Species Use Database

White-backed Vulture
Gyps africanus

Used for Medicine and hygiene and Ceremony, religious, and ritual expression in Guinea-Bissau

A. Species

Scientific name: Gyps africanus

Common name(s): White-backed Vulture

Global IUCN Red List Threat Status: Critically Endangered


B. Location of use

Geographic location(s):

  • Guinea-Bissau

Country/Region:


C. Scale of assessment

Scale of assessment: National Level

Name/Details of location: 32 (out of 37) Sectors, an administrative division within Guinea-Bissau, which are then grouped in seven (out of eight) Regions; the five remaining Sectors were not sampled due to logistic constraints


D. Timescale of use

Start Year: 2016

End Year: 2016


E. Information about the use

How is the wild species sourced?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat

Type of use: Extractive

Practice of use: Hunting and/or Trapping of live terrestrial and aerial animals

Lethal or non-lethal: Lethal

Does this use involve take/extraction of: The whole entire organism

Purpose(s) of end use: Medicine and hygiene and Ceremony, religious, and ritual expression

Motivation of use: Income generation from trade (individual/household/community), Recreational and Traditional/Cultural/Spiritual

Is this use legal or illegal?: not recorded


F. Information about the Users

Which stakeholder(s) does the record primarily focus on?: Local people, Non-local Internal and National / local government


G. Information about the sustainability of use

Is there evidence that the use is having an impact on the target species?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an ecological perspective been recorded?: not recorded

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an economic perspective been recorded?: not recorded

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a social perspective been recorded?: not recorded

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a human health perspective been recorded?: not recorded

Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an animal health/welfare perspective been recorded?: not recorded


Recommendations provided in the record to maintain or enhance the sustainability of the use of the target species


Record source

Information about the record source: own_res_data_knowledge

Date of publication/issue/production: 2018-01-01T00:00:00+0000

Source Reference(s):

Henriques M, Granadeiro JP, Monteiro H,
Nuno A, Lecoq M, Cardoso P, et al. (2018) Not in
wilderness: African vulture strongholds remain in
areas with high human density. PLoS ONE 13(1):
e0190594. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.
pone.0190594

Date of record entry: 2024-08-22


Records from the same source material: