Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Accipitriformes > Accipitridae > Gypohierax > Gypohierax angolensis

Gypohierax angolensis (Palm-nut Vulture)

Wikipedia Abstract

The palm-nut vulture (Gypohierax angolensis) or vulturine fish eagle, is a large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae (which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, buzzards and harriers, vultures, and eagles). It is the only member of the genus Gypohierax. Unusual for birds of prey, it feeds mainly on the fruit of the oil palm, though it also feeds on crabs, molluscs, locusts, and fish, and has been known to occasionally attack domestic poultry and bats.
View Wikipedia Record: Gypohierax angolensis

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
15
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
41
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 30.25
EDGE Score: 3.44202
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  3.545 lbs (1.608 kg)
Birth Weight [2]  107 grams
Female Weight [1]  3.774 lbs (1.712 kg)
Male Weight [1]  3.318 lbs (1.505 kg)
Weight Dimorphism [1]  13.8 %
Diet [3]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates), Piscivore, Frugivore, Herbivore
Diet - Ectothermic [3]  10 %
Diet - Fish [3]  10 %
Diet - Fruit [3]  60 %
Diet - Invertibrates [3]  10 %
Diet - Plants [3]  10 %
Forages - Canopy [3]  30 %
Forages - Mid-High [3]  30 %
Forages - Ground [3]  20 %
Forages - Water Surface [3]  20 %
Clutch Size [4]  1
Clutches / Year [1]  1
Fledging [1]  90 days
Incubation [1]  44 days
Maximum Longevity [5]  27 years
Raptor Research Conservation Priority [6]  72
Snout to Vent Length [1]  24 inches (61 cm)
Wing Span [7]  4.887 feet (1.49 m)
Female Maturity [1]  3 years 11 months

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa Kenya, Mozambique, Somalia, Tanzania No
Eastern Afromontane Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zimbabwe No
Guinean Forests of West Africa Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Togo No
Horn of Africa Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Oman, Somalia, Yemen No
Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland No

Prey / Diet

Elaeis guineensis (African oil palm)[8]
Raphia farinifera (raffia palm)[9]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Competing SpeciesCommon Prey Count
Pan troglodytes (chimpanzee)1

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 2Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 3Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 4Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
♦ 5de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 6Buechley ER, Santangeli A, Girardello M, et al. Global raptor research and conservation priorities: Tropical raptors fall prey to knowledge gaps. Divers Distrib. 2019;25:856–869. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12901
♦ 7National Geographic Magazine - January 2016 - Vultures - Elizabeth Royte
♦ 8Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 9del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0