Physical Description
Males and females feature similar coloration — brown or black overall, with a white underbelly, thin fluff covering the head and neck and a white collar. Eyes are normally amber to yellow in color. They have exceptionally powerful, pale beaks.
Size
Rüppell's griffon vultures are large African vultures, growing between 33 to 38 inches (84 to 97 centimeters) in height, with an 8-foot (2.5 meter) wingspan.
Native Habitat
Populating the Sahel region of Africa, Rüppell's griffon vultures range from Senegal, Gambia and Mali in the west, to Sudan, South Sudan and Ethiopia in the east. They can also be found through the savanna in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. Breeding often requires a cliff face, and as such, Rüppell's griffon vultures reside near mountainous regions, but will also travel through woodlands and grasslands in order to find food.
Lifespan
Lifespan for Rüppell's griffon vultures is thought to be up to 40 to 50 years.
Communication
Sharing a carcass can often result in fights between vultures, with grunting, hissing, stomping and a coloration change of the neck to a deep red used to show dominance and ward off fellow scavengers.
Food/Eating Habits
This species will spend much of its time soaring through the skies at great altitudes searching for food, sometimes staying in the air for six to seven hours each day. They use slow, powerful wing beats or rely on strong winds to conserve energy and soar.
A notorious scavenger, Rüppell's griffon vultures dine exclusively on carrion. They rely on vision alone to detect prey. When the vulture spots a carcass from the air, the vulture will swoop down nearby and run with its wings spread and neck extended towards its meal. Rüppell's griffon vultures insert their heads under the skin of the carcass, sometimes climbing inside the ribcage to consume it. The head and neck are devoid of most feathers, evolved to keep the mess of blood and meat to a minimum.
As scavengers, Rüppell's griffon vultures have the added adaptation of being able to consume rotten meat, even if it contains anthrax, botulism and cholera. Bacteria are then destroyed in the vulture's stomach. A large meal can last at least four days for these vultures.
Contrary to popular belief, Rüppell's griffon vultures do not rely on the already-killed prey of larger predators for the bulk of their food source. While they will consume lion leftovers if found, much of what they eat has not been preyed upon, but is a result of old age, disease, broken-limbed animals or still-born young.
At the Smithsonian's National Zoo, Rüppell's griffon vultures are fed rabbits, rats, Nebraska Brand Feline Diet (carnivore diet made with beef) and femur bones. Small pieces of beef may be offered during training sessions.
Social Structure
These animals are highly social, nesting and gathering in large flocks numbering in the thousands.
Reproduction and Development
Breeding takes place on cliff faces, with pairs historically numbering in the thousands. On an open ledge, Rüppell's griffon vultures create a platform of sticks and grass on which they lay a single egg, traditionally after the rainy season. Trees can also sometimes provide a nesting option.
Females will often take sticks from other nests, while males arrange them into their own formation. Incubation lasts 55 days, and once hatched, both parents will take care of the chick. A down-covered gray hatchling, the chick will fledge around 150 days, gaining independence just before the next breeding cycle begins.
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