White-backed Vulture

White-backed vultures are scavengers, feeding on the soft muscle, organ tissue and bone fragments of large carcasses. With their large, broad wings they can soar and circle for hours as they search for carrion. It also takes scraps from human habitations. It often moves in flocks. Their excellent eyesight enables them to spot food from high in the air, and they also keep an eye on other vultures, quickly following if they see another making a sudden descent. White-backed vultures breed at the start of the dry season, nesting in loose colonies of 2 to 13 birds. The nest is a platform of sticks, lined with grass and green leaves, situated in the crown or fork of a large tree. Generally a single egg is laid, which is incubated for 56 days. The pale grey chick is fed by both parents until they fledge at 120 to 130 days of age. The white-backed vulture has been impacted by a number of threats, resulting in a decline in numbers in recent years. Consequently, in 2012 the IUCN Red List uplisted the species from Near Threatened to Endangered. These population declines have been caused by a combination of factors: the loss and conversion of the vulture’s habitat for agriculture, declines in wild ungulate populations reducing the availability of carrion, hunting for use in traditional medicine, capture for the illegal live trade, electrocution on electricity pylons, drowning in farm reservoirs, persecution and poisoning.