22 thoughts on “Hooded Vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus): Revise global status?”
I support the down-listing of the Hooded Vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus) from Critically Endangered to Endangered as proposed.
In their 2011 review of Hooded Vulture status across the distribution range of this species, Ogada and Buij proposed a revised total population estimate of a maximum of 197, 000 individuals, based on quantitative rates of decline. Although they suggested that trends from each African region represented dramatic population declines over the previous 40–50 years, they also noted that these were not consistent throughout the entire range of this species. However, the situation in East Africa appeared particularly dire, where mean declines of 70% were estimated at that time. The authors cited further evidence that the species had generally declined across central and southern Africa, albeit remaining relatively numerous in some countries.
Ogada et al. (2016) later projected a possible 83% decline (range 64-93%) over three generations (53 years) spanning the entire contiguous range of this species. In West Africa, Gbogbo et al. (2016) also found indications that a severe decline may have indeed occurred in the population of Hooded Vultures in Accra, and an evaluation of the impact of traditional medicine across West Africa by Buij et al. (2016) found that between 1990 and 2013, the Black kite Milvus migrans and Hooded Vulture together accounted for 41 % of 2646 carcasses comprising 52 species. Mullié et al. (2017) reported the notable decrease in Dakar of more than 85%, from 3 000 individuals in 1969 to only 400 in 2016, while in Nigeria, a more recent survey by Owolabi et al. (2020) found evidence that both the deliberate and unintentional poisoning of Hooded Vultures remains on the increase, despite a general local awareness of the apparently fast-declining population. Disturbingly, Henriques et al. (2020) reported that between September 2019 and March 2020, more than 2000 Hooded Vultures were intentionally poisoned across eastern Guinea-Bissau for belief-based use.
Despite the above, Mullié et al. (2017) also noted that the reported decline in Dakar was on the high end of the general trend noticed over much of the region, being in striking contrast with the apparently stable populations along the West African coast further to the south. They further noted that this species remains relatively common in other regions of Senegal, as well as in The Gambia, without clear signs of any recent decrease. Indeed, results of road counts reported by Jallow et al. (2016), covering an area of around 600 km2 in the Western Region of The Gambia, suggested population densities of as many as 7,000–10,500 Hooded Vultures, translating to 4–5 % of the currently estimated global population, in an area that represents less than 0.0001 % of the total range of this species.
Although available evidence does suggest that concern over the perceived population decline may not be unfounded, it is possible that overall population numbers may well have been previously underestimated (at least in some regions). It should also be noted that observed rates of reduction have not been consistent over the entire range of this species. However, what is clear is that generation length has previously been grossly exaggerated.
Generation length may be interpreted as either the mean age at which a cohort of individuals produce offspring; the age at which an individual achieves half of its total reproductive output; the mean age of parents in a population at the stable age distribution; or the time required for the population to increase by the replacement rate (IUCN 2014).
The standard definition of generation length is generally accepted as simply being the number of years between the birth of a parent and offspring (the age of a parent at first breeding). However calculations used for both past and current assessments incorporate the mean age of parents in the current cohort (mean age at which a cohort of individuals produce offspring), reflecting the turnover rate of breeding individuals in a population. However, any calculations based on the latter definition tend to overestimate generation length. For example, even the revised estimate for Hooded Vulture generation length of 9.03 years should probably lie between 4 – 6 years (if considering the number of years between the birth of a parent and offspring as actual generation length). Mundy et al. (1992) point to a minimum breeding age of 5 years, as wild breeding pairs almost invariably consist of adult birds and rarely incorporate sub-adults. Recent records gleaned from the AZA ZIMS database (species360.org) by Megan Victoriano have revealed that, as of 2021, the youngest captive male to breed was 4 years and 10 months old and the youngest female 3 years and 11 months of age. Adult age is believed to be in the region of 6 years for this species.
References:
Buij, R., Nikolaus, G., Whytock, R., Ingram, D.J., & Ogada, D. (2016). Trade of threatened vultures and other raptors for fetish and bushmeat in West and Central Africa. Oryx 50 (4): 606–616. doi:10.1017/S0030605315000514
Gbogbo, F., Roberts, J.S.T. & Awotwe-Pratt, V. (2016). Some Important Observations on the Populations of Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus in Urban Ghana. International Journal of Zoology 7946172: 1-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/7946172
Henriques, M., Buij, R., Monteiro, H., Sá, J., Wambar, F., Tavares, J.P., Botha, A., Citegetse, G., Lecoq, M., Catry, P. & Ogada, D. (2020). Deliberate poisoning of Africa’s vultures. Science (370) 6514: 304. DOI: 10.1126/science.abd1862
IUCN Standards and Petitions Subcommittee (2014). Guidelines for using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Version 11. Prepared by the Standards and Petitions Working Group of the IUCN SSC Biodiversity Assessments Subcommittee in August 2008.
Jallow, M., Barlow, C.R., Sanyang, L., Dibba, L., Kendall, C., Bechard, M. & Bildstein, K.L. (2016). High population density of the Critically Endangered Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus in Western Region, The Gambia, confirmed by road surveys in 2013 and 2015. Malimbus 38: 23-28.
Mullié, W.C., Couzi, F-X., Sega Diop, M., Piot, B., Peters, T., Reynaud, P.A. & Thiollay, J-M. (2017). The decline of an urban Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus population in Dakar, Senegal, over 50 years. Ostrich 88 (2): 131-138. 10.2989/00306525.2017.1333538
Mundy, P., Butchart, D., Ledger, J. & Piper, S. (1992). The vultures of Africa. Acorn Books and Russel Friedman Books, Randburg and Halfway House (South Africa).
Ogada, D.L. & Buij, R. (2011). Large declines of the Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus across its African range. Ostrich 82 (2): 101-113. 10.2989/00306525.2011.603464
Ogada, D., Shaw, P., Beyers, R.L., Buij, R., Murn, C., Thiollay, J.M., Beale, C.M., Holdo, R.M., Pomeroy, D., Baker, N., Krüger, S.C., Botha, A., Virani, M.Z., Monadjem, A. & Sinclair, A.R.E. (2016). Another Continental Vulture Crisis: Africa’s Vultures Collapsing toward Extinction. Conservation Letters 9: 89-97.
Owolabi, B.A., Odewumi, S.O. & Agbelusi, E.A. (2020). Perceptions on Population Decline and Ethno-cultural Knowledge of Hooded Vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus) in Southwest States of Nigeria. Vulture News 78: 11-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/vulnew.v78i1.2
In haste – this is what I have contributed & been part of for HVs in The Gambia etc –so it puts it in one place for you. We have road & food site count data upto feb/march 2020 to incorporate in to anything that could be funded now for HV work in coastal areas were the HV popln is at its max. This would update the 2013 & 2015 work & at least advise on a generation on for any new statement you are expecting to make … .
Seems to me HVs are managing ok in a handful of places and are on their way out elsewhere. So there are regional centres of c.end and of abundance – Senegambia being a working e.g.
I have searched in vain for support to work on a head dress change project thus ageing. Could have been cut & dried now
Who supplied the captive breeding intel ? I suugested this to St Anfrewes Univ last week. UK centres are breeding them I believe.
A pair of HVs in UK & no doubt elsewhere trades in the falconry / zoo world at ca 8K sterling & here there wont be the funds to do the surveys & work to update the popln estimates for this classification to get it spot on .. in Freetown a very competent guy I trained here 20 years ago or so cant manage the bus fares etc etc
what really matters ? CITES Cend just make it more difficult & expensive to get permits for materials for lab work ! & imposs in many places
Clive
Guest Editorial An investigation commences to establish the present status and distribution of Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus in The Gambia, West Africa: February 2012 Clive R Barlow Vulture News
Barlow, C.R. 2004. The utilization of oil-palm kernel by Necrosyrtes monachus in The Gambia. Vulture News 51: 60-62.
Barlow, C.R. & Fulford, T. 2013. Road counts of Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus over seven months in and around Banjul, coastal Gambia, in 2005. Malimbus 35: 50–56.
Jallow, M., Barlow, C. R., Sanyang, L., Dibba, L., Kendall, C., Bechard, M., & Bildstein, K. L. 2016. High population density of the critically endangered Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus in Western Region, The Gambia, confirmed by road surveys in 2013 and 2015. Malimbus 38: 2
Thompson, L. J., Barber, D. R., Bechard, M.J., Botha, A. J., Wolter, K., Neser, W., Buechley, E. R., Reading, R., Garbett, R.A., Hancock, P., Maude, G., Virani, M. Z., Thomsett, S., Lee, H., Ogada, D., Barlow, C. R., & Bildstein, K. L. 2020. Variation in monthly sizes of home-ranges of Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus in western, eastern and southern
Barlow, C.R., Reading, R. P., Shema, S. & Maude, G. 2020a. Homogeneity in cranial biometrics and bill morphology is verified by measurements from The Gambia, Botswana and Kenya in the case of the putative sub-species of the highly commensal Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus monachus and non commensal Necrosyrtes monachus pileatus. Vulture News 78: pages 1-10.
Barlow, C.R. 2020b. Further observations and implications of Oil Palm Elais guineensis fruit consumption by Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus in coastal Gambia. Vulture News 79: pages 1-6.
Barlow, C.R., Mendy, F., Cryer. & Dobbs, G.E. 2021. Marine carrion is an important food source for Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus on south Gambian beaches: a photographic report with a list of food items. Vulture News 80: pages 1-11. In press
Barlow1*, et al More on versatile scavenging by Hooded Vultures Necrosyretes monachus in coastal Gambia and photographic evidence of tongue use when foraging for live food In Prep
Feeding on frogs In review Barlow & Broughaugh
Dear all,
With respect to up- or downgrading the threat-status of a species, we have learnt that this is the product of a thorough balance of knowledge of generation times along with population trends over a number of generations. With respect to the Hooded Vulture in Côte d’Ivoire, robust data are not available. We know, however, that the species has declined dramatically in recent decades and is now at the brink of extinction there.
Thiollay (1975a) reported Hooded Vulture as being common in most cities and larger villages in the savannah region of Côte d’Ivoire. Only ten years later, the same author described the species as being “formerly common in all the towns of the Guinean zone, from Toumodi northwards. Has now much been reduced …” (Thiollay 1985). “North of Toumodi” covers about the northern two thirds of Côte d’Ivoire. Declines in the southern parts of the range were reported even earlier, from the 1960s onwards (Thiollay 1975b), but in the east the species was apparently still common until the 1990s (Demey & Fishpool 1991, Waltert et al. 1999).
No recent country-wide survey of vultures is available, but now the Hooded Vulture is very rarely seen anywhere in Côte d’Ivoire. It has disappeared from virtually all towns, and observations even at slaughterhouses are now very rare (our own observations). Breeding is now only known from Comoé National Park (Salewski 2021). We fear that the species will soon become extinct in Côte d’Ivoire. The situation is no different in other West African countries, as we know from our colleagues there. Although the species is fully protected by law, demand for traditional medicine is high, and trade is widespread even across national borders. Law-enforcement is non-existent. The Hooded Vulture has disappeared altogether from large parts of its former range, and it may be extinct in a number of West African countries soon. Therefore, we are surprised at the current proposal to downgrade its Red List status.
Asso Armel Asso, Prof. N’Golo A. Koné, Volker Salewski.
Demey, R. & Fishpool, L.D.C. 1991. Additions and annotations to the avifauna of Côte d’Ivoire. Malimbus 12:61-86.
Salewski, V. 2021. Vulture numbers and densities in a large protected savannah in West Africa. Acta Oecologica 110: 103679.
Thiollay, J.-M. 1975a. Les rapaces des parcs nationaux de Côte d’Ivoire. Analyse du peuplement. L’Oiseaux et R. F. O. 45: 241-257.
Thiollay, J.-M. 1975b. Les rapaces d’une zone de contact savane-forêt en Côte d’Ivoire : presentation du peuplement. Alauda 43: 75-102.
Thiollay, J.-M. 1985. The birds of Ivory Coast: Status and distribution. Malimbus 7: 1-59.
Waltert, M., Yaokokore, K.H.B., Mühlenberg, M., Waitkuwait, E. 1999. Preliminary check-list of the birds of the Bossematié area, Ivory Coast. Malimbus 21: 93-109.
Recent assessments of hooded vulture prices in open wildlife markets in southwestern Nigeria suggest that demand continues to persist and is high with low supply. A vulture head and whole carcass was 9,500 Naira (~23 USD) and 16,000 Naira (~38 USD) respectively, before the Covid-19 pandemic and as of November 2020 was 15,000 Naira (~ 36 USD) and 35,000 Naira (~84 USD) respectively (Awoyemi 2021). A live vulture is 80,000 Naira (~192 USD) (Awoyemi 2021). Hooded vulture parts and whole carcasses were seen in open wildlife markets in Ibadan, Ilorin, Abeokuta, and Ijebu Ode. Live vultures for sale were also seen in Ibadan and Abeokuta. Overall, the demand for hooded vultures continues unabated in Nigeria where the greatest demand for these birds exist in the West Africa region. Given the pressure on hooded vultures, any downlisting of this bird would have dire consequences on reversing its decline and its long term conservation.
Awoyemi, S.M. 2021. Vulture decline in Nigeria: A sociological study of trade in vulture parts for belief-based use. Doctoral dissertation, Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, Central European University, Vienna.
Buij, R., Nikolaus, G., Whytock, R., Ingram, D.J., & Ogada, D.L. (2016). Trade of threatened vultures and other raptors for fetish and bushmeat in West and Central Africa. Oryx, 50(4), 606-616.
Although genuine declines are being experienced in certain localities, this trend is not currently consistent across the entire global range of this species.
We should not lose sight that the current global status was actually determined using a certain amount of non-genuine data.
The proposed down-listing to Endangered is thus warranted as this species no longer meets the criteria for Critically Endangered (extremely high risk of extinction in the wild).
Endangered species face a very high risk of extinction in the wild, which remains a reasonable assumption for the Hooded Vulture, based on the revised assessment along with comments and concerns above.
Downgrading the IUCN’s status of the Hooded Vultures from Critically endangered to endangered could bring about serious conservation challenges that shall enhance the extinction of the species.
