Neophron percnopterus

The Egyptian vulture is very large and has three subspecies.

The white vulture is a gregarious bird. It often rises with the heat when flying. They eat a variety of foods, including mammal feces (especially human), insects, corpses, plants and small prey. Studies have shown that eating mammal feces helps them get carotenoid pigments, which give their facial skin a bright yellow and orange color. They are generally quiet, but will make high-pitched calls if disturbed.

The nominate species of white vultures use tools. They will use their beaks to throw large pebbles at large eggs to crack them. However, this behavior is not seen in the Canary Islands species. Studies have shown that this behavior is not learned, but innate. The Canary Islands species also uses branches to roll up wool to make nests.

White vultures eat feces to attract the attention of the opposite sex. Cow and sheep feces contain high levels of carotenoids, which can make the vulture's face appear bright yellow. The excess carotenoids diffuse into the skin, and the change in skin color becomes a useful signal of the vulture's appearance when courting. Vultures absorb a yellow carotenoid called lutein from their feces. But it is dangerous for them to eat this parasite-rich food, and the depth of the yellow can also reflect the strength of the vulture's immune system, which can help the strong establish their dominance.

The breeding season of the Indian white vulture colony is from February to April. They are monogamous, and the relationship between husband and wife can last for more than one breeding season. Adult male vultures will stay with the female vulture for a long time before and after laying eggs. They will build nests on cliffs, buildings and trees. The Indian subspecies and the Canary Islands subspecies will also build nests on the ground. The bird's nest is made of branches, with a large amount of wool, hair, rags or food residues in it, and has a diameter of 1.5 meters. The bird's nest will be reused repeatedly. Usually 2 eggs are laid per nest, and the second vulture will hatch after 3-5 days, but the longer the time, the lower the survival rate. The incubation period is 42 days. Both parents incubate and feed the chicks, which sometimes wander to other nests in search of food in tight nesting areas. They leave the nest at 70-85 days old, with the Spanish colony moulting and leaving the nest at 90-110 days old. Once they leave the nest, the young can travel up to 500 km away. At 4-5 years old, they have adult plumage and are sexually mature. The White Vulture can live up to 37 years.

With its black wing feathers and naked yellow face set against its pure white feathers, the White Vulture is one of the most easily recognizable birds in the Old World. Soaring on warm currents with its broad wings, its presence has been noticed and celebrated throughout the history of human civilization. From southern Europe to Africa, the Middle East to India, this vulture has cultural significance in all the places it calls home.

As the name implies, the Egyptian vulture was the sacred bird of the ancient pharaohs, whose appearance was immortalized in Egyptian hieroglyphics as the letter A. Since the ancient Egyptians believed that all vultures were female and spontaneously generated from eggs without male intervention, they associated these animals with purity and motherhood. In fact, the two sexes happened to have the same appearance, the only difference being the larger size of the females. They were also promoted to the patron saints of the gods and protectors of the pharaohs, the level of gods in their own right. The priestesses of the goddess Nekhbet wore clothes of white vulture feathers, while the goddess herself was often depicted as a bald woman whose wings were said to provide protection and whose wings and claws were symbols of unlimited power. In fact, due to the vulture's role as a scavenger in the food chain and its supposed parthenogenesis, her worship was actually associated with the eternal cycle of death and rebirth. The goddess Nekhbet was revered as a mother who had existed from the beginning of time.

Although the White Vulture has the heaviest presence in ancient Egyptian mythology, it is also important in other cultures. They appear in Greek mythology, and the genus name of the White Vulture is taken from the Greek myth of Neophron. Neophron was the son of Timandra, who was the mistress of Aegypius. Neophron transformed Aegypius' mother into Timandra and tricked him into sleeping with her. When his mother woke up, she wanted to take his eyes, but Zeus turned Neophus and Aegypius into vultures. The species name refers to its black wings. Zeus transformed two enemies, Aegypius and Neophron, into vultures: the former became a bearded vulture and the latter became a white vulture. This became the source of the Latin name of the White Vulture, Neophron percnopterus. Since these birds are summer visitors to Europe, they are considered a symbol of Greece and the Balkans.

