This Vulture Flew 1,000 Miles in Record-Breaking Flight
A white-backed vulture has made possibly the longest land animal dispersal ever recorded.
With a seven-foot wingspan, hooked beak, and intense black stare, Africa's white-backed vulture is an imposing sight.
Perhaps it's no surprise that these critically endangered birds of prey have garnered far fewer conservation dollars than elephants and tigers. Science, too, has lagged behind. (Read why we need to save "revolting" vultures.)
The National Geographic Society grantee has started to pull back the curtain on this fascinating bird. She recently discovered that a single vulture flew more than 1,100 miles from its birthplace in Tanzania to South Africa and then back to Zimbabwe in just three months. (The two- or three-year-old male, nicknamed Swoop, even made a pitstop at a Botswana diamond mine.)
"Looking not just at