The old-world vultures in Africa face threats ranging from poisoning, illegal hunting and trades in their body parts. And these seem to be increasing especially the trades across West Africa. Nigeria had seven species of vultures, but most of them have been hunted and extirpated across the country’s ecological zones (Nosazeogie et al., 2018), owing to belief systems and trades in their body parts (Williams et al, 2021a; Williams et al, 2021b). Many studies have investigated the underlying causes of the vulture population declines in different countries of Africa (Tende and Ottosson 2008; Ogada and Buij 2011; Ogada et al, 2012, 2015; Deikumah, 2019; Williams et al, 2021a), except in parts, there’s no comprehensive studies on the recent status of the Vultures across the whole of Nigeria just as in most West African countries. Most recent researches exposed their rapid local extinctions across their range. Most recent research in North – central Nigeria revealed the massive trades in their body parts, and disappearance from most slaughter houses and communities (Williams et al, 2021a; Williams et al, 2021b).
Monitoring of Hooded vulture populations is poor in Nigeria and there is no all encompassing baseline data to enable researchers to identify and understand future trends of the endangered species (Williams et al, 2021b). Information on population trends is from historic field observations that can be subjective leaving gaps in understanding the population dynamics and possible causes of mortality of the vultures (Anderson, 2007). In Nigeria just as in most West African countries, a nationwide empirical information on the status of Hooded Vultures’ populations is lacking. There’s no particular Nationwide assessment of the status of Hooded vultures. Few researchers have been collecting few data in different parts of the large country with area of 923, 768 square kilometers. A lot of hands are needed on deck to successfully monitor them in the country. Though Nigerian birds atlas project is ongoing, we’ve been reporting the sighting of different birds including vultures with their locations, and Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) is putting more effort in taking cordinates of the vulture hub across the nation for conservation interventions, but more systematic monitoring plans are required which should include but not be restricted to Road counts of Hooded Vultures across the country and some point counts at foraging sites. We need to know few points where they’re found for better conservation initiatives. A more conscious nation wide systematic assessment of the Hooded Vultures can reveal their true status and hubs for proactive measures towards conservation. But based on regional reports within the country, the population of the species is already rapidly declining as trades in their body parts based on traditional beliefs is surging. Any attempt to downgrade their status, may be catastrophic to the hooded vultures’ population and existence. Until empirical information is gotten from all ecological zones of Nigeria and West Africa, conservationists should not talk or act with certainty about the status of Hooded Vultures in the region as a whole, except in parts or using generalising assumptions and means that can sometimes contribute to misinformation about the critically endangered species. Considering the landmass of Nigeria, recent empirical information on the nation wide status of Vultures as opposed to the fractions of zonal and sub-zonal reports will go a long way to contribute on their status in West Africa.
Reference
Mullié, W.C., F-X. Couzi, M. S. Diop, B. Piot, T. Peters, P. A. Reynaud, and J-M. Thiollay (2017). The decline of an urban Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus population in Dakar, Senegal, over 50 years. Ostrich 88:131–138.
Deikumah J. 2019. Vulture declines, threats and conservation: the attitude of the indigenous Ghanaian. Bird Conservation International 30: 103–116. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959270919000261.
Anderson Mark D. (2007) Vulture crises in South Asia and West Africa … and monitoring, or the lack thereof, in Africa, Ostrich, 78:2, 415-416, DOI: 10.2989/OSTRICH.2007.7 8.2.47.127
Nosazeogie E., Tende T. & Monadjem A. (2018). Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus nearly extirpated from Edo State, Nigeria: a report on the avian scavenger community. Ostrich 89 (3). Pp: 265-273. https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2018.1480069.
Williams M.M., Ottosson U., Tende T., Deikumah J. (2021). Traditional belief system and trades in Vulture parts are leading to the Eradication of Vultures in Nigeria: an ethno-ornithological study of North-central Nigeria. Journal of African Ornithology; Ostrich. Retrieved 3/8/2021 at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2989/00306525.2021.1929534. DOI: 10.2989/00306525.2021.1929534.
Williams M.M., Ottosson U., Tende T., Deikumah J. (2021). Abundance, Distribution and Threats Affecting Hooded Vultures in North – Central Nigeria. Journal of Research in Forestry, Wildlife & Environment Vol. 13(3). Retrieved 9th February, 2022 from https://www.ajol.info/index.php/jrfwe/article/view/217266.
Ogada, D., Phil S., Rene L. B., Ralph B., Campbell M., Jean M. T., Colin M.B., Ricardo M.H., Derek P., Neil B., Sonja C.K, Andre B., Munir Z.V, Ara M., & Anthony R.E. (2015). Another continental vulture crisis: Africa’s vultures collapsing toward extinction. Conservation Letters 9:89–97.
Odino, M., T. Imboma, and D. L. Ogada (2014). Assessment of the occurrence and threats to Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus in Western Kenyan towns. Vulture news, (67). http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/vulnew.v65i1.1
Ogada, D., Phil S., Rene L. B., Ralph B., Campbell M., Jean M. T., Colin M.B., Ricardo M.H., Derek P., Neil B., Sonja C.K, Andre B., Munir Z.V, Ara M., & Anthony R.E. (2015). Another continental vulture crisis: Africa’s vultures collapsing toward extinction. Conservation Letters 9:89–97.
I support the adjustment in generation length as age of first breeding is likely 5-6 years based on captive animals. Thus revised generation length of 9 years is more appropriate.
In southern Tanzania, we have been surveying vultures for last 9 years in 3 national parks, but lack historic data. Nonetheless this does provide some information on recent trends which appears to be a need in thinking about re-listing of the species. Note this is unpublished data, but I share here for reference in this decision and we hope to publish this information soon.
In general, Hooded vultures are as common in southern Tanzania as they are in Mara-Serengeti ecosystem (encounter rate of approximately 4-5 individuals per 100km), where Hooded vultures are known to have declined over last 30 years. Hooded vultures numbers appear stable in Katavi National Park, appear to be slightly declining in Ruaha National Park (monthly rate of decline around 0.2%) and rapidly declining in Nyerere National Park (monthly rate of decline at 2.2%). In addition, of 2 Hooded vultures rehabilitated from a poisoning event and tagged both died within 3 years of release, likely at another poisoning event, and neither bred. There is thus reason for concern for Hooded vultures in Tanzania.
Similarly the level of threat to Hooded vultures in West Africa is significant with potential for rapid loss with just a few poisoning events in areas where the birds are common.
Given exact rate of decline is difficulty to estimate, threat of large declines is imminent, and likely on the edge between levels for CR and E categorization, I would suggest erring on the side of caution by maintaining the CR status for this species.
I support the down-listing of the Hooded Vulture to an Endangered status. It is not in imminent danger of extinction within its African range.
The key point is that Africa is not homogeneous, it is in regions – for the HV these are West, East and southern Africa. Yes, certainly the HV is in dire straits in West Africa, except Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Ghana (?). This huge decline seems to be driven by the trade in Nigeria, for belief-based and culinary (‘chop’) purposes. In spite of what Awoyemi says, isn’t the NCF trying to combat the trade? When I lived in Sokoto, northern Nigeria, in 1969-1972, Allan Cook and I estimated the number of HVs in and around the town at a minimum of 1500 birds – from spot counts at the abattoir (as Manja says, spot counts should be done, I reckon by everybody); also up to 100 at the market; over 300 nests around the town; 50 at a roost in the Club grounds; (in prep.), but alas, such numbers are no more.
In Guinea-Bissau, >43 000 have been estimated. But I would like to see a proper validation of the poisoning event in 2019-2020, as >1000 and latest >2000 have been reported as poisoned, all for belief-based purpose. Note that Methiocarb is not hugely poisonous (Hudson et al. 1984), could the HVs really have been poisoned by that?
Yes, too, the HV seems in decline in East Africa.
But in southern Africa, it is barely in any decline. At the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge in Zimbabwe, for example, on any lunch time, about 25 HVs can be seen at the feeding point. Agreed, the overall number in southern Africa (south of the Kunene-Zambezi) is small, can we have even 1000 in this region? It lives in the bush, and very few are killed in our large poisoning incidents. I would be happy with a VU status in southern Africa!
I have always argued against the so-called generation time of 17 years (BLI), so I was pleased to read Bird et al. (2020), though to me 9 years is still too long. It should be the average age at first breeding. If it is computed as the average age of the cohort of all parents in any one year, then the (successful) old parents unrealistically lengthen the generation time.
In our book “The vultures of Africa” we suggested that the age of adult plumage was about 6 years (p. 138), and the likely age of first breeding was 5 years (p. 144) or more. Regretfully there was no proof of those ages, and still there isn’t. Can zoos help us here? So I would hazard and say that the generation time is about 6-7 years.
It does not help a ‘numerous’ vulture (100 000 in Africa? but note that the MsAP 2017 states 197 000) to be accorded CR status. Down-listing to EN status will not change anything – it is still down to feet on the ground in political entities (i.e. countries) to turn dire situations around, such as in Ivory Coast and Nigeria. Good luck!
Overall, then, it is not in fact helpful to have an African status, we need to be sensible and have a status for each region (i.e. within Africa). That would focus us properly. Perhaps CR in West Africa, EN in East Africa, and VU in southern Africa.
The collapse of Hooded vulture populations is highlighted in West Africa since the 1070s. (Thiollay 2006, Ogada et al. 2016). Even if, Hooded vultures still occur in appreciable densities (Henriques 2016, Jallow et al. 2016) in some restricted areas, the rapid rise in reports of vultures killed using poisoned baits is alarming and presents a serious conservation challenge for vultures in this region.
One of the key threats in Burkina Faso is poison
Intentional poisoning of vultures for belief-based use
From 1 April 2010 to 12 December 2016, 15 incidents of intentional poisoning, involving the use of poisoned baits (resulting in the deaths of 577 Hooded vulture) were recorded in 15 localities in Burkina Faso. We found that the number of vultures killed by mass-poisoning in Burkina Faso increased with proximity to the country’s borders, suggesting that the recent recurrence of intentional vulture poisoning events in Burkina Faso was intended to meet the growing demand for vulture body parts in West Africa. In a recent case, between September 2019 and March 2020, more than 2000 Hooded Vultures were intentionally poisoned across eastern Guinea-Bissau for belief-based use (Henriques et al. 2020). These poisoning events were driven by the decreasing availability of vultures in other West African countries (Thiollay 2007, Mullié et al. 2017, Nosazeogie et al. 2018) and by the lucrative regional trade in vulture body parts for belief-based use (Buij et al. 2016). Indeed, the unit cost of a whole vulture is about US$10-15 in Burkina Faso but in some West African countries such as Nigeria and Benin the unit cost of a whole Hooded Vulture ranged from US$100 – 150 (Daboné et al. in press).
The unintentional poisoning of Hooded vultures
Unintentional poisoning has probably contributed to the large decline of vultures in West Africa. Indeed, based on the results of a recent survey, only five unintentional poisoning events killed at least 202 Hooded Vultures (Daboné et al. in press). The underlying factor is the indiscriminate and widespread use of pesticides, rodenticides and veterinary drugs that are cheap to buy, and easily accessed across the highly porous borders in West Africa. Many of pesticides (about 20) commonly used in this area are not registered by the Sahelian Pesticides Committee (CSP, effective since 1994 in member-states of CILSS including Burkina Faso) and yet it is common to find them openly for sale in markets.
Current Status of Hooded vulture in Benin
The Road transect survey we conducted on 2019 in Northen-Benin where the Hooded vulture was formerly common show a large decline of this bird in this area. Indeed 762 Km through 23 town and township were cover and only 40 hooded Vulture were recorded, an average of one Hooded vulture every 20 Km, an evidence that the vulture is close to extinction in this country. Recent research revealed the massive trades in their body parts, and disappearance from most slaughter houses and communities (Buij et al., 2016).
Given that poison and the other threats to Hooded vultures in West Africa are widespread and difficult to tackle, and the scientific data needed to address these threats remain largely lacking, any downlisting of this bird would have dire consequences on reversing its decline and its long-term conservation.
Reference
Buij, R., Nikolaus, G., Whytock, R., Ingram, D. J. and Ogada, D. L. (2016) Trade of threatened vultures and other raptors for fetish and bushmeat in West and Central Africa. Oryx 50: 606–616.
Henriques, M., Buij, R., Monteiro, H., Sá, J., Wambar, F., Tavares, J. P., Botha, A., Citegetse, G., Lecoq, M., Catry, P. and Ogada D. (2020) Deliberate poisoning of Africa’s vultures. Science 370: 304
Jallow, M., Barlow, C. R., Sanyang, L., Dibba, L., Kendall, C., Bechard, M. and Bildstein. K. L. (2016) High population density of the Critically Endangered Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus in Western Region, The Gambia, confirmed by road surveys in 2013 and 2015. Malimbus 38: 23–28
Mullié, W. C., Couzi, F.-X., Diop, M. S., Piot, B., Peters, T., Reynaud, P. A. and Thiollay, J.-M. (2017). The decline of an urban Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus population in Dakar, Senegal, over 50 years. Ostrich 88: 131-138.
Nosazeogie, E., Tende, T. and Monadjem, A. (2018). Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus nearly extirpated from Edo State, Nigeria: A report on the avian scavenger community. Ostrich 89: 265-273.
Ogada, D. L., Shaw, P., Beyers, R. L., Buij, R., Murn, C., Thiollay, J. M., Beale, C. M., Holdo, R. M., Pomeroy, D., Baker, N., Krüger, S. C., Botha, A., Virani, M. Z., Monadjem, A. and Sinclair, A.R.E. (2016a) Another continental vulture crisis: Africa’s vultures collapsing toward extinction. Conservation Letters 9: 89–97.
Thiollay J.-M. (2006b) The decline of raptors in West Africa: Long-term assessment and the role of protected areas. Ibis 148: 240–254.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2007) Raptor population decline in West Africa. Ostrich 78: 405–413.
This is a reaction to the downlisting proposal for Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus, from Critically Endangered to Endangered, base on news information on generation length calculations, which prompts this issue. I do not support this change proposal, based on a variety of reasons listed bellow.
1- Despite the very useful work by (Bird et al., 2020), which brings much needed data for IUCN Red List assessments, the authors do admit that they have likely underestimated the generation lengths of many species for which very little information on their life-history is available. In the case of Hooded vultures, all the values had to be estimated in the model using Family means, which implies a reduced confidence in the accuracy of these estimates for this particular species. Therefore, as a lack of sound data still prevails, it would be advisable to undertake a precautionary approach on the reassessment of the Red List category of a species under severe pressure.
