White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus)

Of the many topics Irving Knight Safari shared with us, one stuck out to me with prominence. This is the white-backed vulture (Gyps africanus). While most people probably think of the African elephants or rhinos as the main victims of poaching in Kruger National Park, or South Africa in general, these vultures have been directly targeted by poachers. Why? When a poacher brings down an elephant, they usually have to wait long enough for the corpse to decompose until they can remove the tusks for their prized ivory trade. Vultures being carrion, will circle and eat off the corpse of the elephant which alerts park rangers to the exact whereabouts of a corpse. Because of this natural flag-like system, poachers have been poisoning these vultures in an effort to continue their illegal hunting undetected by nature and man.