Lappet-faced or Black Vulture
Torgos Tracheliotus
Appearance: Adult: Very large dark bird with white down on breast under dark lanceolate feathers. It has a red face and throatwithout any coverage. The females are larger than the males. They have a wingspan of over 2.8 metres. It has white thighs and in flight it shows a white line running along the forepart of its dark brown underwing.
Juvenile - Dark brown all over, no white thighs and has white down feathers on head. Its face is also a paler red than the dark red of that the adults.
Habitat: It is found in thornveld and it prefers drier areas and is the most common vulture in the Namib Desert.
Habits and Characteristics: It is the largest vulture in Africa and has high pitched whistles or a sharp yelp for communication. It is known as the "King Vulture" because of its eating habits and the respect they enforce from the other species. Unlike most other vultures they do not gather in great numbers around a carcass. Other vultures usually have to wait untill the "Kings" finish eating before they can start.
They build large nest in trees far away from other speies usually on the top of flat trees at least 6 m tall. It lays 1 egg, white with a lilac sheen and it usually has a lot of reddish brown markings. It sometimes lets its legs dangle while soaring.