2- The extent of knowledge gaps remaining for this species, particularly related to the largely unknown current rate of declines given the emerging reports of local extinctions and increase in persecution, is another reason to take a conservative approach when reassessing the threat category for Hooded vultures. Henriques et al. (2018, 2017) & Jallow et al. (2016) reported that the most important stronghold for the conservation of this species is in Guinea-Bissau and The Gâmbia, in West Africa. However, in the last two years, several mass killing events in both these countries have come to light, having resulted in the disappearance of thousands of Hooded vultures (Henriques et al., 2020; https://4vultures.org/blog/thousands-of-africas-vultures-deliberately-poisoned-and-killed-letter-to-science-published/; https://www.wildlifetourism.org.au/mass-deaths-of-endangered-african-vultures/). Interviews with locals during field investigations in Guinea-Bissau indicated that possibly the cross-border demand for vulture parts for belief-based use was behind the most notable single event mass killing of vultures ever registered (Henriques et al., 2020). These were unseen motivators in the recent past in Guinea-Bissau and suggests an emergent problem. Moreover, after the 2020 mass killings, at least 4 more poisoning events occurred, the most recent in 2022 (with ca. 40 Hooded vultures found dead without heads or feet). Given that this country has been estimated to hold ca. 22% of the entire individuals of this species, it is likely that the declining rates that are now being used in the Red List assessment of Hooded vultures are considerably higher. Furthermore, there is no reason to believe that cross-border trade is increasing exclusively in Guinea-Bissau, and likely other countries with high numbers of Hooded vultures, like the Gambia, will also be targeted. This increase in demand is related to the increasingly fast pace at which Hooded vultures are being extirpated from West Africa due to persecution for belief-based use and illegal trade (Boakye et al., 2019; Buij et al., 2015; Nosazeogie et al., 2018; Saidu and Buij, 2013; Williams et al., 2021). This leads me to believe that the rate of declines may be likely higher that the ones currently in use for the Red List assessment of Hooded vultures (Ogada et al., 2015), another strong reason to advise against a downlisting of the species.
3- The risk of invertedly send the wrong message conservation-wise, by downlisting an emergently threatened species is another issue to take into consideration. Currently, the IUCN SSC Vulture Specialist Group and CITES are developing increased efforts together with local partners, to engage decision makers and conservation institutions in West Africa to convinced them that there is an urgent need for action to avoid the looming extinction of vultures in the continent. Addressing belief-based use is particularly challenging due to the rooted cultural beliefs associated with this practice, and the socioeconomic fragility of West African states. Furthermore, several reports have been indicating an important role of political disputes in supporting the use of vulture body parts as luck charms or to promote political success. Therefore, the downlisting from CR to EN will seriously undermine the current efforts of conservationist in the West African region to convince people that vultures need to be protected, as they may argue that if the conservation status has decreased then vultures are not that threatened. The same goes for the ongoing awareness raising projects in West Africa (I have been leading one for the past two years in Guinea-Bissau), which have been using the Red List status of Hooded vultures as a strong ally.
Taking into consideration the exposed above, and as a vulture conservationist and researcher working in West Africa, I do not support the proposal to downlist Hooded vultures.
References
Bird, J.P., Martin, R., Akçakaya, H.R., Gilroy, J., Burfield, I.J., Garnett, S.T., Symes, A., Taylor, J., Şekercioğlu, Ç.H., Butchart, S.H.M., 2020. Generation lengths of the world’s birds and their implications for extinction risk. Conserv. Biol. 34, 1252–1261. doi:10.1111/cobi.13486
Boakye, M.K., Wiafe, E.D., Ziekah, M.Y., 2019. Ethnomedicinal use of vultures by traditional medicinal practitioners in Ghana. Ostrich 90, 111–118. doi:10.2989/00306525.2019.1578834
Buij, R., Nikolaus, G., Whytock, R., Ingram, D.J., Ogada, D., 2015. Trade of threatened vultures and other raptors for fetish and bushmeat in West and Central Africa. Oryx 1–11. doi:10.1017/S0030605315000514
Henriques, M., Buij, R., Monteiro, H., Sá, J., Wambar, F., Tavares, J.P., Botha, A., Citegetse, G., Lecoq, M., Catry, P., Ogada, D., 2020. Deliberate poisoning of Africa’s vultures. Science (80-. ). 370, 304. doi:10.1126/science.abd1862
Henriques, M., Granadeiro, J.P., Monteiro, H., Nuno, A., Lecoq, M., Cardoso, P., Regalla, A., Catry, P., 2018. Not in wilderness: African vulture strongholds remain in areas with high human density. PLoS One 13, 1–21. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0190594
Henriques, M., Lecoq, M., Monteiro, H., Regalla, A., Granadeiro, J.P., Catry, P., 2017. Status of birds of prey in Guinea-Bissau: first assessment based on road surveys§. Ostrich 88. doi:10.2989/00306525.2017.1312584
Jallow, M., Barlow, C.R., Sanyang, L., Dibba, L., Kendall, C., Bechard, M., Bildstein, K.L., 2016. High population density of the Critically Endangered Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus in Western Region, The Gambia, confirmed by road surveys in 2013 and 2015. Malimbus 38, 23–28.
Nosazeogie, E., Tende, T., Monadjem, A., 2018. Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus nearly extirpated from Edo State, Nigeria: a report on the avian scavenger community. Ostrich 89, 265–273. doi:10.2989/00306525.2018.1480069
Ogada, D., Shaw, P., Beyers, R.L., Buij, R., Murn, C., Thiollay, J.M., Beale, C.M., Holdo, R.M., Pomeroy, D., Baker, N., Kr??ger, S.C., Botha, A., Virani, M.Z., Monadjem, A., Sinclair, A.R.E., 2015. Another Continental Vulture Crisis: Africa’s Vultures Collapsing toward Extinction. Conserv. Lett. 9, 89–97. doi:10.1111/conl.12182
Saidu, Y., Buij, R., 2013. Traditional medicine trade in vulture parts in northern Nigeria. Vulture News 65, 4. doi:10.4314/vulnew.v65i1.1
Williams, M.M., Ottosson, U., Tende, T., Deikumah, J.P., 2021. Traditional belief systems and trade in vulture parts are leading to the eradication of vultures in Nigeria: an ethno-ornithological study of north-central Nigeria. Ostrich 92, 194–202. doi:10.2989/00306525.2021.1929534
Specific question
Is there any information on recent rates of reduction, especially in West Africa to update the road transect data?
In Ghana, an ethno-biological study indicated that hooded vulture parts are important ingredient used by traditional medical practitioners for preparation of their therapeutic remedies. The main conclusion was that the users keep using the vultures with no regards to the decline of their population but the users themselves lamented that the continues usage may cause extirpation of the species and for that matter the cultural value of the people (Boakye et al. 2019).
In a study to investigate on the trends of animals traded for traditional medicine in an urban open market (Kumasi Central market) in Ghana, the results indicated that the hooded vulture was highly used but its presence in the market was very scanty. The study also recommended a strong conservation action to prevent the species from extirpation (Boakye et al. 2021).
These two studies give the impression that the species is declining in population because of its demand for traditional medicine.
References
Boakye, M.K., Wiafe, E.D., Ziekah, M.Y. (2019). Ethnomedicinal Use of Vultures by Traditional Medicinal Practitioners in Ghana. Ostrich 2019, 90, 111–118.
Boakye, M.K., Agyemang, A.O., Wiafe, E.D., Dossou-Yovo, H.O., Ziekah, M. (2021). Animals Traded for Traditional Medicine Purposes in the Kumasi Central Market, Ghana: Conservation Implications. Conservation, 2021, 1, 113–120.
In my personal opinion, Down grading the Hooded vulture from Critically endangered to Endangered would not have any detrimental effects on the population, rather it would increase the confidence and hope of the conservationist to increase their efforts to achieve the conservation objectives. Critically endangered means next to extinction, but endangered means next to critically endangered, but statistics indicate that the species is available but not as it used to be, therefore, we can put in measures to revive the populations. Thank you for your attention.
In 2015, South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini (Swaziland) were estimated to have a combined population of 100-200 mature Hooded Vultures (Taylor et al. 2015). This relatively small population size (compared to some West African countries for example) is perhaps to be expected for the edge of the species’ range, however the range has contracted in South Africa (Taylor et al. 2015). The species’ current range seems to be concentrated in and around the Greater Kruger National Park (Thompson et al. 2020).
In South Africa, there was a report that captive lions and leopards at a captive predator facility were killing Hooded and White-backed Vultures when they landed in the cats’ enclosures to feed on faeces or scraps of food, or to bathe in the cats’ drinking water (Thompson et al. 2020). The centre’s manager reported that one vulture was killed their captive big cats each month, while a previous staff member reported 2-3 vultures (Hooded and White-backed) were killed each month (Thompson et al. 2020). After engaging with the centre’s management on this issue, we were denied further access to observe the big cats’ behaviour, however, from my experience of observing these two vulture species at food sources in the area, it seems more likely that it would be Hooded Vultures (rather than White-backeds) that land and feed in the big cats’ enclosures. A crude calculation using these monthly reported figures of one vulture per month, and the average of 2-3 vultures per month, gives an average of 1,75 vultures per month, which means that 21 vultures may be being killed by big cats at this centre annually. This sustained loss could represent significant loss for the region’s relatively small population of Hooded Vultures (Taylor et al. 2015; Thompson et al. 2020).
In South Africa’s Limpopo Province, Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre admitted 12 Hooded Vultures over 21 years (Mashele et al. 2022). Of 11 Hooded Vultures for which the outcome was known, only one was deemed suitable for release; the rest died (5 vultures), were relocated (2 vultures), euthanised (1 vulture), or were deemed non-releasable (2 vultures). So, 10 Hooded Vultures were lost from the wild population over these 21 years, representing a loss of 0.5 Hooded Vultures (in South Africa’s Lowveld) per year.
I was made aware of a pig farm in Limpopo Province, where Hooded Vultures were occasionally found dead. A lab test ruled out poisoning. The farmer later told me she had witnessed baboons (which were also feeding on scraps at the same site) chasing the Hooded Vultures and ‘grabbing at them’. I saw two dead Hooded Vultures (including one of our tagged birds) at this site and was told that six Hooded Vultures had been killed in the past year or so.
A study in South Africa’s Kruger-to-Canyons Biosphere Region revealed that Traditional Healers pay R300-R1000 (US$17.04-US$56.80) for a whole, dead Hooded Vulture (for use in African Traditional Medicine), and we estimate that this Association of Traditional Healers uses 400-800 vultures per year, although we could not estimate what proportion of these vultures were Hooded Vultures (Mashele et al. 2021a). Within this Biosphere Region, trees used by Hooded Vulture for nesting are being removed from villages (Mashele et al. 2021b), and we see furniture for sale which is made from the wood of Hooded Vulture nest tree species which have been illegally felled (J. Davies pers. obs.).
Since May 2020, I know of two Hooded Vultures that collided with powerlines in Limpopo Province; one bird killed through collisions per year. I believe that the combined annual mortalities from these various threats are significant, however, road counts would also be useful to confirm this. We are currently compiling a report of our Hooded Vulture nest monitoring work along the Olifants and Mohlatse Rivers, to look at annual trends.
It might be useful to ask for data from the African Wildlife Poisoning Database (https://africanwildlifepoisoning.org/), as well as collision/electrocution data from Eskom (South Africa’s main energy supplier). It could also be important to look at the genetics of this species, and whether there is variation between regions.
References:
Mashele NM, Thompson LJ, Downs CT. 2021. Uses of vultures in traditional medicines in the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region, South Africa. Journal of Raptor Research 55: 328-339.
Mashele NM, Thompson LJ, Downs CT. 2021. Traditional Health Practitioners’ and Other Community Members’ Perceptions of Vultures in the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region, South Africa. Journal of Raptor Research 55: 340-358.
Mashele NM, Thompson LJ, Downs CT. 2022. Trends in the admission of raptors to the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, Limpopo province, South Africa. African Zoology: in press.
Taylor MR, Peacock F, Wanless RM. 2015. The 2015 Eskom Red Data Book of birds of South Africa, Lesotha and Swaziland. Johannesburg, South Africa: BirdLife South Africa.
Thompson LJ, Davies JP, Downs CT, Tate G. 2020. Captive large predators killing vultures: Exposing captive facilities as an additional source of mortality to highly threatened birds. Bothalia 50: 1-5.
Thompson LJ, Barber DR, Bechard MJ, Botha AJ, Wolter K, Neser W, Buechley ER, Reading R, Garbett RA, Hancock P, Maude G, Virani MZ, Thomsett S, Lee H, Ogada D, Barlow C, Bildstein KL. 2020. Variation in monthly sizes of home‐ranges of Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus in western, eastern and southern Africa. Ibis 162: 1324-1338.
COMMENT ON THE DOWNLISTING OF HOODED VULTURES FROM CRITICALLY ENDANGERED TO ENDANGERED
Dear all,
We have been collecting data on Hooded vultures´ populations in Ghana since 2019, mainly focusing in Mole National Park in the Northern Region but also outside of protected areas. We have also aimed at gathering information on their breeding habitat and reproductive success.
The increasing and expanding human population of West Africa increasingly threatens vultures via reduced availability of nest sites and increasing probability of nest disturbance, reduced food supplies due to overhunting and diminishing wildlife populations, and increasing development infrastructure and agro-chemical use (Thiollay, 2006a; 2017).
Road counts in the Sahel region (e.g., Mali, Niger) of West Africa both inside and outside protected areas showed that vulture populations had collapsed outside protected areas over a 30 year period, whereas inside protected areas some vulture populations persisted albeit in reduced numbers (Di Vittorio et al., 2018; Ogada et al., 2016; Thiollay, 2006a). Surveys documenting vulture population declines in West African savannas encompassed countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria but not Ghana (Thiollay, 1998; 2001; 2006b; 2007).
Therefore, we aimed to address this gap by performing surveys for vultures in Mole National Park and adjacent areas in Ghana by means of both road and walking transects during February-March 2019 and 2020 and November 2021. Our focus was to advance knowledge of their population status and ecology in Ghana as well as to advance the understanding of the importance of protected areas in conserving their populations.
