Rüppell’s Vulture

The last drawing from my Lunch zine, a Rüppell’s Vulture (Gyps rueppelli). One of the iconic scavengers of the African plains, from Senegal east to Sudan and Tanzania, a Rüppell’s vulture flies so high in roaming for food that its blood is specially adapted to capture oxygen in the thin air. This vulture patrols dry mountainous terrain, leaving its cliff-top roost sites in early morning to rise on updraughts instead of thermals. It uses acute vision to find carcasses and will wait patiently — days, if necessary — for predators to leave a kill. Like most vultures, it eats soft, rotting flesh and offal. However, its long neck means it can reach deeper into corpses than many of its competitors — gorging its fill until, with some difficulty, it returns to the skies.

As well as through our online store, my new Lunch zine of these incredible birds will be at Sticky's forthcoming annual zine fair.