Palm-nut Vulture

Interesting Fact: Poisoning associated with ivory poaching accounts for one third of all vulture poisonings since 1970 and is now the biggest cause of vulture mortality.

Unusually for birds of prey, The Palm-nut Vulture feeds mainly on the fruit of the oil palm, though it will also eat crabs, locusts and fish.

Juvenile plumage is mainly brown and gradually develops distinctive black and white feathering and a bright red face patch. ‘Tangee’ arrived in 2016 when she was quite young, by April 2019 she had mainly white plumage but her face was still white. She appears in our ‘Eagles of Paradise Display, during the summer, helping us to educate and raise funds for vital vulture conservation projects. Although the Palm-nut Vulture population is stable, vultures as a group are the most threatened birds in the world. Of the 23 species of vultures in the world, over 70% of them have an unfavourable conservation status, meaning that they’re at risk of going extinct.

In August 2018 with the fantastic support of Paradise Park visitors, through donations they have made at our daily summer flying displays, we were able to donate £4940 to the ‘Poison Response Action’. A project which is a collaboration between The Hawk Conservancy Trust, Endangered Wildlife Trust and Reading University. In total, from 2008 – 2018 we donated £17,690 to the International Vulture Programme. To find out more about our conservation with many species and projects, please click here.

Other Birds