Torgos tracheliotos Male Skull Replica or Lappet Faced Vulture measures 6.0 inches. Torgos tracheliotos Male Skull Replica is museum quality polyurethane cast. 2-part skull (separate cranium and jaw). Made in USA.

The Torgos tracheliotos or Lappet-faced vulture is an 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.

This species is patchily distributed through much of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, though it is absent from much of the central and western parts of the continent and declining elsewhere in its range.

The lappet-faced vulture breeds in Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Eswatini, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia.

On the Arabian Peninsula, it breeds in Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. It is also present in Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Benin, the Central African Republic and Angola, as well as a single vagrant record in Kuwait.

The Torgos tracheliotos or Lappet-faced vulture is a huge species, ranking as the longest and largest winged vulture in its range. The bill, at up to 3.9 in. long and 2.0 in. deep, ranks as one of the largest of any accipitrid.

Lappet-faced vultures are generally solitary birds. They do not nest in cohesive colonies as do many smaller vultures, with one tree or area usually only having one to two nests in it, though rarely up to 10 nests have been recorded in one area.

The home range of a Torgos tracheliotos or lappet-faced vulture is usually at least 8 to 15 km. Groups of up to 25 to 50 Lappet vultures may congregate at large carcasses or watering holes, though typically only from one to as many as seven turn up per carcass.

Overall, the lappet-faced vulture is blackish above with a strongly contrasting white thigh feathers.

The black feathers on the back of Torgos tracheliotos vultures are lined with brown, while Arabian birds are dark brown rather than black above. The underside can range from pure white to buff-brown.

Like many vultures, it has a bald head. The head coloration can range from reddish in southern Africa to dull pink in more northern Africa to pink on the back of the head and gray on the front in the Arabian Peninsula. The combination of the colorful head and fleshy folds on the side of it are distinctive.

The Torgos tracheliotos or Lappet-faced vulture is a scavenging bird, feeding mostly from animal carcasses, which it finds by sight or by watching other vultures.

They dominate all the other birds of prey near the source of food, carrying out some displays like bounding attacks, but spend more time doing these displays than feeding, returning later to the carcass.

These birds use their strong bills to tear up tough skin and tendons. They will also steal food from other raptors that are feeding nearby. Often they feed first, being the best adapted to tearing up the skin to start the feeding.

This vulture is normally silent, but when at a feeding site, it grunts, hisses, growls, and yelps. It does not migrate, except for populations in West Africa, which move north during the rainy season, and south during the dry period.

Torgos tracheliotos or Lappet-faced vultures are monogamous breeders and pairs mate for life. They are solitary nesters, preferring to be far distant from other pairs that are nesting. Intensive defense of the nest, courtship-feeding and mate-guarding make up the mating rituals.

The time of the breeding season is different, depending on the location. In East Africa Lappet-faced vultures breed throughout the year, but in southern Africa breeding is probably from May until mid-summer when fledging takes place, and those in the very north of the range breed from November until July (sometimes to September). A pair builds a large, bulky, flat nest out of small sticks, lined with dry grasses, at the top of a thorny tree.

They lay one egg which is white with rusty-colored splotches and is incubated by both parents for around 7 to 8 weeks.

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