The Lappet-faced Vulture, Torgos tracheliotus, is an African Old World vulture belonging to the bird order Accipitriformes, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks. It is the only member of the genus Torgos (Kaup, 1828).
It is not closely related to the superficially similar New World vultures, and does not share that group’s good sense of smell.
It is about 1.15 meters long, with a wingspan of 3 meters. The average weight is 14 kilograms.
It is a scavenging bird, feeding mostly from carcasses of dead animals which it finds by sight.
Like many vultures, it has a bald head. This is because a feathered head would become spattered with blood and other fluids, and thus be difficult to keep clean.
