Cape Vulture

This vulture is dark brown except for the pale wing coverts. The adult is paler than the juvenile, and its underwing coverts can appear almost white at a distance. The average length is about 1 m with a wingspan of about 2.4 m and a body weight of 9.4 kg . They are on average the largest raptor in Africa, although they are subservient to the powerful Lappet-faced Vulture.

The Cape Vulture is classified as Vulnerable (VU), considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.

The Cape Griffon or Cape Vulture (Gyps coprotheres) is an Old World vulture in the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks. It is endemic to southern Africa, and is found mainly in South Africa, Lesotho and Botswana. It nests on cliffs and usually lays one egg per year. Back This vulture is dark brown except for the pale wing coverts. The adult is paler than the juvenile, and its underwing coverts can appear almost white at a distance. More

the largest colonies of Cape Vultures remaining in South Africa. Arriving in the heat of midday was hardly ideal and we discovered that they had been feeding on a cattle carcass right by the car park earlier that morning. Taking the Potberg trail we made our way up the hill where we should at least get a view over the "kloof", or valley, where the colony resides. More

The Cape vulture is found in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana and Mozambique. It formerly bred in Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Namibia, but is now extinct in Swaziland, and only small, non-breeding populations persist in Zimbabwe and Namibia (2). View a distribution map for this species at UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Habitat - Inhabits open grassland, savanna and shrubland (5), and is often found roosting on crags in mountainous regions (1). More

Cape vultures face a number of threats and, as a result, their populations are thought to be declining throughout much of their range (1). A primary reason for these declines is poisoning (9). Farmers sometimes poison carcasses and leave them out to kill unwanted predators, such as leopards and jackals, but often the poison kills large groups of Cape vultures and other scavenging species that also feed on the carcass (5). More

threatened Cape Vulture, and on their cliffs is a distinct white patch, which is actually the accumulation of centuries of bird droppings. The books call the village Otse, but the villagers and historians call it Letsekele. The name comes from the tributaries of rivers that passed (tsekela) through the village to the southeast where they met a bigger river. In this village there is an environmental club called the Cape Vulture Environmental Club (CVEC). More

- The Cape Vulture's diet consists of carrion. - African mythology holds that the vulture has clairvoyant properties which explains their ability to find carcasses almost immediately after their death. More

The number of Cape vultures has recently been declining at an alarming rate. Because of his, a vulture study group has been established (VSG). The Cape vulture, Gyps coprotheres, is endemic to southern Africa. They live in colonies on often-inaccessible cliffs. Vultures fly at about 50 kilometres an hour for very long distances in search of carcasses. They float on air currents to save energy. A vulture reaches sexual maturity at between five and six years of age. Their lifespan is about 25 years. More

Cape Vulture Fitted With GPS Tracking Device In Limpopo = The first GPS tracking collar has been fitted to a Cape griffon vulture in the Limpopo Province. On May 26, 2006 a harness with a 250-gram tracking unit was put on a Cape vulture at Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre near Hoedspruit before the vulture was released at the centre More

The Cape Vulture (Gyps coprotheres) is an endangered species. For bird watchers and nature lovers, a visit to the Cape Vulture Sanctuary is a must. Standing at the top of the cliff and looking down into the Karringmelkspruit Gorge is in itself a great experience. Add a number of Cape Vultures flying above and below and it becomes an unforgettable experience. Although the vultures often hunt more than 100km away and might sleep over, they always return to the nest. More

In 1964 and 1969 Cape Vultures were common and occurred in a ratio of 1:2 and 1:4 with Lappet-faced Vulture (Sauer 1973); at Hotsas this represented about 25 birds in 1969. By 1985, poisoning and other factors had reduced the ratio of Cape to Lappet-faced to less than 1:100 and none of the colonies were active (Brown 1985). Almost all reporting rates from bird atlas data (Harrison et al. 1997) for Namibia remain low at less than 20% (Mundy et al. 1997). More

number of Cape vultures died of starvation. Hyenas which chewed up the bones of carcasses also died or moved on. The bone fragments that the hyenas left behind after they finished with a carcass were a vital part of the vulture diet. Without the calcium from the bones, the vultures suffered, and chicks were born with malformed bones. Many farmers held the belief that vultures carried diseases which were transmitted to their cattle when vultures drank from the same water as their cattle. More

A Cape vulture breeding colony is located at Otjiwarongo Waterberg. The Cape griffon vulture, Gyps coprotheres, is classified as vulnerable on the World Conservation Union’s Red List. This means that it is in danger of becoming extinct in the wild. The current population is estimated to have fallen to 8,000 from an estimated 12,000 in 1997. Once found across Southern Africa, the species has declined rapidly. This is due to a number of reasons. More

Cape Vulture Conservation ProjectTusk Projects » Countries » South Africa » Cape Vulture Conservation Project Cape Vulture Conservation Project - Project Location: North and West Gauteng Provinces, South AfricaType of Project: Protection of Endangered SpeciesEndangered species: Cape Vulture (366 breeding pairs)No. local people employed by project: 1No. schools supported: 3500 people under education programme including adultsWebsite: www.rhinolionconservation.co. More

Cape Vulture a good point from which to launch their large heavy bodies into flight. Nesting colonies of these birds have been observed for over forty years and during this time over 5,000 chicks have been ringed. A decline in mating pairs and increasing chick deaths was therefore obvious to ornithologists who observed lower numbers of brooding birds. In March and April the birds pair up and either re-occupy old sites or build a new nest from grass, plants and sticks. More

The Cape Griffon or Cape Vulture (Gyps coprotheres) is an Old World vulture in the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks. It is endemic to southern Africa, and is found mainly in South Africa, Lesotho and Botswana. It nests on cliffs and usually lay one egg per year. More