From these surveys we have learned that Mole National Park might be the last stronghold for Hooded vultures in the country, as we have observed until now a total of 77 individuals in our surveys within the park in addition to five active Hooded vultures´ nest within Mole National Park in 2020 and 2021. By contrast, we have not observed any nest outside of the park in all our surveys. Outside of the park we have seen a total of 8 individuals flying over a town in the Northern region of the country, probably around abattoirs (March 2020) and 12 individuals roosting next to a sacred forest in the Southern region (November 2021). In addition, we have observed a maximum of 44 Hooded vultures feeding around abattoirs next to Kumasi in June 2020, which are probably roosting close by as we have observed several individuals around isolated patches of trees not far from the city. However, no nests were found in this region, showing that probably these individuals breed very far from Kumasi and depend on the abattoirs for their survival. By contrast, the individuals with Mole National Park feed on the wild mammals that die inside the park and breed within it, so they are probably not moving outside from its boundaries and, therefore, avoid being persecuted both for human consumption or belief-based uses. However, the Hooded vultures that are close to cities are more vulnerable to being hunted.
Hooded vultures were very common in most large cities in the region 50 years ago (Thiollay, 2017), but currently it is very difficult to see them outside of Mole National Park in Ghana. The population of this species has declined dramatically in the recent years in this country and it could become extinct outside of Mole National Park in the following years if the current trend continues. In addition, within the park the population may also decline if poaching of wild mammals and human encroachment in the park increase in the following years due to lack of feeding and nesting resources and disturbing around nesting and roosting sites. In addition, collecting of chicks, eggs and adults for both feeding and belief-based uses have been seen to be an increasingly important threat for this species (Daboné et al., 2019), and a great part of Hooded vulture´s parts sold at fetish markets in Togo come from Ghana (D´Cruze et al., 2020).
Therefore, from our experience the species shows a current critical situation in Ghana and we are surprised by the proposal of downlisting its status to endangered.
Daboné, C., R. Buij, A. Oueda, J. B. Adjakpa, W. Guenda, and P. D. M. Weesie (2019). Impact of human activities on the reproduction of Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus in Burkina Faso. Ostrich 90:53-61.
D’Cruze N, Assou D, Coulthard E, Norrey J, Megson D, Macdonald DW, Harrington LA, Ronfot D, Segniagbeto, GH, Auliya M (2020) Snake oil and pangolin scales: insights into wild animal use at “Marché des Fétiches” traditional medicine market, Togo. Nature Conservation 39: 45–71
Di Vittorio, M., Hema, E.M., Dendi, D. Akani, G.C., Cortone, G. López-López, P., Amadi, N., et al., 2018. The conservation status of West African vultures: An updated review and a strategy for conservation. Vie et milieu-life and Environment, 68(1), 33-43.
Ogada D, P Shaw, R L Beyers, R Buij, C Murn, J-M Thiollay et al. (2016). Another continental vulture crisis: Africa’s vultures collapsing toward extinction. Conservation Letters 9(2): 89-97.
Thiollay, J. M. (1998). Long-term dynamics of a tropical savanna bird community.
Biodiversity and Conservation 7: 1291-1312.
Thiollay, J. M. (2001). Long-term changes in raptor populations in northern Cameroon.
Journal of Raptor Research 35(3):173-186.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2006a). Severe decline of large birds in the Northern Sahel of West Africa: a long-term assessment. Bird Conservation International 16(4): 353-365.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2006b). The decline of raptors in West Africa: long-term assessment and the role of protected areas. Ibis 148:240–254.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2007). Raptor population decline in West Africa. Ostrich. 78(2): 405-413.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2017). Decline of African vultures: a need for studies and conservation. Ostrich 88:2: doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2017.1326004.
Based on recent surveys in Togo, we believe Critically Endangered is a more appropriate designation for Hooded Vultures than Endangered, and therefore support maintaining its current listing rather than changing it.
A major threat to vultures in Togo is the use of their body parts as “fetish” objects in traditional belief-based medicine. Togo’s capital, Lomé, reportedly hosts the largest fetish market in West Africa. We visited this market in July 2021 and found a large number of dead vultures for sale, including seven hooded vultures that had been killed within days of our visit.
In Togo, Hooded Vultures have declined dramatically in recent years, and national extinction in the near future (next 10 years) appears to be a real possibility without decisive conservation action (none is currently being planned although we will work to encourage this).
In 2021, we conducted a rapid assessment of vultures in all five major regions of the country, covering >1650 km road and >250 km walking surveys during a period of 28 days in March 2020 and June-July 2021. We made only a single vulture sighting in rural areas, where there is a lack of food resources due to the extirpation of most large mammalian wildlife populations from the country.
In June-July 2021, we detected small numbers (up to 35) of Hooded Vultures near slaughterhouses in urban areas of Togo’s interior in order to feed on livestock remains. From August 2021 to the present, we have been conducting vulture counts around slaughterhouses in urban centers of Togo every 4-6 weeks, counting between 0 and 25 individuals.
Hooded Vultures have now largely or entirely disappeared from several areas where they were previously numerous, including Badou, Kpalime, and Dapaong, Local residents told us that vultures are lured using meat with fish hooks hidden inside and then killed for the fetish market. Hooded Vultures are very vulnerable to such killing in part because they have so few options for feeding.
Nests and young birds are also traditionally targeted for the fetish trade, and nesting trees are disappearing due to the failure of national parks (e.g., Keran and Fosse aux Lions in the north of the country). We estimate the remaining population of Hooded Vultures in Togo to be in the hundreds. Given their targeted killing for the fetish trade, the lack of food and nesting sites, and their low numbers or disappearances from places they were previously abundant, Hooded Vulture extinction appears imminent without effective conservation interventions.
References:
Dowsett-Lemaire F & Dowsett R. 2019. The Birds of Benin and Togo. Turaco Press, Sumene, France.
Nikolaus, G. 2010. THE FETISH CULTURE IN WEST AFRICA: AN ANCIENT TRADITION AS A THREAT TO ENDANGERED BIRDLIFE? TROPICAL VERTEBRATES IN A CHANGING WORLD. Karl-L. Schuchmann (editor). Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Bonn.
We have been collecting data on Hooded vultures´ populations in Ghana from 2019 to the present, mainly focusing in Mole National Park in the Northern Region but also outside of protected areas. We have also aimed at gathering information on their breeding habitat and reproductive success. We note that this species shows a current critical situation in Ghana and we are surprised by the proposal of downlisting its status to endangered and we recommend it remain as currently listed (critically endangered).
The increasing and expanding human population of West Africa increasingly threatens vultures via reduced availability of nest sites and increasing probability of nest disturbance, reduced food supplies due to overhunting and diminishing wildlife populations, and increasing development infrastructure and agro-chemical use (Thiollay, 2006a; 2017).
Road counts in the Sahel region (e.g., Mali, Niger) of West Africa both inside and outside protected areas showed that vulture populations had collapsed outside protected areas over a 30 year period, whereas inside protected areas some vulture populations persisted albeit in reduced numbers (Di Vittorio et al., 2018; Ogada et al., 2016; Thiollay, 2006a). Surveys documenting vulture population declines in West African savannas encompassed countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria but not Ghana (Thiollay, 1998; 2001; 2006b; 2007).
Therefore, we aimed to address this gap by performing surveys for vultures in Mole National Park and adjacent areas in Ghana by means of both road and walking transects during February-March 2019 and 2020 and November 2021. Our focus was to advance knowledge of their population status and ecology in Ghana as well as to advance the understanding of the importance of protected areas in conserving their populations.
From these surveys we have learned that Mole National Park might be the last stronghold for this species in the country, as we have observed until now a total of 77 individuals in our surveys within the park in addition to a total of five active Hooded vultures´ nest within Mole National Park in 2020 and 2021. By contrast, we have not observed any nest outside of the park in all our surveys. Outside of the park we have seen a total of 8 individuals flying over a town in the Northern region of the country, probably around abattoirs (March 2020) and 12 individuals roosting next to a sacred forest in the Southern region (November 2021). In addition, we have observed a maximum of 44 Hooded vultures feeding around abattoirs next to Kumasi in June 2020, which are probably roosting close by as we have observed several individuals around isolated patches of trees not far from the city. However, no nests were found in this region, showing that probably these individuals breed very far from Kumasi.
Hooded vultures were very common in most large cities in the region 50 years ago (Thiollay, 2017), but currently it is very difficult to see them outside of Mole National Park in Ghana. The population of this species has declined dramatically in the recent years in this country and it could become extinct outside of Mole National Park in the following years if the current trend continues. In addition, within the park the population may also decline if poaching of wild mammals and human encroachment in the park increase in the following years due to lack of feeding and nesting resources and disturbing around nesting and roosting sites. In addition, collecting of chicks, eggs and adults for both feeding and belief-based uses have been seen to be an increasingly important threat for this species (Daboné et al., 2019), and a great part of Hooded vulture´s parts sold at fetish markets in Togo come from Ghana (D´Cruze et al., 2020).
References:
Daboné, C., R. Buij, A. Oueda, J. B. Adjakpa, W. Guenda, and P. D. M. Weesie (2019). Impact of human activities on the reproduction of Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus in Burkina Faso. Ostrich 90:53-61.
D’Cruze N, Assou D, Coulthard E, Norrey J, Megson D, Macdonald DW, Harrington LA, Ronfot D, Segniagbeto, GH, Auliya M (2020) Snake oil and pangolin scales: insights into wild animal use at “Marché des Fétiches” traditional medicine market, Togo. Nature Conservation 39: 45–71
Di Vittorio, M., Hema, E.M., Dendi, D. Akani, G.C., Cortone, G. López-López, P., Amadi, N., et al., 2018. The conservation status of West African vultures: An updated review and a strategy for conservation. Vie et milieu-life and Environment, 68(1), 33-43.
Ogada D, P Shaw, R L Beyers, R Buij, C Murn, J-M Thiollay et al. (2016). Another continental vulture crisis: Africa’s vultures collapsing toward extinction. Conservation Letters 9(2): 89-97.
Thiollay, J. M. (1998). Long-term dynamics of a tropical savanna bird community.
Biodiversity and Conservation 7: 1291-1312.
Thiollay, J. M. (2001). Long-term changes in raptor populations in northern Cameroon.
Journal of Raptor Research 35(3):173-186.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2006a). Severe decline of large birds in the Northern Sahel of West Africa: a long-term assessment. Bird Conservation International 16(4): 353-365.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2006b). The decline of raptors in West Africa: long-term assessment and the role of protected areas. Ibis 148:240–254.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2007). Raptor population decline in West Africa. Ostrich. 78(2): 405-413.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2017). Decline of African vultures: a need for studies and conservation. Ostrich 88:2: doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2017.1326004.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested by so many people in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments until 21 February 2022. We will now analyse and interpret the new information, and we will post a preliminary decision on this species’s Red List status on this page on 21 February 2022, when discussions will re-open.
Since the initial posting of the forum topic further communication with members of the IUCN SSC Vulture Specialist Group has provided very useful information relevant to the assessment. First, additional data has been sought to improve the input values for the generation length. Age at first breeding (previously derived from modelling) has been revised using information from pairs observed in captivity to 4.5 years. Many thanks to the contributors to this discussion. In conjunction with modelled annual adult mortality at 0.89 and an observed maximum longevity of 38 years (from a captive individual), the generation length is calculated at 13 years (mean age at which a cohort of individuals produces offspring [IUCN 2019]). This revises the period over which the reduction is calculated to 39 years, resulting in a recalculation of the trend from the road transect data to 67% over three generations.
However, as noted in the proposal the calculations (especially those for West Africa) are based on data that is now considerably out of date. And comments received clearly indicate that assuming rates to 2003-4 have continued to date in many West African countries is likely to be incorrect. The reported crashes in abundance from Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Benin and Ghana (outside of Mole National Park) and from the wider landscape in Nigeria, plus the evidence of illegal killing occurring in areas considered more secure (Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso and Gambia) suggests that this region may be seeing the most rapid rates of reduction across the range.
While rates of reduction may be low or marginal in South Africa/Lesotho/Eswatini, this represents a very small proportion of the population. With the more recent transect data showing rapid reductions in Kenya and northern Botswana, the admittedly largely anecdotal recent information from W Africa suggests that the rate of reduction here is plausibly as rapid or more so. In the absence of, and with great need for, updated trends for West Africa, the precautionary approach is to suspect the recent and future reduction, including the present, does exceed 80%.
It is likely that at the time of the publication of the W African transect data (Thiollay 2006) the overall rate of reduction was at an Endangered rate, as calculated in this initial proposal. Hence there has been a genuine change in the extinction risk of Hooded Vulture within the past decade. It is considered most plausible that the total rate of reduction over the past three generations up to the present did not therefore exceed 80%. The future rate of reduction over the next three generations is also highly uncertain, but threats to what is still considered the stronghold of the population are not currently mitigated and future declines are suspected to proceed at the current rate.
As such, the revised proposal for the reassessment of Hooded Vulture is that it qualifies as Critically Endangered under Criteria A3cd+4acd.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 27 February 2022, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN.
The final 2022.1 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in July 2022, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
In Sokoto in 1973, there were 1500 Hooded Vultures at the abattoir. Now there is maybe one! In Kumasi in 1996, we estimated 500 HVs over the abattoir, birds on the beach, and birds nesting in the big shady trees in Accra. So, yes, there has been a helluva decline over the last 20 years. Tell me – Why has belief-based/fetish/food consumption soared so much in West Africa during that short period (one human generation time!)? Can we answer that question? Increasing numbers of people trying to understand the increasingly unstable future? Surely something has changed/cracked around 2000?
Do not increase the generation time because you have found one more long-lived bird! 13 years is far too long. Generation time is the average age of first breeding – this emphasises the many young adults and not the few old birds. IUCN has got it wrong.
It seems possible that the steeper West African declines over the past two decades have occurred due to uncertainty brought about by regional conflict. These may have been further exacerbated due to increasing angst related to the current global pandemic.
I also agree that the current calculation method and key inputs used tend to overestimate generation length.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested by so many people in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments. We will analyse and interpret the new information, and we will post a final decision on this species’ Red List status on this page on 7 March 2022.
Recommended categorisation to be put forward to IUCN
The final categorisation for this species has not changed. Hooded Vulture is recommended to be listed as Critically Endangered under Criteria A3cd+4acd.
Many thanks for everyone who contributed to the 2022.1 GTB Forum process. The final 2022.1 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in July 2022, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
I support the down-listing of the Hooded Vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus) from Critically Endangered to Endangered as proposed.
