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Northeastern Hwange Emerged as a Year-Round Core Area for White-backed Vultures

Subadult White-backed Vulture flying against a clear blue sky
Research · Ecology

Six GPS-tracked White-backed Vultures (Gyps africanus) in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park repeatedly used landscapes that models identified as highly suitable in the northeastern part of the park. The northeast remained important in both wet and dry seasons, while use of other parts of Hwange shifted more with season.

The birds were tracked between 2016 and 2022. Researchers compared their GPS locations with temperature, rainfall, vegetation greenness, human influence and distance from the park boundary to identify the conditions associated with vulture occurrence.

The northeast remained important through both seasons

During the dry season, GPS records were strongly concentrated in northeastern Hwange, with fewer records in central and southern areas. In the wet season, the birds were more widely dispersed through central and southern parts of the park, but the northeast remained a persistent area of high suitability.

The models repeatedly highlighted the Main Camp management area in particular. This does not mean that most of Hwange’s entire vulture population lives there: the result describes the spatial pattern of six tracked birds and the habitat conditions associated with their locations.

Different environmental factors mattered in different seasons

Temperature and rainfall variables changed in importance between wet and dry seasons. The tracked vultures were also more strongly associated with locations farther inside the park than with areas near its boundary.

Vegetation greenness had a more complex relationship with occurrence. The authors suggest that very dense vegetation may make carcasses harder to detect from the air, while vegetation also influences where herbivores — and therefore potential carrion — occur. Carrion availability itself was not measured.

Human influence may bring both food and risk

Moderate levels of human footprint were associated with higher predicted vulture occurrence in some models. The authors suggest that livestock carcasses, roadkill or other human-related food sources may contribute to this pattern. The same places can also expose vultures to poisoning and disturbance, so human influence is not simply beneficial.

With only six tracked birds, the study is a spatial guide rather than a population assessment. The authors argue that northeastern Hwange deserves particular attention for anti-poisoning work and protection of important nesting and foraging habitat, while the more dispersed areas used seasonally should also be monitored.

Sources and image credit

  1. Zhuwawo, T., Zvidzai, M., & Mapfumo, R. B. (2026). Modelling the spatial and temporal dynamics in the distribution patterns of African White backed vultures Gyps africanus in the Hwange National Park. BMC Ecology and Evolution, 26, 6. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-025-02490-9Primary peer-reviewed open-access study, published 19 January 2026. GPS data from six vultures were used to model seasonal occurrence and habitat suitability in Hwange National Park.

Image: Charles J. Sharp — subadult White-backed Vulture in flight in Matetsi Safari Area, Zimbabwe; high-quality representative image from Zimbabwe, not one of the six tracked vultures in the Hwange study. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

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