CreatureData

White-headed vulture

Trigonoceps occipitalis (Burchell, 1824)

CRCritically Endangeredbirds of prey

The white-headed vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis) is a species in the family Accipitridae, order Accipitriformes. Recorded adults weigh 3.02 kg to 4.7 kg. Its IUCN Red List status is Critically Endangered.

White-headed vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis)
Photo: Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the white-headed vulture

Weight
3.02 kg – 4.7 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
2.29 msrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Scavengersrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
shrublandsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
56 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
1src for Young per litter or clutch
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 white-headed vulture?

WHITE-HEADED VULTURE · WINGSPAN 2.29 MADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 2.29 m, the recorded maximum wingspan of the white-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 white-headed vulture live?

Not recorded

What is the white-headed vulture?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The white-headed vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis) is an Old World vulture endemic to Africa. Populations have been declining steeply in recent years due to habitat degradation and poisoning of vultures at carcasses. An extinct relative was also present in the Indonesian island of Flores during the Late Pleistocene, indicating that the genus was more widespread in the past.

From the Wikipedia article “White-headed vulture” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White-headed_vulture&oldid=1379927296), 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 white-headed vulture endangered?

The white-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 white-headed vulture classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderAccipitriformes
  5. familyAccipitridae
  6. genusTrigonoceps
  7. SpeciesTrigonoceps occipitalis (Burchell, 1824)

Synonyms Aegypius occipitalis, Vultur occipitalis

Other names and names in other languages (46)
  • WHVUEnglish
  • WitkopaasvoëlAfrikaans
  • نسر أبيض الرأسArabic
  • نسر ذو الرأس الأبيضArabic
  • Белогуш лешоядBulgarian
  • Gup penn gwennBreton
  • Voltor capblancCatalan
  • voltor de cap blancCatalan
  • sup chocholatýCzech
  • sup červenozobýCzech
  • Fwltur penwynWelsh
  • Hvidhovedet GribDanish
  • WollkopfgeierGerman
  • blankakapa vulturoEsperanto
  • Buitre cabeciblancoSpanish
  • Buitre de cabeza blancaSpanish
  • pugal-raisakotkasEstonian
  • کرکس سرسفیدPersian
  • kirjokorppikotkaFinnish
  • Vautour à tête blancheFrench
  • Bultúr ceanannIrish
  • נשר לבן-ראשHebrew
  • נשרון לבן-ראשHebrew
  • crvenokljuni supCroatian
  • gyapjasfejű keselyűHungarian
  • Avvoltoio testabiancaItalian
  • カオジロハゲワシJapanese
  • baltagalvis grifasLithuanian
  • Jeeshóóʼ bitsiiłgaaígííNavajo
  • WitkopgierDutch
  • hvithodegribbNorwegian
  • sęp białogłowyPolish
  • چٹسرا گدھWestern Panjabi
  • abutre-de-cabeça-brancaPortuguese
  • Белоголовый грифRussian
  • Африканский белогорлый грифRussian
  • Beloglavi afrički strvinarSerbian
  • vithuvad gamSwedish
  • Ак башлы грифTatar
  • Ak Başlı AkbabaTurkish
  • Afrika Akbaş AkbabasıTurkish
  • гриф білоголовийUkrainian
  • Kền kền đầu trắngVietnamese
  • 白頭鷲Chinese
  • 白头秃鹫Chinese
  • 白頭禿鷲Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the white-headed vulture

Other species in the same family Accipitridae.

LC, Least Concern
Black kite (Milvus migrans)

Black kite

Milvus migrans

Accipitridae

CompareWhite-headed vulture vs Golden eagleWhite-headed vulture vs Eurasian sparrowhawkWhite-headed vulture vs Eurasian goshawkWhite-headed vulture vs Black kite

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the white-headed vulture?

An adult white-headed vulture weighs 3.02 kg – 4.7 kg and has a wingspan of 2.29 m, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the white-headed vulture endangered?

The white-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 white-headed vulture?

The white-headed vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis) 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). White-headed vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-headed-vulture

MLA

“White-headed vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-headed-vulture.

BibTeX
@misc{white_headed_vulture_2026,
  title = {White-headed vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-headed-vulture},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}