In their 2011 review of Hooded Vulture status across the distribution range of this species, Ogada and Buij proposed a revised total population estimate of a maximum of 197, 000 individuals, based on quantitative rates of decline. Although they suggested that trends from each African region represented dramatic population declines over the previous 40–50 years, they also noted that these were not consistent throughout the entire range of this species. However, the situation in East Africa appeared particularly dire, where mean declines of 70% were estimated at that time. The authors cited further evidence that the species had generally declined across central and southern Africa, albeit remaining relatively numerous in some countries.
Ogada et al. (2016) later projected a possible 83% decline (range 64-93%) over three generations (53 years) spanning the entire contiguous range of this species. In West Africa, Gbogbo et al. (2016) also found indications that a severe decline may have indeed occurred in the population of Hooded Vultures in Accra, and an evaluation of the impact of traditional medicine across West Africa by Buij et al. (2016) found that between 1990 and 2013, the Black kite Milvus migrans and Hooded Vulture together accounted for 41 % of 2646 carcasses comprising 52 species. Mullié et al. (2017) reported the notable decrease in Dakar of more than 85%, from 3 000 individuals in 1969 to only 400 in 2016, while in Nigeria, a more recent survey by Owolabi et al. (2020) found evidence that both the deliberate and unintentional poisoning of Hooded Vultures remains on the increase, despite a general local awareness of the apparently fast-declining population. Disturbingly, Henriques et al. (2020) reported that between September 2019 and March 2020, more than 2000 Hooded Vultures were intentionally poisoned across eastern Guinea-Bissau for belief-based use.
Despite the above, Mullié et al. (2017) also noted that the reported decline in Dakar was on the high end of the general trend noticed over much of the region, being in striking contrast with the apparently stable populations along the West African coast further to the south. They further noted that this species remains relatively common in other regions of Senegal, as well as in The Gambia, without clear signs of any recent decrease. Indeed, results of road counts reported by Jallow et al. (2016), covering an area of around 600 km2 in the Western Region of The Gambia, suggested population densities of as many as 7,000–10,500 Hooded Vultures, translating to 4–5 % of the currently estimated global population, in an area that represents less than 0.0001 % of the total range of this species.
Although available evidence does suggest that concern over the perceived population decline may not be unfounded, it is possible that overall population numbers may well have been previously underestimated (at least in some regions). It should also be noted that observed rates of reduction have not been consistent over the entire range of this species. However, what is clear is that generation length has previously been grossly exaggerated.
Generation length may be interpreted as either the mean age at which a cohort of individuals produce offspring; the age at which an individual achieves half of its total reproductive output; the mean age of parents in a population at the stable age distribution; or the time required for the population to increase by the replacement rate (IUCN 2014).
The standard definition of generation length is generally accepted as simply being the number of years between the birth of a parent and offspring (the age of a parent at first breeding). However calculations used for both past and current assessments incorporate the mean age of parents in the current cohort (mean age at which a cohort of individuals produce offspring), reflecting the turnover rate of breeding individuals in a population. However, any calculations based on the latter definition tend to overestimate generation length. For example, even the revised estimate for Hooded Vulture generation length of 9.03 years should probably lie between 4 – 6 years (if considering the number of years between the birth of a parent and offspring as actual generation length). Mundy et al. (1992) point to a minimum breeding age of 5 years, as wild breeding pairs almost invariably consist of adult birds and rarely incorporate sub-adults. Recent records gleaned from the AZA ZIMS database (species360.org) by Megan Victoriano have revealed that, as of 2021, the youngest captive male to breed was 4 years and 10 months old and the youngest female 3 years and 11 months of age. Adult age is believed to be in the region of 6 years for this species.
References:
Buij, R., Nikolaus, G., Whytock, R., Ingram, D.J., & Ogada, D. (2016). Trade of threatened vultures and other raptors for fetish and bushmeat in West and Central Africa. Oryx 50 (4): 606–616. doi:10.1017/S0030605315000514
Gbogbo, F., Roberts, J.S.T. & Awotwe-Pratt, V. (2016). Some Important Observations on the Populations of Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus in Urban Ghana. International Journal of Zoology 7946172: 1-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/7946172
Henriques, M., Buij, R., Monteiro, H., Sá, J., Wambar, F., Tavares, J.P., Botha, A., Citegetse, G., Lecoq, M., Catry, P. & Ogada, D. (2020). Deliberate poisoning of Africa’s vultures. Science (370) 6514: 304. DOI: 10.1126/science.abd1862
IUCN Standards and Petitions Subcommittee (2014). Guidelines for using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Version 11. Prepared by the Standards and Petitions Working Group of the IUCN SSC Biodiversity Assessments Subcommittee in August 2008.
Jallow, M., Barlow, C.R., Sanyang, L., Dibba, L., Kendall, C., Bechard, M. & Bildstein, K.L. (2016). High population density of the Critically Endangered Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus in Western Region, The Gambia, confirmed by road surveys in 2013 and 2015. Malimbus 38: 23-28.
Mullié, W.C., Couzi, F-X., Sega Diop, M., Piot, B., Peters, T., Reynaud, P.A. & Thiollay, J-M. (2017). The decline of an urban Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus population in Dakar, Senegal, over 50 years. Ostrich 88 (2): 131-138. 10.2989/00306525.2017.1333538
Mundy, P., Butchart, D., Ledger, J. & Piper, S. (1992). The vultures of Africa. Acorn Books and Russel Friedman Books, Randburg and Halfway House (South Africa).
Ogada, D.L. & Buij, R. (2011). Large declines of the Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus across its African range. Ostrich 82 (2): 101-113. 10.2989/00306525.2011.603464
Ogada, D., Shaw, P., Beyers, R.L., Buij, R., Murn, C., Thiollay, J.M., Beale, C.M., Holdo, R.M., Pomeroy, D., Baker, N., Krüger, S.C., Botha, A., Virani, M.Z., Monadjem, A. & Sinclair, A.R.E. (2016). Another Continental Vulture Crisis: Africa’s Vultures Collapsing toward Extinction. Conservation Letters 9: 89-97.
Owolabi, B.A., Odewumi, S.O. & Agbelusi, E.A. (2020). Perceptions on Population Decline and Ethno-cultural Knowledge of Hooded Vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus) in Southwest States of Nigeria. Vulture News 78: 11-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/vulnew.v78i1.2
Pasted as received from Clive Richard Barlow
In haste – this is what I have contributed & been part of for HVs in The Gambia etc –so it puts it in one place for you. We have road & food site count data upto feb/march 2020 to incorporate in to anything that could be funded now for HV work in coastal areas were the HV popln is at its max. This would update the 2013 & 2015 work & at least advise on a generation on for any new statement you are expecting to make … .
Seems to me HVs are managing ok in a handful of places and are on their way out elsewhere. So there are regional centres of c.end and of abundance – Senegambia being a working e.g.
I have searched in vain for support to work on a head dress change project thus ageing. Could have been cut & dried now
Who supplied the captive breeding intel ? I suugested this to St Anfrewes Univ last week. UK centres are breeding them I believe.
A pair of HVs in UK & no doubt elsewhere trades in the falconry / zoo world at ca 8K sterling & here there wont be the funds to do the surveys & work to update the popln estimates for this classification to get it spot on .. in Freetown a very competent guy I trained here 20 years ago or so cant manage the bus fares etc etc
what really matters ? CITES Cend just make it more difficult & expensive to get permits for materials for lab work ! & imposs in many places
Clive
Guest Editorial An investigation commences to establish the present status and distribution of Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus in The Gambia, West Africa: February 2012 Clive R Barlow Vulture News
Barlow, C.R. 2004. The utilization of oil-palm kernel by Necrosyrtes monachus in The Gambia. Vulture News 51: 60-62.
Barlow, C.R. & Fulford, T. 2013. Road counts of Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus over seven months in and around Banjul, coastal Gambia, in 2005. Malimbus 35: 50–56.
Jallow, M., Barlow, C. R., Sanyang, L., Dibba, L., Kendall, C., Bechard, M., & Bildstein, K. L. 2016. High population density of the critically endangered Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus in Western Region, The Gambia, confirmed by road surveys in 2013 and 2015. Malimbus 38: 2
Thompson, L. J., Barber, D. R., Bechard, M.J., Botha, A. J., Wolter, K., Neser, W., Buechley, E. R., Reading, R., Garbett, R.A., Hancock, P., Maude, G., Virani, M. Z., Thomsett, S., Lee, H., Ogada, D., Barlow, C. R., & Bildstein, K. L. 2020. Variation in monthly sizes of home-ranges of Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus in western, eastern and southern
Barlow, C.R., Reading, R. P., Shema, S. & Maude, G. 2020a. Homogeneity in cranial biometrics and bill morphology is verified by measurements from The Gambia, Botswana and Kenya in the case of the putative sub-species of the highly commensal Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus monachus and non commensal Necrosyrtes monachus pileatus. Vulture News 78: pages 1-10.
Barlow, C.R. 2020b. Further observations and implications of Oil Palm Elais guineensis fruit consumption by Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus in coastal Gambia. Vulture News 79: pages 1-6.
Barlow, C.R., Mendy, F., Cryer. & Dobbs, G.E. 2021. Marine carrion is an important food source for Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus on south Gambian beaches: a photographic report with a list of food items. Vulture News 80: pages 1-11. In press
Barlow1*, et al More on versatile scavenging by Hooded Vultures Necrosyretes monachus in coastal Gambia and photographic evidence of tongue use when foraging for live food In Prep
Feeding on frogs In review Barlow & Broughaugh
Dear all,
With respect to up- or downgrading the threat-status of a species, we have learnt that this is the product of a thorough balance of knowledge of generation times along with population trends over a number of generations. With respect to the Hooded Vulture in Côte d’Ivoire, robust data are not available. We know, however, that the species has declined dramatically in recent decades and is now at the brink of extinction there.
Thiollay (1975a) reported Hooded Vulture as being common in most cities and larger villages in the savannah region of Côte d’Ivoire. Only ten years later, the same author described the species as being “formerly common in all the towns of the Guinean zone, from Toumodi northwards. Has now much been reduced …” (Thiollay 1985). “North of Toumodi” covers about the northern two thirds of Côte d’Ivoire. Declines in the southern parts of the range were reported even earlier, from the 1960s onwards (Thiollay 1975b), but in the east the species was apparently still common until the 1990s (Demey & Fishpool 1991, Waltert et al. 1999).
No recent country-wide survey of vultures is available, but now the Hooded Vulture is very rarely seen anywhere in Côte d’Ivoire. It has disappeared from virtually all towns, and observations even at slaughterhouses are now very rare (our own observations). Breeding is now only known from Comoé National Park (Salewski 2021). We fear that the species will soon become extinct in Côte d’Ivoire. The situation is no different in other West African countries, as we know from our colleagues there. Although the species is fully protected by law, demand for traditional medicine is high, and trade is widespread even across national borders. Law-enforcement is non-existent. The Hooded Vulture has disappeared altogether from large parts of its former range, and it may be extinct in a number of West African countries soon. Therefore, we are surprised at the current proposal to downgrade its Red List status.
Asso Armel Asso, Prof. N’Golo A. Koné, Volker Salewski.
Demey, R. & Fishpool, L.D.C. 1991. Additions and annotations to the avifauna of Côte d’Ivoire. Malimbus 12:61-86.
Salewski, V. 2021. Vulture numbers and densities in a large protected savannah in West Africa. Acta Oecologica 110: 103679.
Thiollay, J.-M. 1975a. Les rapaces des parcs nationaux de Côte d’Ivoire. Analyse du peuplement. L’Oiseaux et R. F. O. 45: 241-257.
Thiollay, J.-M. 1975b. Les rapaces d’une zone de contact savane-forêt en Côte d’Ivoire : presentation du peuplement. Alauda 43: 75-102.
Thiollay, J.-M. 1985. The birds of Ivory Coast: Status and distribution. Malimbus 7: 1-59.
Waltert, M., Yaokokore, K.H.B., Mühlenberg, M., Waitkuwait, E. 1999. Preliminary check-list of the birds of the Bossematié area, Ivory Coast. Malimbus 21: 93-109.
Recent assessments of hooded vulture prices in open wildlife markets in southwestern Nigeria suggest that demand continues to persist and is high with low supply. A vulture head and whole carcass was 9,500 Naira (~23 USD) and 16,000 Naira (~38 USD) respectively, before the Covid-19 pandemic and as of November 2020 was 15,000 Naira (~ 36 USD) and 35,000 Naira (~84 USD) respectively (Awoyemi 2021). A live vulture is 80,000 Naira (~192 USD) (Awoyemi 2021). Hooded vulture parts and whole carcasses were seen in open wildlife markets in Ibadan, Ilorin, Abeokuta, and Ijebu Ode. Live vultures for sale were also seen in Ibadan and Abeokuta. Overall, the demand for hooded vultures continues unabated in Nigeria where the greatest demand for these birds exist in the West Africa region. Given the pressure on hooded vultures, any downlisting of this bird would have dire consequences on reversing its decline and its long term conservation.
Awoyemi, S.M. 2021. Vulture decline in Nigeria: A sociological study of trade in vulture parts for belief-based use. Doctoral dissertation, Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, Central European University, Vienna.
Buij, R., Nikolaus, G., Whytock, R., Ingram, D.J., & Ogada, D.L. (2016). Trade of threatened vultures and other raptors for fetish and bushmeat in West and Central Africa. Oryx, 50(4), 606-616.
Although genuine declines are being experienced in certain localities, this trend is not currently consistent across the entire global range of this species.
We should not lose sight that the current global status was actually determined using a certain amount of non-genuine data.
The proposed down-listing to Endangered is thus warranted as this species no longer meets the criteria for Critically Endangered (extremely high risk of extinction in the wild).
Endangered species face a very high risk of extinction in the wild, which remains a reasonable assumption for the Hooded Vulture, based on the revised assessment along with comments and concerns above.
Downgrading the IUCN’s status of the Hooded Vultures from Critically endangered to endangered could bring about serious conservation challenges that shall enhance the extinction of the species.
