King Vulture

Also known as Sarcoramphus papa, King Condor

large bird found in Central and South America

OverviewAI-generated

The King Vulture, scientifically named *Sarcoramphus papa*, is a species of bird classified within the family Cathartidae and order Accipitriformes. It belongs to the class Aves and phylum Chordata, with its parent taxon being *Sarcoramphus*. The species was described by Linnaeus in 1758 and holds an accepted status in taxonomic records. Its IUCN conservation status is listed as Least Concern.

This vulture has a wingspan of 2.012. Its taxon range includes Brazil, South America, and Belém. The organism is also known by the common names Zopilote rey, Sarcoramphe roi, and Königsgeier.

Synthesized by Vinony from 24 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, iNaturalist, WoRMS, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Species

King Vulture

Species

PhylumChordata
ClassAves
OrderAccipitriformes
FamilyCathartidae

Observations4,335

Maximum longevity: 40 years (captivity) Observations: There is one unverified report of these animals living up to 40 years in captivity (http://www.demogr.mpg.de/longevityrecords).

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Encyclopedic overview

The king vulture (Sarcoramphus papa) is a large bird found in Central and South America. It is a member of the New World vulture family Cathartidae. This vulture lives predominantly in tropical lowland forests stretching from southern Mexico to northern Argentina. It is the only surviving member of the genus Sarcoramphus, although fossil members are known.

Large and predominantly white, the king vulture has gray to black ruff, flight, and tail feathers. The head and neck are bald, with the skin color varying, including yellow, orange, blue, purple, and red. The king vulture has a noticeable orange fleshy caruncle on its beak. This vulture is a scavenger and it often makes the initial cut into a fresh carcass. It also displaces smaller New World vulture species from a carcass. King vultures have been known to live for up to 30 years in captivity.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “King Vulture” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.