and bones.There are backward spines on the tongue, which can help tear the meat from the bones.[3]
Adult birds and sub adult birds have different appearances, and adult birds do not show gender duality.The color of young birds is usually darker than that of adult birds. The stripes on the lower side of wings are not very clear, and the color on the neck is more pink.The head and neck of the adult bird are dark, sparsely covered with down, and there is a ring of white feathers at the bottom of the neck.The body color of the adult bird is dark brown, with white stripes under the wings, and some pure white or white tip feathers on the abdomen and back of the wings.These vultures shed their hair every year, but they do not shed their hair during breeding.When they change their hair, their feathers are different at different ages, which may appear a little messy.The vulture species most closely related to black and white vultures areWhite-backed Vulture 。The easiest way to distinguish black and white vultures from white backed vultures is to use the white beak of black and white vultures and the black beak of white backed vultures.There is a subspecies "Ethiopia subspecies"（G. r. erlangeri）The difference from other members of the black and white vulture is that their feathers are gray.[3]
Body length 85-107cm, wingspan 220-255cm, weight 5.5-9kg
Body length 95-105cm, height 110cm
features
Male and female birds are very similar, with broad wings and a short square tail
Its neck base has soft near white plumed jaw, and its head and neck are yellow and white;Sub adult birds have brown feathered jaws;It is similar to the alpine vulture, but the difference is that the upper body is yellow brown rather than light khaki, and the light feather on the chest has fine axial lines
picture
Black and white vulture
Vulture
Habitat environment
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Black and white vultures live in arid mountainous areas in Africa, such as semi desert and desert edge.It often occurs in the open areas of acacia woodlands, grasslands and mountains.They feed in open savannah and semi-arid areas, and nest in adjacent mountainous areas and deep canyons.It generally lives on cliffs, and there are also large trees in a few areas.Therefore, black and white vultures can survive in high altitude areas, which makes them very suitable for living on hillsides.When looking for food, they sometimes nest in savannah and desert areas, but usually hide in inaccessible places for protection.[2-3]
Life habits
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Black and white vultures are highly social birds and can live in large groups.They breed, nest and feed in groups.The species does not migrate, but it moves seasonally with the prey group, will stay away from the nest to find food, and usually returns to the nest.Young non breeding birds will look around for mates and nesting sites, but they are still not considered migratory.[3-4]
This species is usually a quiet bird, but will communicate with other birds when feeding to maintain the advantage.When they build their nests, they sometimes make harsh sounds to protect their territory.Potential partners communicate by flying together, although they do not usually communicate verbally.In most cases, black and white vultures do not make sounds, but when eating, they claim their dominance over other individuals by making sounds, including hissing, chattering and screaming.[3]
They can fly very high, about 11000 meters, making them the tallest birds in the world.Black and white vultures generally fly at an altitude of 6000 meters. They are the highest known birds and can fly at 11000 meters.Theirhemoglobinα - D sub unit foroxygenThey have high affinity, so that they canpressurePlace oxygen inhalation more effectively.[3]
Black and white vultures can fly at a speed of up to 35 kilometers per hour, and forage 150 kilometers away from the nest.Their nests will be built on rocks or on acacia trees.When the hot air rises two hours after sunrise, they will leave the nest and feed on the plains.They can wait several days for the predator to leave the corpse.[3]
Carnivore, mainly carrion.Ungulates that usually eat Africa, such asBlue horned horse, plain zebra andThomson's gazelle Occasionally, they will eat livestock when they are close to humans.[3]
Distribution range
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Resident birds: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, C ô te d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, SudanTanzania, Togo and Uganda.
Non breeding sites: Portugal and Spain.
Traveling birds: Gibraltar and Morocco.
Wandering: DRC.
Wandering (non breeding ground): Egypt, Sierra Leone and Zambia.
Seasonal uncertainty: Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Uncertain origin (non breeding site): Saudi Arabia.[2]
Distribution of Black and White Vultures
Reproductive mode
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Black and white vultures are monogamous birds. They stay together throughout the breeding season and raise chicks together after hatching.Black and white vultures often do not breed according to the exact seasonal schedule, which means they can breed all year round.A single breeding season usually lasts about 13 months.They usually fly courtship at the place where they nest in front of the cliff.Black and white vultures usually stay in large groups when breeding, which provides them with protection from predators.Many other mating pairs can be seen nesting and breeding on the cliff face on the nearby hillside at the same time.In such a crowded environment, the species will have to protect its nest, eggs, nestlings or mates from other black and white vultures nearby.They intimidate other threatened black and white vultures by grunting or hissing.[3]
Both sexes strive to build nests.The breeding season lasts for 13 months, and only one egg is laid in each season, so only one chick can be hatched.The eggs need about 55 days to hatch, and both parents hatch together.And collect food resources to help raise young birds.Vultures emerge after about 150 days.Black and white vultures will take care of their nestlings before hatching and before independence.Until it can take care of itself.After hatching, they will collect food for young birds, take care of them and protect them from predators, until the little black and white vultures become independent after fledgling.Once the first chick of the black and white vulture can live independently after eclosion, these black and white vultures will start their next breeding season.Due to the increased availability of resources, rainfall or an increase in ungulate populations may trigger the breeding season.The species grows full adult feathers at about the age of 5-6 years, so their sexual maturity may occur at the same time.The life span of black and white vultures in captivity is 40-50 years.[3]
In 1992, it was estimated that there were about 11000 pairs of black and white vultures, including 3000 pairs in Tanzania and 2000 pairs in Kenya. Among them, "as many as thousands of pairs" were concentrated in favorable locations, 2000 pairs in Ethiopia were said to be "the local abundant common vultures", 2000 pairs in Sudan were "the most common vultures in the north", and 2000 pairs in West Africa.This may mean that there were 22000 mature individuals and about 30000 individuals in the early 1990s.The subsequent sharp decline in the number of species means that the actual number may be much lower.[2]
Once widely distributed in sub Saharan AfricaSahel Region.However, the astonishing decline of this species in its distribution range led to its global status being changed from near endangered to endangered by the International Bird Conservation Organization in 2012, and further upgraded to "extremely endangered" in 2015.The 2006 report said that its global status had declined by 96%.[4]
world record
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The highest flying bird in the world:Black and white vulture, a species of Vulture.The highest known bird can fly at 11000 meters.(Guinness World Records)[6]