The old-world vultures in Africa face threats ranging from poisoning, illegal hunting and trades in their body parts. And these seem to be increasing especially the trades across West Africa. Nigeria had seven species of vultures, but most of them have been hunted and extirpated across the country’s ecological zones (Nosazeogie et al., 2018), owing to belief systems and trades in their body parts (Williams et al, 2021a; Williams et al, 2021b). Many studies have investigated the underlying causes of the vulture population declines in different countries of Africa (Tende and Ottosson 2008; Ogada and Buij 2011; Ogada et al, 2012, 2015; Deikumah, 2019; Williams et al, 2021a), except in parts, there’s no comprehensive studies on the recent status of the Vultures across the whole of Nigeria just as in most West African countries. Most recent researches exposed their rapid local extinctions across their range. Most recent research in North – central Nigeria revealed the massive trades in their body parts, and disappearance from most slaughter houses and communities (Williams et al, 2021a; Williams et al, 2021b).
Monitoring of Hooded vulture populations is poor in Nigeria and there is no all encompassing baseline data to enable researchers to identify and understand future trends of the endangered species (Williams et al, 2021b). Information on population trends is from historic field observations that can be subjective leaving gaps in understanding the population dynamics and possible causes of mortality of the vultures (Anderson, 2007). In Nigeria just as in most West African countries, a nationwide empirical information on the status of Hooded Vultures’ populations is lacking. There’s no particular Nationwide assessment of the status of Hooded vultures. Few researchers have been collecting few data in different parts of the large country with area of 923, 768 square kilometers. A lot of hands are needed on deck to successfully monitor them in the country. Though Nigerian birds atlas project is ongoing, we’ve been reporting the sighting of different birds including vultures with their locations, and Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) is putting more effort in taking cordinates of the vulture hub across the nation for conservation interventions, but more systematic monitoring plans are required which should include but not be restricted to Road counts of Hooded Vultures across the country and some point counts at foraging sites. We need to know few points where they’re found for better conservation initiatives. A more conscious nation wide systematic assessment of the Hooded Vultures can reveal their true status and hubs for proactive measures towards conservation. But based on regional reports within the country, the population of the species is already rapidly declining as trades in their body parts based on traditional beliefs is surging. Any attempt to downgrade their status, may be catastrophic to the hooded vultures’ population and existence. Until empirical information is gotten from all ecological zones of Nigeria and West Africa, conservationists should not talk or act with certainty about the status of Hooded Vultures in the region as a whole, except in parts or using generalising assumptions and means that can sometimes contribute to misinformation about the critically endangered species. Considering the landmass of Nigeria, recent empirical information on the nation wide status of Vultures as opposed to the fractions of zonal and sub-zonal reports will go a long way to contribute on their status in West Africa.
Reference
Mullié, W.C., F-X. Couzi, M. S. Diop, B. Piot, T. Peters, P. A. Reynaud, and J-M. Thiollay (2017). The decline of an urban Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus population in Dakar, Senegal, over 50 years. Ostrich 88:131–138.
Deikumah J. 2019. Vulture declines, threats and conservation: the attitude of the indigenous Ghanaian. Bird Conservation International 30: 103–116. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959270919000261.
Anderson Mark D. (2007) Vulture crises in South Asia and West Africa … and monitoring, or the lack thereof, in Africa, Ostrich, 78:2, 415-416, DOI: 10.2989/OSTRICH.2007.7 8.2.47.127
Nosazeogie E., Tende T. & Monadjem A. (2018). Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus nearly extirpated from Edo State, Nigeria: a report on the avian scavenger community. Ostrich 89 (3). Pp: 265-273. https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2018.1480069.
Williams M.M., Ottosson U., Tende T., Deikumah J. (2021). Traditional belief system and trades in Vulture parts are leading to the Eradication of Vultures in Nigeria: an ethno-ornithological study of North-central Nigeria. Journal of African Ornithology; Ostrich. Retrieved 3/8/2021 at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2989/00306525.2021.1929534. DOI: 10.2989/00306525.2021.1929534.
Williams M.M., Ottosson U., Tende T., Deikumah J. (2021). Abundance, Distribution and Threats Affecting Hooded Vultures in North – Central Nigeria. Journal of Research in Forestry, Wildlife & Environment Vol. 13(3). Retrieved 9th February, 2022 from https://www.ajol.info/index.php/jrfwe/article/view/217266.
Ogada, D., Phil S., Rene L. B., Ralph B., Campbell M., Jean M. T., Colin M.B., Ricardo M.H., Derek P., Neil B., Sonja C.K, Andre B., Munir Z.V, Ara M., & Anthony R.E. (2015). Another continental vulture crisis: Africa’s vultures collapsing toward extinction. Conservation Letters 9:89–97.
Odino, M., T. Imboma, and D. L. Ogada (2014). Assessment of the occurrence and threats to Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus in Western Kenyan towns. Vulture news, (67). http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/vulnew.v65i1.1
Ogada, D., Phil S., Rene L. B., Ralph B., Campbell M., Jean M. T., Colin M.B., Ricardo M.H., Derek P., Neil B., Sonja C.K, Andre B., Munir Z.V, Ara M., & Anthony R.E. (2015). Another continental vulture crisis: Africa’s vultures collapsing toward extinction. Conservation Letters 9:89–97.
Ogada DL, Buij R. 2011. Large declines of the Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus across its African range. Ostrich 82: 101–113. https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2011.603464.
I support the adjustment in generation length as age of first breeding is likely 5-6 years based on captive animals. Thus revised generation length of 9 years is more appropriate.
In southern Tanzania, we have been surveying vultures for last 9 years in 3 national parks, but lack historic data. Nonetheless this does provide some information on recent trends which appears to be a need in thinking about re-listing of the species. Note this is unpublished data, but I share here for reference in this decision and we hope to publish this information soon.
In general, Hooded vultures are as common in southern Tanzania as they are in Mara-Serengeti ecosystem (encounter rate of approximately 4-5 individuals per 100km), where Hooded vultures are known to have declined over last 30 years. Hooded vultures numbers appear stable in Katavi National Park, appear to be slightly declining in Ruaha National Park (monthly rate of decline around 0.2%) and rapidly declining in Nyerere National Park (monthly rate of decline at 2.2%). In addition, of 2 Hooded vultures rehabilitated from a poisoning event and tagged both died within 3 years of release, likely at another poisoning event, and neither bred. There is thus reason for concern for Hooded vultures in Tanzania.
Similarly the level of threat to Hooded vultures in West Africa is significant with potential for rapid loss with just a few poisoning events in areas where the birds are common.
Given exact rate of decline is difficulty to estimate, threat of large declines is imminent, and likely on the edge between levels for CR and E categorization, I would suggest erring on the side of caution by maintaining the CR status for this species.
I support the down-listing of the Hooded Vulture to an Endangered status. It is not in imminent danger of extinction within its African range.
The key point is that Africa is not homogeneous, it is in regions – for the HV these are West, East and southern Africa. Yes, certainly the HV is in dire straits in West Africa, except Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Ghana (?). This huge decline seems to be driven by the trade in Nigeria, for belief-based and culinary (‘chop’) purposes. In spite of what Awoyemi says, isn’t the NCF trying to combat the trade? When I lived in Sokoto, northern Nigeria, in 1969-1972, Allan Cook and I estimated the number of HVs in and around the town at a minimum of 1500 birds – from spot counts at the abattoir (as Manja says, spot counts should be done, I reckon by everybody); also up to 100 at the market; over 300 nests around the town; 50 at a roost in the Club grounds; (in prep.), but alas, such numbers are no more.
In Guinea-Bissau, >43 000 have been estimated. But I would like to see a proper validation of the poisoning event in 2019-2020, as >1000 and latest >2000 have been reported as poisoned, all for belief-based purpose. Note that Methiocarb is not hugely poisonous (Hudson et al. 1984), could the HVs really have been poisoned by that?
Yes, too, the HV seems in decline in East Africa.
But in southern Africa, it is barely in any decline. At the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge in Zimbabwe, for example, on any lunch time, about 25 HVs can be seen at the feeding point. Agreed, the overall number in southern Africa (south of the Kunene-Zambezi) is small, can we have even 1000 in this region? It lives in the bush, and very few are killed in our large poisoning incidents. I would be happy with a VU status in southern Africa!
I have always argued against the so-called generation time of 17 years (BLI), so I was pleased to read Bird et al. (2020), though to me 9 years is still too long. It should be the average age at first breeding. If it is computed as the average age of the cohort of all parents in any one year, then the (successful) old parents unrealistically lengthen the generation time.
In our book “The vultures of Africa” we suggested that the age of adult plumage was about 6 years (p. 138), and the likely age of first breeding was 5 years (p. 144) or more. Regretfully there was no proof of those ages, and still there isn’t. Can zoos help us here? So I would hazard and say that the generation time is about 6-7 years.
It does not help a ‘numerous’ vulture (100 000 in Africa? but note that the MsAP 2017 states 197 000) to be accorded CR status. Down-listing to EN status will not change anything – it is still down to feet on the ground in political entities (i.e. countries) to turn dire situations around, such as in Ivory Coast and Nigeria. Good luck!
Overall, then, it is not in fact helpful to have an African status, we need to be sensible and have a status for each region (i.e. within Africa). That would focus us properly. Perhaps CR in West Africa, EN in East Africa, and VU in southern Africa.
The collapse of Hooded vulture populations is highlighted in West Africa since the 1070s. (Thiollay 2006, Ogada et al. 2016). Even if, Hooded vultures still occur in appreciable densities (Henriques 2016, Jallow et al. 2016) in some restricted areas, the rapid rise in reports of vultures killed using poisoned baits is alarming and presents a serious conservation challenge for vultures in this region.
One of the key threats in Burkina Faso is poison
Intentional poisoning of vultures for belief-based use
From 1 April 2010 to 12 December 2016, 15 incidents of intentional poisoning, involving the use of poisoned baits (resulting in the deaths of 577 Hooded vulture) were recorded in 15 localities in Burkina Faso. We found that the number of vultures killed by mass-poisoning in Burkina Faso increased with proximity to the country’s borders, suggesting that the recent recurrence of intentional vulture poisoning events in Burkina Faso was intended to meet the growing demand for vulture body parts in West Africa. In a recent case, between September 2019 and March 2020, more than 2000 Hooded Vultures were intentionally poisoned across eastern Guinea-Bissau for belief-based use (Henriques et al. 2020). These poisoning events were driven by the decreasing availability of vultures in other West African countries (Thiollay 2007, Mullié et al. 2017, Nosazeogie et al. 2018) and by the lucrative regional trade in vulture body parts for belief-based use (Buij et al. 2016). Indeed, the unit cost of a whole vulture is about US$10-15 in Burkina Faso but in some West African countries such as Nigeria and Benin the unit cost of a whole Hooded Vulture ranged from US$100 – 150 (Daboné et al. in press).
The unintentional poisoning of Hooded vultures
Unintentional poisoning has probably contributed to the large decline of vultures in West Africa. Indeed, based on the results of a recent survey, only five unintentional poisoning events killed at least 202 Hooded Vultures (Daboné et al. in press). The underlying factor is the indiscriminate and widespread use of pesticides, rodenticides and veterinary drugs that are cheap to buy, and easily accessed across the highly porous borders in West Africa. Many of pesticides (about 20) commonly used in this area are not registered by the Sahelian Pesticides Committee (CSP, effective since 1994 in member-states of CILSS including Burkina Faso) and yet it is common to find them openly for sale in markets.
Current Status of Hooded vulture in Benin
The Road transect survey we conducted on 2019 in Northen-Benin where the Hooded vulture was formerly common show a large decline of this bird in this area. Indeed 762 Km through 23 town and township were cover and only 40 hooded Vulture were recorded, an average of one Hooded vulture every 20 Km, an evidence that the vulture is close to extinction in this country. Recent research revealed the massive trades in their body parts, and disappearance from most slaughter houses and communities (Buij et al., 2016).
Given that poison and the other threats to Hooded vultures in West Africa are widespread and difficult to tackle, and the scientific data needed to address these threats remain largely lacking, any downlisting of this bird would have dire consequences on reversing its decline and its long-term conservation.
Reference
Buij, R., Nikolaus, G., Whytock, R., Ingram, D. J. and Ogada, D. L. (2016) Trade of threatened vultures and other raptors for fetish and bushmeat in West and Central Africa. Oryx 50: 606–616.
Henriques, M., Buij, R., Monteiro, H., Sá, J., Wambar, F., Tavares, J. P., Botha, A., Citegetse, G., Lecoq, M., Catry, P. and Ogada D. (2020) Deliberate poisoning of Africa’s vultures. Science 370: 304
Jallow, M., Barlow, C. R., Sanyang, L., Dibba, L., Kendall, C., Bechard, M. and Bildstein. K. L. (2016) High population density of the Critically Endangered Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus in Western Region, The Gambia, confirmed by road surveys in 2013 and 2015. Malimbus 38: 23–28
Mullié, W. C., Couzi, F.-X., Diop, M. S., Piot, B., Peters, T., Reynaud, P. A. and Thiollay, J.-M. (2017). The decline of an urban Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus population in Dakar, Senegal, over 50 years. Ostrich 88: 131-138.
Nosazeogie, E., Tende, T. and Monadjem, A. (2018). Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus nearly extirpated from Edo State, Nigeria: A report on the avian scavenger community. Ostrich 89: 265-273.
Ogada, D. L., Shaw, P., Beyers, R. L., Buij, R., Murn, C., Thiollay, J. M., Beale, C. M., Holdo, R. M., Pomeroy, D., Baker, N., Krüger, S. C., Botha, A., Virani, M. Z., Monadjem, A. and Sinclair, A.R.E. (2016a) Another continental vulture crisis: Africa’s vultures collapsing toward extinction. Conservation Letters 9: 89–97.
Thiollay J.-M. (2006b) The decline of raptors in West Africa: Long-term assessment and the role of protected areas. Ibis 148: 240–254.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2007) Raptor population decline in West Africa. Ostrich 78: 405–413.
This is a reaction to the downlisting proposal for Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus, from Critically Endangered to Endangered, base on news information on generation length calculations, which prompts this issue. I do not support this change proposal, based on a variety of reasons listed bellow.
1- Despite the very useful work by (Bird et al., 2020), which brings much needed data for IUCN Red List assessments, the authors do admit that they have likely underestimated the generation lengths of many species for which very little information on their life-history is available. In the case of Hooded vultures, all the values had to be estimated in the model using Family means, which implies a reduced confidence in the accuracy of these estimates for this particular species. Therefore, as a lack of sound data still prevails, it would be advisable to undertake a precautionary approach on the reassessment of the Red List category of a species under severe pressure.
