CreatureData

Rüppell's vulture

Gyps rueppelli (A. E. Brehm, 1852)

CRCritically Endangeredbirds of prey

The rüppell's vulture (Gyps rueppelli) is a species in the family Accipitridae, order Accipitriformes. Recorded adults weigh 7.4 kg to 7.57 kg. Its IUCN Red List status is Critically Endangered.

Rüppell's vulture (Gyps rueppelli)
Photo: Lip Kee from Singapore, Republic of Singapore · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the rüppell's vulture

Weight
7.4 kg – 7.57 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
2.41 msrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Scavengersrc for Diet
Main food
carrionsrc for Main food
Habitat
grasslandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
55 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
1src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
6.97 yearssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
1src for Litters or clutches a year
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 rüppell's vulture?

RÜPPELL'S VULTURE · WINGSPAN 2.41 MADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 2.41 m, the recorded maximum wingspan of the rüppell's vulture is about 1.4 times the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the rüppell's vulture live?

Not recorded

What is the rüppell's vulture?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

Rüppell's vulture (Gyps rueppelli), also called Rüppell's griffon vulture or Rüppell's griffon, a species of vulture named after Eduard Rüppell, is a large, resident bird of prey, mainly native to the Sahel region and East Africa. It is considered to be the highest-flying bird, with confirmed evidence of a flight at an altitude of 11,300 m (37,000 ft), where the average temperature is about −56 °C (−69 °F). The former population of 22,000 individuals has been decreasing due to loss of habitat, incidental poisoning, and other factors. It is therefore listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

From the Wikipedia article “Rüppell's vulture” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=R%C3%BCppell%27s_vulture&oldid=1372382838), 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 rüppell's vulture endangered?

The rüppell's 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 rüppell's vulture classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderAccipitriformes
  5. familyAccipitridae
  6. genusGyps
  7. SpeciesGyps rueppelli (A. E. Brehm, 1852)

Synonyms Gyps rueppellii, Gyps rüpellii, Vultur rueppelli

Other names and names in other languages (47)
  • Rueppell's griffonEnglish
  • Rüppell's griffonEnglish
  • Rüppell's griffon vultureEnglish
  • Ruppell's vultureEnglish
  • RüppellaasvoëlAfrikaans
  • نسر أبقعArabic
  • نسر روبلArabic
  • Африкански лешоядBulgarian
  • Gup RüppellBreton
  • voltor de RüppellCatalan
  • sup krahujovýCzech
  • Rüppell´ GribDanish
  • Rüppells GribDanish
  • SperbergeierGerman
  • Στικτός ΓύπαςGreek
  • makula vulturoEsperanto
  • Buitre moteadoSpanish
  • kõnnu-kaeluskotkasEstonian
  • suomukorppikotkaFinnish
  • Vautour de RüppellFrench
  • Badhbh rapaillIrish
  • נשר דרומיHebrew
  • pjegavi supCroatian
  • karvalykeselyűHungarian
  • TógammurIcelandic
  • Grifone di RüppellItalian
  • Avvoltoio di RueppellItalian
  • マダラハゲワシJapanese
  • dėmėtasis grifasLithuanian
  • raibais grifsLatvian
  • Rüppells GierDutch
  • skjellgribbNorwegian
  • sęp plamistyPolish
  • grifo-pedrêsPortuguese
  • grifo-de-rüppellPortuguese
  • Пёстрый сипRussian
  • Гриф РюппеляRussian
  • Сип РюппеляRussian
  • ČuomasráhtogoaskinNorthern Sami
  • sup jarabýSlovak
  • grahasti plcšecSlovenian
  • Pegavi supSerbian
  • rüppellgamSwedish
  • Benekli AkbabaTurkish
  • сип плямистийUkrainian
  • 黑白兀鷲Chinese
  • 黑白兀鹫Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the rüppell's vulture

Other species in the same genus Gyps.

CompareRüppell's vulture vs Eurasian griffon vultureRüppell's vulture vs Himalayan vultureRüppell's vulture vs White-rumped vultureRüppell's vulture vs Indian vulture

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the rüppell's vulture?

An adult rüppell's vulture weighs 7.4 kg – 7.57 kg and has a wingspan of 2.41 m, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the rüppell's vulture endangered?

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

What does the rüppell's vulture eat?

Its recorded main food is carrion.

What kind of animal is the rüppell's vulture?

The rüppell's vulture (Gyps rueppelli) 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). Rüppell's vulture (Gyps rueppelli). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/ruppells-vulture

MLA

“Rüppell's vulture (Gyps rueppelli).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/ruppells-vulture.

BibTeX
@misc{ruppells_vulture_2026,
  title = {Rüppell's vulture (Gyps rueppelli)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/ruppells-vulture},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}