In Turkey and Bulgaria, the white vulture is often called "white father" (akbuba). There is a story about these birds saving Muhammad from the claws of a golden eagle. According to this legend, the vulture was granted eternal life and received white feathers as a symbol of purity, wisdom and bravery.

The white vulture also appears in the Bible, where its name is Racham, usually translated as "gier-eagle". It is only mentioned as something that should not be eaten that is "unclean". In fact, the white vulture is a very clean animal, as its feathers are sterilized by the rays of the sun's ultraviolet rays during flight, and its stomach acid kills bacteria that may be ingested. Despite this unfair reputation, this bird is not considered a bad animal. In fact, its name contains the meaning of "love", because these birds are almost always seen in pairs, so the Hebrews believed that they cherish each other.

The white vulture is also a good bird of good fortune in Indian culture. There is a story about two white vultures that have visited the Thirukkalukundram Temple "Thirukkalukundram" (Sacred Vulture Hill) in Tamil Nadu, India, every day for centuries. They would appear at eleven o'clock in the morning and be ritually fed sweet rice and other delicacies by the priests. According to one myth, the two white vultures were once saints who were cursed by Shiva to live as vultures and visit the holy temple every day to repent. White vultures were once quite common in India. However, in such a special place, only one pair of vultures always appeared, and the others would not visit the holy temple. Although these two white vultures are indeed regular visitors to the temple, and there are photos, one can easily tell that they are multi-generational vultures, not incredibly long-lived individuals.

The white vulture was also highly regarded by the ancient Etruscan and Roman cultures, where they were seen as messengers of the gods. When people tried to detect good or bad luck, they used a special form of divination, called augury, which was based on reading the flights of birds. One such example appears in the Roman creation myth, where Romulus and Remus were arguing about which hill the new city would be built on and who would be king, and they decided to settle their argument by observing the flights of the white vulture. The white vulture was highly respected, and the name that has permeated through time into modern Italy is "lord of cattle" (capovaccaio), because the white vulture often lives and flies with cattle. Although the white vulture tends to be a scavenger, it is also an opportunist and will eat anything, including the feces of other animals. This is why it has a particular interest in cows. To humans, this may seem like a disgusting behavior, but vultures are equipped with a digestive system that allows them to absorb nutrients from feces, and it is believed that the carotenoid pigments in feces give the skin a bright yellow color. In Spain, they have the honorific name of "dung eaters".

A white vulture was photographed in Wuqia County, Kashgar, Xinjiang on April 2, 2012, which is a new record of the bird's distribution in China.

Adult white vultures do not have many natural enemies, but they often die from power cables, pollution and poisoning. Young vultures are preyed upon by golden eagles, eagle owls and red foxes. White vultures that fall from cliffs are also picked up by jackals.

Listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN) ver3.1:

2004 - Least Concern (LC).

2007-2021 - Endangered (EN).

Listed in Appendix I, II and III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) 2019 Edition Appendix II.

Listed in China's "National Key Protected Wildlife List" (February 5, 2021) Level 2.

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Origin: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Benin, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Cyprus, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Ghana, Strait of Gibraltar, Greece, Guinea, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Macedonia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Portugal, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Spain, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, United Republic of Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Western Sahara, Yemen.
Possibly extinct: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine
Regional extinction: South Africa.
Wandering: Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Gambia, Hungary, M

Adults have mostly white to light grey plumage, contrasting with black wings and tail feathers and bare yellow skin. Their bodies are sometimes muddy in colour, which is related to the breeding season. The long, narrow bill is yellow at the base, black at the tip, and hooked at the upper jaw. The nostrils are very long. The neck feathers are very long and the wings are very pointed, with the third primary feathers being the longest. The tail is short and wedge-shaped. The legs are off-white, pink or light yellow. The claws are straight and long, with small webs on the third and fourth toes. The beak of the nominate subspecies is black, while the beak of the Indian subspecies is lighter or yellow. The face is yellow. The plumage of the chicks is much darker than that of the adults, being grey-brown, brown or black-brown with black and white markings.