2- The extent of knowledge gaps remaining for this species, particularly related to the largely unknown current rate of declines given the emerging reports of local extinctions and increase in persecution, is another reason to take a conservative approach when reassessing the threat category for Hooded vultures. Henriques et al. (2018, 2017) & Jallow et al. (2016) reported that the most important stronghold for the conservation of this species is in Guinea-Bissau and The Gâmbia, in West Africa. However, in the last two years, several mass killing events in both these countries have come to light, having resulted in the disappearance of thousands of Hooded vultures (Henriques et al., 2020; https://4vultures.org/blog/thousands-of-africas-vultures-deliberately-poisoned-and-killed-letter-to-science-published/; https://www.wildlifetourism.org.au/mass-deaths-of-endangered-african-vultures/). Interviews with locals during field investigations in Guinea-Bissau indicated that possibly the cross-border demand for vulture parts for belief-based use was behind the most notable single event mass killing of vultures ever registered (Henriques et al., 2020). These were unseen motivators in the recent past in Guinea-Bissau and suggests an emergent problem. Moreover, after the 2020 mass killings, at least 4 more poisoning events occurred, the most recent in 2022 (with ca. 40 Hooded vultures found dead without heads or feet). Given that this country has been estimated to hold ca. 22% of the entire individuals of this species, it is likely that the declining rates that are now being used in the Red List assessment of Hooded vultures are considerably higher. Furthermore, there is no reason to believe that cross-border trade is increasing exclusively in Guinea-Bissau, and likely other countries with high numbers of Hooded vultures, like the Gambia, will also be targeted. This increase in demand is related to the increasingly fast pace at which Hooded vultures are being extirpated from West Africa due to persecution for belief-based use and illegal trade (Boakye et al., 2019; Buij et al., 2015; Nosazeogie et al., 2018; Saidu and Buij, 2013; Williams et al., 2021). This leads me to believe that the rate of declines may be likely higher that the ones currently in use for the Red List assessment of Hooded vultures (Ogada et al., 2015), another strong reason to advise against a downlisting of the species.
3- The risk of invertedly send the wrong message conservation-wise, by downlisting an emergently threatened species is another issue to take into consideration. Currently, the IUCN SSC Vulture Specialist Group and CITES are developing increased efforts together with local partners, to engage decision makers and conservation institutions in West Africa to convinced them that there is an urgent need for action to avoid the looming extinction of vultures in the continent. Addressing belief-based use is particularly challenging due to the rooted cultural beliefs associated with this practice, and the socioeconomic fragility of West African states. Furthermore, several reports have been indicating an important role of political disputes in supporting the use of vulture body parts as luck charms or to promote political success. Therefore, the downlisting from CR to EN will seriously undermine the current efforts of conservationist in the West African region to convince people that vultures need to be protected, as they may argue that if the conservation status has decreased then vultures are not that threatened. The same goes for the ongoing awareness raising projects in West Africa (I have been leading one for the past two years in Guinea-Bissau), which have been using the Red List status of Hooded vultures as a strong ally.
Taking into consideration the exposed above, and as a vulture conservationist and researcher working in West Africa, I do not support the proposal to downlist Hooded vultures.
References
Bird, J.P., Martin, R., Akçakaya, H.R., Gilroy, J., Burfield, I.J., Garnett, S.T., Symes, A., Taylor, J., Şekercioğlu, Ç.H., Butchart, S.H.M., 2020. Generation lengths of the world’s birds and their implications for extinction risk. Conserv. Biol. 34, 1252–1261. doi:10.1111/cobi.13486
Boakye, M.K., Wiafe, E.D., Ziekah, M.Y., 2019. Ethnomedicinal use of vultures by traditional medicinal practitioners in Ghana. Ostrich 90, 111–118. doi:10.2989/00306525.2019.1578834
Buij, R., Nikolaus, G., Whytock, R., Ingram, D.J., Ogada, D., 2015. Trade of threatened vultures and other raptors for fetish and bushmeat in West and Central Africa. Oryx 1–11. doi:10.1017/S0030605315000514
Henriques, M., Buij, R., Monteiro, H., Sá, J., Wambar, F., Tavares, J.P., Botha, A., Citegetse, G., Lecoq, M., Catry, P., Ogada, D., 2020. Deliberate poisoning of Africa’s vultures. Science (80-. ). 370, 304. doi:10.1126/science.abd1862
Henriques, M., Granadeiro, J.P., Monteiro, H., Nuno, A., Lecoq, M., Cardoso, P., Regalla, A., Catry, P., 2018. Not in wilderness: African vulture strongholds remain in areas with high human density. PLoS One 13, 1–21. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0190594
Henriques, M., Lecoq, M., Monteiro, H., Regalla, A., Granadeiro, J.P., Catry, P., 2017. Status of birds of prey in Guinea-Bissau: first assessment based on road surveys§. Ostrich 88. doi:10.2989/00306525.2017.1312584
Jallow, M., Barlow, C.R., Sanyang, L., Dibba, L., Kendall, C., Bechard, M., Bildstein, K.L., 2016. High population density of the Critically Endangered Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus in Western Region, The Gambia, confirmed by road surveys in 2013 and 2015. Malimbus 38, 23–28.
Nosazeogie, E., Tende, T., Monadjem, A., 2018. Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus nearly extirpated from Edo State, Nigeria: a report on the avian scavenger community. Ostrich 89, 265–273. doi:10.2989/00306525.2018.1480069
Ogada, D., Shaw, P., Beyers, R.L., Buij, R., Murn, C., Thiollay, J.M., Beale, C.M., Holdo, R.M., Pomeroy, D., Baker, N., Kr??ger, S.C., Botha, A., Virani, M.Z., Monadjem, A., Sinclair, A.R.E., 2015. Another Continental Vulture Crisis: Africa’s Vultures Collapsing toward Extinction. Conserv. Lett. 9, 89–97. doi:10.1111/conl.12182
Saidu, Y., Buij, R., 2013. Traditional medicine trade in vulture parts in northern Nigeria. Vulture News 65, 4. doi:10.4314/vulnew.v65i1.1
Williams, M.M., Ottosson, U., Tende, T., Deikumah, J.P., 2021. Traditional belief systems and trade in vulture parts are leading to the eradication of vultures in Nigeria: an ethno-ornithological study of north-central Nigeria. Ostrich 92, 194–202. doi:10.2989/00306525.2021.1929534
Specific question
Is there any information on recent rates of reduction, especially in West Africa to update the road transect data?
In Ghana, an ethno-biological study indicated that hooded vulture parts are important ingredient used by traditional medical practitioners for preparation of their therapeutic remedies. The main conclusion was that the users keep using the vultures with no regards to the decline of their population but the users themselves lamented that the continues usage may cause extirpation of the species and for that matter the cultural value of the people (Boakye et al. 2019).
In a study to investigate on the trends of animals traded for traditional medicine in an urban open market (Kumasi Central market) in Ghana, the results indicated that the hooded vulture was highly used but its presence in the market was very scanty. The study also recommended a strong conservation action to prevent the species from extirpation (Boakye et al. 2021).
These two studies give the impression that the species is declining in population because of its demand for traditional medicine.
References
Boakye, M.K., Wiafe, E.D., Ziekah, M.Y. (2019). Ethnomedicinal Use of Vultures by Traditional Medicinal Practitioners in Ghana. Ostrich 2019, 90, 111–118.
Boakye, M.K., Agyemang, A.O., Wiafe, E.D., Dossou-Yovo, H.O., Ziekah, M. (2021). Animals Traded for Traditional Medicine Purposes in the Kumasi Central Market, Ghana: Conservation Implications. Conservation, 2021, 1, 113–120.
In my personal opinion, Down grading the Hooded vulture from Critically endangered to Endangered would not have any detrimental effects on the population, rather it would increase the confidence and hope of the conservationist to increase their efforts to achieve the conservation objectives. Critically endangered means next to extinction, but endangered means next to critically endangered, but statistics indicate that the species is available but not as it used to be, therefore, we can put in measures to revive the populations. Thank you for your attention.
In 2015, South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini (Swaziland) were estimated to have a combined population of 100-200 mature Hooded Vultures (Taylor et al. 2015). This relatively small population size (compared to some West African countries for example) is perhaps to be expected for the edge of the species’ range, however the range has contracted in South Africa (Taylor et al. 2015). The species’ current range seems to be concentrated in and around the Greater Kruger National Park (Thompson et al. 2020).
In South Africa, there was a report that captive lions and leopards at a captive predator facility were killing Hooded and White-backed Vultures when they landed in the cats’ enclosures to feed on faeces or scraps of food, or to bathe in the cats’ drinking water (Thompson et al. 2020). The centre’s manager reported that one vulture was killed their captive big cats each month, while a previous staff member reported 2-3 vultures (Hooded and White-backed) were killed each month (Thompson et al. 2020). After engaging with the centre’s management on this issue, we were denied further access to observe the big cats’ behaviour, however, from my experience of observing these two vulture species at food sources in the area, it seems more likely that it would be Hooded Vultures (rather than White-backeds) that land and feed in the big cats’ enclosures. A crude calculation using these monthly reported figures of one vulture per month, and the average of 2-3 vultures per month, gives an average of 1,75 vultures per month, which means that 21 vultures may be being killed by big cats at this centre annually. This sustained loss could represent significant loss for the region’s relatively small population of Hooded Vultures (Taylor et al. 2015; Thompson et al. 2020).
In South Africa’s Limpopo Province, Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre admitted 12 Hooded Vultures over 21 years (Mashele et al. 2022). Of 11 Hooded Vultures for which the outcome was known, only one was deemed suitable for release; the rest died (5 vultures), were relocated (2 vultures), euthanised (1 vulture), or were deemed non-releasable (2 vultures). So, 10 Hooded Vultures were lost from the wild population over these 21 years, representing a loss of 0.5 Hooded Vultures (in South Africa’s Lowveld) per year.
I was made aware of a pig farm in Limpopo Province, where Hooded Vultures were occasionally found dead. A lab test ruled out poisoning. The farmer later told me she had witnessed baboons (which were also feeding on scraps at the same site) chasing the Hooded Vultures and ‘grabbing at them’. I saw two dead Hooded Vultures (including one of our tagged birds) at this site and was told that six Hooded Vultures had been killed in the past year or so.
A study in South Africa’s Kruger-to-Canyons Biosphere Region revealed that Traditional Healers pay R300-R1000 (US$17.04-US$56.80) for a whole, dead Hooded Vulture (for use in African Traditional Medicine), and we estimate that this Association of Traditional Healers uses 400-800 vultures per year, although we could not estimate what proportion of these vultures were Hooded Vultures (Mashele et al. 2021a). Within this Biosphere Region, trees used by Hooded Vulture for nesting are being removed from villages (Mashele et al. 2021b), and we see furniture for sale which is made from the wood of Hooded Vulture nest tree species which have been illegally felled (J. Davies pers. obs.).
Since May 2020, I know of two Hooded Vultures that collided with powerlines in Limpopo Province; one bird killed through collisions per year. I believe that the combined annual mortalities from these various threats are significant, however, road counts would also be useful to confirm this. We are currently compiling a report of our Hooded Vulture nest monitoring work along the Olifants and Mohlatse Rivers, to look at annual trends.
It might be useful to ask for data from the African Wildlife Poisoning Database (https://africanwildlifepoisoning.org/), as well as collision/electrocution data from Eskom (South Africa’s main energy supplier). It could also be important to look at the genetics of this species, and whether there is variation between regions.
References:
Mashele NM, Thompson LJ, Downs CT. 2021. Uses of vultures in traditional medicines in the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region, South Africa. Journal of Raptor Research 55: 328-339.
Mashele NM, Thompson LJ, Downs CT. 2021. Traditional Health Practitioners’ and Other Community Members’ Perceptions of Vultures in the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region, South Africa. Journal of Raptor Research 55: 340-358.
Mashele NM, Thompson LJ, Downs CT. 2022. Trends in the admission of raptors to the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, Limpopo province, South Africa. African Zoology: in press.
Taylor MR, Peacock F, Wanless RM. 2015. The 2015 Eskom Red Data Book of birds of South Africa, Lesotha and Swaziland. Johannesburg, South Africa: BirdLife South Africa.
Thompson LJ, Davies JP, Downs CT, Tate G. 2020. Captive large predators killing vultures: Exposing captive facilities as an additional source of mortality to highly threatened birds. Bothalia 50: 1-5.
Thompson LJ, Barber DR, Bechard MJ, Botha AJ, Wolter K, Neser W, Buechley ER, Reading R, Garbett RA, Hancock P, Maude G, Virani MZ, Thomsett S, Lee H, Ogada D, Barlow C, Bildstein KL. 2020. Variation in monthly sizes of home‐ranges of Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus in western, eastern and southern Africa. Ibis 162: 1324-1338.
COMMENT ON THE DOWNLISTING OF HOODED VULTURES FROM CRITICALLY ENDANGERED TO ENDANGERED
Dear all,
We have been collecting data on Hooded vultures´ populations in Ghana since 2019, mainly focusing in Mole National Park in the Northern Region but also outside of protected areas. We have also aimed at gathering information on their breeding habitat and reproductive success.
The increasing and expanding human population of West Africa increasingly threatens vultures via reduced availability of nest sites and increasing probability of nest disturbance, reduced food supplies due to overhunting and diminishing wildlife populations, and increasing development infrastructure and agro-chemical use (Thiollay, 2006a; 2017).
Road counts in the Sahel region (e.g., Mali, Niger) of West Africa both inside and outside protected areas showed that vulture populations had collapsed outside protected areas over a 30 year period, whereas inside protected areas some vulture populations persisted albeit in reduced numbers (Di Vittorio et al., 2018; Ogada et al., 2016; Thiollay, 2006a). Surveys documenting vulture population declines in West African savannas encompassed countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria but not Ghana (Thiollay, 1998; 2001; 2006b; 2007).
Therefore, we aimed to address this gap by performing surveys for vultures in Mole National Park and adjacent areas in Ghana by means of both road and walking transects during February-March 2019 and 2020 and November 2021. Our focus was to advance knowledge of their population status and ecology in Ghana as well as to advance the understanding of the importance of protected areas in conserving their populations.
