CreatureData

Red-headed vulture

Sarcogyps calvus (Scopoli, 1786)

CRCritically Endangeredbirds of prey

The red-headed vulture (Sarcogyps calvus) is a species in the family Accipitridae, order Accipitriformes. Recorded adults weigh 4.47 kg to 4.55 kg. Its IUCN Red List status is Critically Endangered.

Red-headed vulture (Sarcogyps calvus)
Photo: Davidvraju · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the red-headed vulture

Weight
4.47 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
2.29 msrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Scavengersrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
human_modifiedsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
45 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
1src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the red-headed vulture?

RED-HEADED VULTURE · WINGSPAN 2.29 MADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 2.29 m, the recorded maximum wingspan of the red-headed vulture is about 1.3 times the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the red-headed vulture live?

Not recorded

What is the red-headed vulture?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The red-headed vulture (Sarcogyps calvus), also known as the Asian king vulture, Indian black vulture or Pondicherry vulture, is an Old World vulture mainly found in the Indian subcontinent, with small disjunct populations in some parts of Southeast Asia.

From the Wikipedia article “Red-headed vulture” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Red-headed_vulture&oldid=1379927150), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the red-headed vulture endangered?

The red-headed vulture is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Critically Endangered species. What the categories mean.

How is the red-headed vulture classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderAccipitriformes
  5. familyAccipitridae
  6. genusSarcogyps
  7. SpeciesSarcogyps calvus (Scopoli, 1786)

Synonyms Aegypius calvus, Aegypus calvus, Vultur calvus, Vultur ponticerianus

Other names and names in other languages (54)
  • Indian black vultureEnglish
  • Pondicherry vultureEnglish
  • نسر أحمر الرأسArabic
  • ৰজা শগুণAssamese
  • Червеноглав лешоядBulgarian
  • এশীয় রাজ শকুনBangla
  • Gup penn ruzBreton
  • Voltor cap-roigCatalan
  • voltor de cap roigCatalan
  • sup holohlavýCzech
  • Fwltur pengoch AsiaWelsh
  • Rødhovedet GribDanish
  • LappengeierGerman
  • KahlkopfgeierGerman
  • ΣαρκόγυπαςGreek
  • ruĝkapa vulturoEsperanto
  • Buitre cabecirrojoSpanish
  • kiilas-raisakotkasEstonian
  • کرکس سرسرخPersian
  • kalmokorppikotkaFinnish
  • Vautour royalFrench
  • נשר אדום-ראשHebrew
  • נשרון אדום-ראשHebrew
  • लाल सिर वाला गिद्धHindi
  • crvenoglavi supCroatian
  • pirosfejű keselyűHungarian
  • Avvoltoio testarossaItalian
  • ミミハゲワシJapanese
  • 붉은머리독수리Korean
  • indinis ausuotasis grifasLithuanian
  • sarkangalvas grifsLatvian
  • കാതിലക്കഴുകൻMalayalam
  • राज गिधाडMarathi
  • Burung Hereng Kepala MerahMalay
  • सुन गिद्धNepali
  • Indische OorgierDutch
  • rødhodegribbNorwegian
  • sęp łysyPolish
  • راج گدھWestern Panjabi
  • abutre-de-cabeça-vermelhaPortuguese
  • Красноголовый грифRussian
  • Индийский ушастый грифRussian
  • sup červenohlavýSlovak
  • Crvenoglavi strvinarSerbian
  • rödhuvad gamSwedish
  • செந்தலைக்கழுகுTamil
  • พญาแร้งThai
  • Kızıl Başlı AkbabaTurkish
  • Asya Kızılbaş AkbabasıTurkish
  • Kırmızı başlı akbabaTurkish
  • гриф червоноголовийUkrainian
  • Kền kền đầu đỏVietnamese
  • 黑兀鷲Chinese
  • 黑兀鹫Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the red-headed vulture

Other species in the same family Accipitridae.

LC, Least Concern
Black kite (Milvus migrans)

Black kite

Milvus migrans

Accipitridae

CompareRed-headed vulture vs Golden eagleRed-headed vulture vs Eurasian sparrowhawkRed-headed vulture vs Eurasian goshawkRed-headed vulture vs Black kite

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the red-headed vulture?

An adult red-headed vulture weighs 4.47 kg and has a wingspan of 2.29 m, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the red-headed vulture endangered?

The red-headed vulture is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

What kind of animal is the red-headed vulture?

The red-headed vulture (Sarcogyps calvus) belongs to the family Accipitridae in the order Accipitriformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Red-headed vulture (Sarcogyps calvus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-headed-vulture

MLA

“Red-headed vulture (Sarcogyps calvus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-headed-vulture.

BibTeX
@misc{red_headed_vulture_2026,
  title = {Red-headed vulture (Sarcogyps calvus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-headed-vulture},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}