By Dr. Lindy Thompson – Senior Lecturer
Hooded Vultures are Critically Endangered. There are thought to be only 100-200 of them in South Africa, so seeing these birds is pretty special! The College is based within this species’ range, and students and visitors might be lucky enough to see these birds from the campus grounds.
In November 2024, two new articles were published about Hooded Vultures. The first investigated the family associations between Hooded Vultures in the Lowveld, and the second was a study on nest-site selection by Hooded Vultures in Burkina Faso in West Africa. We have seen that Hooded Vulture nests are occupied in successive years, but there is no easy way for us to tell individuals apart, so we were unsure whether the same adult pairs were using the same nests each year. Birds naturally lose their old feathers and grow new feathers to replace them through a process called ‘moult’. MSc student Rynhardt Le Roux and his colleagues used the DNA found in naturally moulted feathers found below vulture nests to do genetic analyses. Surprisingly, Rynhardt and his team found that Hooded Vultures did not reuse nests over a five-year period. Instead, these vultures seemed to move around to find better breeding habitats. You can download a copy of Rynhardt’s genetics study here.
The second study, led by Dr Clément Daboné in Burkina Faso, investigated which habitat features might be affecting where Hooded Vultures place their nests. Dr Daboné and his team found that Hooded Vultures preferred to nest close to watercourses, people, and each other. They also selected more wooded areas and taller trees in which to nest. This is the first study on nest-site selection in this species, and it will hopefully be used by decision-makers when choosing areas to protect and conserve for Africa’s threatened vultures. You can read more about this study here.