From these surveys we have learned that Mole National Park might be the last stronghold for Hooded vultures in the country, as we have observed until now a total of 77 individuals in our surveys within the park in addition to five active Hooded vultures´ nest within Mole National Park in 2020 and 2021. By contrast, we have not observed any nest outside of the park in all our surveys. Outside of the park we have seen a total of 8 individuals flying over a town in the Northern region of the country, probably around abattoirs (March 2020) and 12 individuals roosting next to a sacred forest in the Southern region (November 2021). In addition, we have observed a maximum of 44 Hooded vultures feeding around abattoirs next to Kumasi in June 2020, which are probably roosting close by as we have observed several individuals around isolated patches of trees not far from the city. However, no nests were found in this region, showing that probably these individuals breed very far from Kumasi and depend on the abattoirs for their survival. By contrast, the individuals with Mole National Park feed on the wild mammals that die inside the park and breed within it, so they are probably not moving outside from its boundaries and, therefore, avoid being persecuted both for human consumption or belief-based uses. However, the Hooded vultures that are close to cities are more vulnerable to being hunted.
Hooded vultures were very common in most large cities in the region 50 years ago (Thiollay, 2017), but currently it is very difficult to see them outside of Mole National Park in Ghana. The population of this species has declined dramatically in the recent years in this country and it could become extinct outside of Mole National Park in the following years if the current trend continues. In addition, within the park the population may also decline if poaching of wild mammals and human encroachment in the park increase in the following years due to lack of feeding and nesting resources and disturbing around nesting and roosting sites. In addition, collecting of chicks, eggs and adults for both feeding and belief-based uses have been seen to be an increasingly important threat for this species (Daboné et al., 2019), and a great part of Hooded vulture´s parts sold at fetish markets in Togo come from Ghana (D´Cruze et al., 2020).
Therefore, from our experience the species shows a current critical situation in Ghana and we are surprised by the proposal of downlisting its status to endangered.
Daboné, C., R. Buij, A. Oueda, J. B. Adjakpa, W. Guenda, and P. D. M. Weesie (2019). Impact of human activities on the reproduction of Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus in Burkina Faso. Ostrich 90:53-61.
D’Cruze N, Assou D, Coulthard E, Norrey J, Megson D, Macdonald DW, Harrington LA, Ronfot D, Segniagbeto, GH, Auliya M (2020) Snake oil and pangolin scales: insights into wild animal use at “Marché des Fétiches” traditional medicine market, Togo. Nature Conservation 39: 45–71
Di Vittorio, M., Hema, E.M., Dendi, D. Akani, G.C., Cortone, G. López-López, P., Amadi, N., et al., 2018. The conservation status of West African vultures: An updated review and a strategy for conservation. Vie et milieu-life and Environment, 68(1), 33-43.
Ogada D, P Shaw, R L Beyers, R Buij, C Murn, J-M Thiollay et al. (2016). Another continental vulture crisis: Africa’s vultures collapsing toward extinction. Conservation Letters 9(2): 89-97.
Thiollay, J. M. (1998). Long-term dynamics of a tropical savanna bird community.
Biodiversity and Conservation 7: 1291-1312.
Thiollay, J. M. (2001). Long-term changes in raptor populations in northern Cameroon.
Journal of Raptor Research 35(3):173-186.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2006a). Severe decline of large birds in the Northern Sahel of West Africa: a long-term assessment. Bird Conservation International 16(4): 353-365.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2006b). The decline of raptors in West Africa: long-term assessment and the role of protected areas. Ibis 148:240–254.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2007). Raptor population decline in West Africa. Ostrich. 78(2): 405-413.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2017). Decline of African vultures: a need for studies and conservation. Ostrich 88:2: doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2017.1326004.
Based on recent surveys in Togo, we believe Critically Endangered is a more appropriate designation for Hooded Vultures than Endangered, and therefore support maintaining its current listing rather than changing it.
A major threat to vultures in Togo is the use of their body parts as “fetish” objects in traditional belief-based medicine. Togo’s capital, Lomé, reportedly hosts the largest fetish market in West Africa. We visited this market in July 2021 and found a large number of dead vultures for sale, including seven hooded vultures that had been killed within days of our visit.
In Togo, Hooded Vultures have declined dramatically in recent years, and national extinction in the near future (next 10 years) appears to be a real possibility without decisive conservation action (none is currently being planned although we will work to encourage this).
In 2021, we conducted a rapid assessment of vultures in all five major regions of the country, covering >1650 km road and >250 km walking surveys during a period of 28 days in March 2020 and June-July 2021. We made only a single vulture sighting in rural areas, where there is a lack of food resources due to the extirpation of most large mammalian wildlife populations from the country.
In June-July 2021, we detected small numbers (up to 35) of Hooded Vultures near slaughterhouses in urban areas of Togo’s interior in order to feed on livestock remains. From August 2021 to the present, we have been conducting vulture counts around slaughterhouses in urban centers of Togo every 4-6 weeks, counting between 0 and 25 individuals.
Hooded Vultures have now largely or entirely disappeared from several areas where they were previously numerous, including Badou, Kpalime, and Dapaong, Local residents told us that vultures are lured using meat with fish hooks hidden inside and then killed for the fetish market. Hooded Vultures are very vulnerable to such killing in part because they have so few options for feeding.
Nests and young birds are also traditionally targeted for the fetish trade, and nesting trees are disappearing due to the failure of national parks (e.g., Keran and Fosse aux Lions in the north of the country). We estimate the remaining population of Hooded Vultures in Togo to be in the hundreds. Given their targeted killing for the fetish trade, the lack of food and nesting sites, and their low numbers or disappearances from places they were previously abundant, Hooded Vulture extinction appears imminent without effective conservation interventions.
References:
Dowsett-Lemaire F & Dowsett R. 2019. The Birds of Benin and Togo. Turaco Press, Sumene, France.
Nikolaus, G. 2010. THE FETISH CULTURE IN WEST AFRICA: AN ANCIENT TRADITION AS A THREAT TO ENDANGERED BIRDLIFE? TROPICAL VERTEBRATES IN A CHANGING WORLD. Karl-L. Schuchmann (editor). Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Bonn.
We have been collecting data on Hooded vultures´ populations in Ghana from 2019 to the present, mainly focusing in Mole National Park in the Northern Region but also outside of protected areas. We have also aimed at gathering information on their breeding habitat and reproductive success. We note that this species shows a current critical situation in Ghana and we are surprised by the proposal of downlisting its status to endangered and we recommend it remain as currently listed (critically endangered).
The increasing and expanding human population of West Africa increasingly threatens vultures via reduced availability of nest sites and increasing probability of nest disturbance, reduced food supplies due to overhunting and diminishing wildlife populations, and increasing development infrastructure and agro-chemical use (Thiollay, 2006a; 2017).
Road counts in the Sahel region (e.g., Mali, Niger) of West Africa both inside and outside protected areas showed that vulture populations had collapsed outside protected areas over a 30 year period, whereas inside protected areas some vulture populations persisted albeit in reduced numbers (Di Vittorio et al., 2018; Ogada et al., 2016; Thiollay, 2006a). Surveys documenting vulture population declines in West African savannas encompassed countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria but not Ghana (Thiollay, 1998; 2001; 2006b; 2007).
Therefore, we aimed to address this gap by performing surveys for vultures in Mole National Park and adjacent areas in Ghana by means of both road and walking transects during February-March 2019 and 2020 and November 2021. Our focus was to advance knowledge of their population status and ecology in Ghana as well as to advance the understanding of the importance of protected areas in conserving their populations.
From these surveys we have learned that Mole National Park might be the last stronghold for this species in the country, as we have observed until now a total of 77 individuals in our surveys within the park in addition to a total of five active Hooded vultures´ nest within Mole National Park in 2020 and 2021. By contrast, we have not observed any nest outside of the park in all our surveys. Outside of the park we have seen a total of 8 individuals flying over a town in the Northern region of the country, probably around abattoirs (March 2020) and 12 individuals roosting next to a sacred forest in the Southern region (November 2021). In addition, we have observed a maximum of 44 Hooded vultures feeding around abattoirs next to Kumasi in June 2020, which are probably roosting close by as we have observed several individuals around isolated patches of trees not far from the city. However, no nests were found in this region, showing that probably these individuals breed very far from Kumasi.
Hooded vultures were very common in most large cities in the region 50 years ago (Thiollay, 2017), but currently it is very difficult to see them outside of Mole National Park in Ghana. The population of this species has declined dramatically in the recent years in this country and it could become extinct outside of Mole National Park in the following years if the current trend continues. In addition, within the park the population may also decline if poaching of wild mammals and human encroachment in the park increase in the following years due to lack of feeding and nesting resources and disturbing around nesting and roosting sites. In addition, collecting of chicks, eggs and adults for both feeding and belief-based uses have been seen to be an increasingly important threat for this species (Daboné et al., 2019), and a great part of Hooded vulture´s parts sold at fetish markets in Togo come from Ghana (D´Cruze et al., 2020).
References:
Daboné, C., R. Buij, A. Oueda, J. B. Adjakpa, W. Guenda, and P. D. M. Weesie (2019). Impact of human activities on the reproduction of Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus in Burkina Faso. Ostrich 90:53-61.
D’Cruze N, Assou D, Coulthard E, Norrey J, Megson D, Macdonald DW, Harrington LA, Ronfot D, Segniagbeto, GH, Auliya M (2020) Snake oil and pangolin scales: insights into wild animal use at “Marché des Fétiches” traditional medicine market, Togo. Nature Conservation 39: 45–71
Di Vittorio, M., Hema, E.M., Dendi, D. Akani, G.C., Cortone, G. López-López, P., Amadi, N., et al., 2018. The conservation status of West African vultures: An updated review and a strategy for conservation. Vie et milieu-life and Environment, 68(1), 33-43.
Ogada D, P Shaw, R L Beyers, R Buij, C Murn, J-M Thiollay et al. (2016). Another continental vulture crisis: Africa’s vultures collapsing toward extinction. Conservation Letters 9(2): 89-97.
Thiollay, J. M. (1998). Long-term dynamics of a tropical savanna bird community.
Biodiversity and Conservation 7: 1291-1312.
Thiollay, J. M. (2001). Long-term changes in raptor populations in northern Cameroon.
Journal of Raptor Research 35(3):173-186.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2006a). Severe decline of large birds in the Northern Sahel of West Africa: a long-term assessment. Bird Conservation International 16(4): 353-365.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2006b). The decline of raptors in West Africa: long-term assessment and the role of protected areas. Ibis 148:240–254.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2007). Raptor population decline in West Africa. Ostrich. 78(2): 405-413.
Thiollay, J.-M. (2017). Decline of African vultures: a need for studies and conservation. Ostrich 88:2: doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2017.1326004.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested by so many people in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments until 21 February 2022. We will now analyse and interpret the new information, and we will post a preliminary decision on this species’s Red List status on this page on 21 February 2022, when discussions will re-open.
Preliminary proposal
Since the initial posting of the forum topic further communication with members of the IUCN SSC Vulture Specialist Group has provided very useful information relevant to the assessment. First, additional data has been sought to improve the input values for the generation length. Age at first breeding (previously derived from modelling) has been revised using information from pairs observed in captivity to 4.5 years. Many thanks to the contributors to this discussion. In conjunction with modelled annual adult mortality at 0.89 and an observed maximum longevity of 38 years (from a captive individual), the generation length is calculated at 13 years (mean age at which a cohort of individuals produces offspring [IUCN 2019]). This revises the period over which the reduction is calculated to 39 years, resulting in a recalculation of the trend from the road transect data to 67% over three generations.
However, as noted in the proposal the calculations (especially those for West Africa) are based on data that is now considerably out of date. And comments received clearly indicate that assuming rates to 2003-4 have continued to date in many West African countries is likely to be incorrect. The reported crashes in abundance from Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Benin and Ghana (outside of Mole National Park) and from the wider landscape in Nigeria, plus the evidence of illegal killing occurring in areas considered more secure (Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso and Gambia) suggests that this region may be seeing the most rapid rates of reduction across the range.
While rates of reduction may be low or marginal in South Africa/Lesotho/Eswatini, this represents a very small proportion of the population. With the more recent transect data showing rapid reductions in Kenya and northern Botswana, the admittedly largely anecdotal recent information from W Africa suggests that the rate of reduction here is plausibly as rapid or more so. In the absence of, and with great need for, updated trends for West Africa, the precautionary approach is to suspect the recent and future reduction, including the present, does exceed 80%.
It is likely that at the time of the publication of the W African transect data (Thiollay 2006) the overall rate of reduction was at an Endangered rate, as calculated in this initial proposal. Hence there has been a genuine change in the extinction risk of Hooded Vulture within the past decade. It is considered most plausible that the total rate of reduction over the past three generations up to the present did not therefore exceed 80%. The future rate of reduction over the next three generations is also highly uncertain, but threats to what is still considered the stronghold of the population are not currently mitigated and future declines are suspected to proceed at the current rate.
As such, the revised proposal for the reassessment of Hooded Vulture is that it qualifies as Critically Endangered under Criteria A3cd+4acd.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 27 February 2022, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN.
The final 2022.1 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in July 2022, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
In Sokoto in 1973, there were 1500 Hooded Vultures at the abattoir. Now there is maybe one! In Kumasi in 1996, we estimated 500 HVs over the abattoir, birds on the beach, and birds nesting in the big shady trees in Accra. So, yes, there has been a helluva decline over the last 20 years. Tell me – Why has belief-based/fetish/food consumption soared so much in West Africa during that short period (one human generation time!)? Can we answer that question? Increasing numbers of people trying to understand the increasingly unstable future? Surely something has changed/cracked around 2000?
Do not increase the generation time because you have found one more long-lived bird! 13 years is far too long. Generation time is the average age of first breeding – this emphasises the many young adults and not the few old birds. IUCN has got it wrong.
Agree with Peter’s comments above.
It seems possible that the steeper West African declines over the past two decades have occurred due to uncertainty brought about by regional conflict. These may have been further exacerbated due to increasing angst related to the current global pandemic.
I also agree that the current calculation method and key inputs used tend to overestimate generation length.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested by so many people in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments. We will analyse and interpret the new information, and we will post a final decision on this species’ Red List status on this page on 7 March 2022.
Recommended categorisation to be put forward to IUCN
The final categorisation for this species has not changed. Hooded Vulture is recommended to be listed as Critically Endangered under Criteria A3cd+4acd.
Many thanks for everyone who contributed to the 2022.1 GTB Forum process. The final 2022.1 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in July 2022, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.