Species Profile

King Vulture

(Sarcoramphus papa)

Species Fact Sheet

IUCN Red List Status	Least Concern	Source: IUCN 2024
Range	From Southern Mexico to northern Argentina and southern Brazil	Source: Johnson et al 2016

Recent News

7 November 2024: “Colchester zoo announces arrival of new King vulture” East Anglian Daily Times.

12 November 2023: “Why Vultures Might Just Be the Smartest Birds Above the Block” The New York Times.

Bibliography

Anderson 2023. “Birds in Maya Imagination: A Historical Ethno-Ornithology” Journal of Ethnobiology 37(4): 4 May 2023. https://journals.sagepub.com...

Arroyo-Arce et al 2016. “King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa) scavenging at green turtle (Chelonia mydas) carcasses in Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica” Vulture News 70: July 2016. https://www.ajol.info...

Benson 1996. “The Vulture: The Sky and the Earth” Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, Eighth Palenque Round Table. https://www.mesoweb.com...

Campbell 2014. “The impact of urbanization and agricultural development on vultures in El Salvador” Vulture News 66: July 2014. https://www.ajol.info...

Emslie 1988. “An early condor-like vulture from North America” The Auk 105: July 1988. https://watermark.silverchair.com...

Haenn et al 2014. “A cultural consensus regarding the king vulture?: Preliminary findings and their application to Mexican conservation” Ethnobiology and Conservation 3(1): 12 June 2014. http://ethnobioconservation.com...

Johnson et al 2016. “Multi-locus phylogenetic inference among New World Vultures (Aves: Cathartidae)” Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 105: December 2016. https://www.sciencedirect.com...