Other less well known species make their homes at Safari West, and many of these are on the list as well. Did you know for instance, that every lemur species on the planet has made the list? The famous ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) qualify as “Endangered”. While both our black and white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata) and red ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra) sit in the “Critically Endangered” category. You’d never know it as you watch them frolic at the preserve, but these lemurs’ wild cousins are in crisis.

Bird Numbers in Decline

Alongside our big mammals, Safari West houses a large number of endangered birds as well. The hooded vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus), like so many vulture species, teeters on the edge of extinction. “Critically Endangered”, hooded vultures have suffered from a variety of modern issues, ranging from expanding agriculture and its overuse of pesticides to inadvertent poisoning. The incredibly strong stomach acids of vultures can actually digest the lead ammunition left in the carcasses of many human-hunted animals. This very thing accounts in part for the decline of the magnificent California condor as well.

The Waldrapp ibis (Geronticus eremita)—which also looks a bit like a vulture though it isn’t—was until very recently classified as “Critically Endangered” as well. Ominous looking birds, they once ranged across much of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Over time, their numbers dwindled until only few widely scattered colonies remained. Enormous effort and energy has been expended trying to conserve this species and it appears to have paid off. Migratory by nature, Waldrapp ibises have begun to revisit some of their ancestral ground, showing up in places like Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Turkey.

While Waldrapp numbers are still vanishingly small (only 200-250 mature individuals) the population has mostly stabilized, leading to reclassification in the fall of 2018 from “Critically Endangered” back up to “Endangered”. A small victory to be sure but in the fight for wildlife conservation, we treasure victories of any sort.

Struggles in the Sahara

Alongside the Waldrapp ibis many North African species face an uncertain future. Many of our most endangered mammals hail from the same arid region. The Sahara desert is among the most inhospitable regions on the planet. Species that thrive there are by their very nature, desert specialists. Specialists tend to have a tough time adapting to rapid change. Things like urban sprawl, oil exploration, expanding roadways, and war have all had a major impact on these desert species.

The beautiful scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah) falls under the direst of classifications: “Extinct in the Wild*”. Wild scimitars have not been seen since the late 1980’s and the species survives solely in human-managed care. It’s worth pointing out that classification nearly always lags behind the reality on the ground. Counting animals in the wild is hard and proving extinction even harder. Although the last wild scimitar disappeared around 1989, the “Critically Endangered” classification persisted for a decade before they were finally recognized as “Extinct in the Wild*”.

The addax (Addax nasomaculatus), a spiral-horned antelope from the same Saharan region falls under the “Critically Endangered” classification. While the official estimate puts their population at around 100 individuals, some suspect that like the scimitar, the addax may already have gone extinct in the wild as well.

Reason to Hope

Extinct means extinct and extinct is forever. But “Extinct in the Wild” means we still have a chance. Thanks to places like Safari West, conservation facilities that care for and propagate human-managed populations, sometimes we can come back. In the decades since the scimitar-horned oryx disappeared from North Africa, herds of these animals have thrived in zoos, wildlife parks, and conservation breeding facilities across the globe. Just within the last few years, a massive cooperative program has begun to slowly reintroduce these animals to their ancestral home. This reintroduction program gives us reason to hope. While we may have lost the dodo, the stellar sea cow, and the passenger pigeon, perhaps we don’t have to lose these species.

We should be encouraged by the scimitar reintroduction program, by the upgraded classification of the Waldrapp. We should continue to work to find ways to live less impactful lives. To pursue balance with our environment. To give as much as we take. On Endangered Species Day, we want to take a moment to look honestly at the situation faced by so many species and ecosystems. But we don’t want to let it discourage us. There are still ways to conserve what’s left. Still ways to build a better tomorrow.

Thank you for supporting Safari West and all the other facilities and programs like us. And thank you for joining us and commemorating this Endangered Species Day.

*as of 2023, the status of the scimitar-horned oryx is now Endangered, which is a huge victory for the conservation and survival of this species!

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There are two species of vulture to be found here at Safari West. One you are practically guaranteed to see and another you almost certainly won’t. These are the turkey vulture and the hooded vulture. One is local to Sonoma County and the other hails from far Africa. They’re both scavengers, feeding on the dead. They both rely on sharp beaks and strong stomach acids to survive. They seem like they’d be cousins but as it turns out, they’re not. Their similarity in form and function is the result of what we call convergent evolution. Although they’re not actually related, they live similar lifestyles and so have evolved strikingly similar traits.

Let’s start with the former. The turkey vulture is our local vulture here in northern California. While they occasionally share airspace with the California condor, condors are vanishingly rare while thankfully, the turkey vulture is not. If you’ve ever been driving down the road and seen a large, ominous looking black bird on a telephone pole glaring down with wings outspread, that was a turkey vulture. If you’ve looked up at a column of slowly rising black spots, soaring unsteadily in summer updrafts, those are turkey vultures. They’re not classically attractive birds with their black plumage and bald heads. They’re frequently missing a few flight feathers, lending their appearance a raggedy air. They’re often spotted lumbering into unsteady flight as your car approaches a recently squished squirrel, skunk, or raccoon on the roadside. Bare red skulls and sooty black plumage; these are our beautiful turkey vultures.

We have turkey vultures all over Safari West for good reason. Our wildlife preserve is located in the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains which means that as the sun hits our slopes each morning, it generates thermal updrafts; rising columns of heated air. The vultures, refreshed from a night’s sleep use those thermals like elevators, riding the currents of air to tremendous heights. If you’re ever on the property between nine and eleven in the morning, look up and you’ll see them drifting overhead.

The amazing thing about turkey vultures (and indeed all vultures found in the Americas) is that they actually smell for food from that altitude. Unlike the vulture species found elsewhere in the world, new-world vultures depend more on scent than sight when it comes to finding a delicious corpse. Even at high altitudes, the scent of corruption and decay is detectable to them and, like an airborne bloodhound; they can track the scent to its source.

The other species of vulture to be found at Safari West is the hooded vulture. Hooded vultures are native to sub-Saharan Africa. Ours are quite shy and aren’t on display so don’t expect to see them during a visit here. The reason we have them here is that the hooded vulture is a critically endangered species and we are a conservation breeding facility. Like vultures the world over, hooded vultures are experiencing a shocking decline in population. As of 2009, they were considered a species of least concern. Fast forward less than a decade and they are at the most extreme level of endangerment. What happened?

Hooded vultures are part of the family we call Old-World vultures; vulture species found in Europe, Africa, and Asia. One trait shared by old-world vultures is absolutely incredible eyesight. Like our local turkey vultures, the hooded vultures float aloft on thermals and then cruise around in search of a recently deceased meal. Unlike the turkey vultures, they’re not sniffing for bodies but scanning for the distinct shape of something deliciously dead. When they spot a body, or just as often, another vulture descending with purpose, they drop down to feast.

The naked head and hooked beak of the vulture species is perfect for prying apart dead flesh. Their beak is a fantastic tool and the nude head and neck keep mess to a minimum. Hooded vultures tend to wait for the bigger vulture species to eat and leave before they take over a corpse. They’re among the smaller of vulture species, and weaker as well, so they benefit from the rending and tearing done by their larger cousins. Their smaller size also makes it easier for them to get the juicy bits left in crevices.

There are several problems faced by vultures in Africa. One is that they are hunted for food as well as for body parts used in traditional medicine. There’s also some evidence that poachers will kill vultures so the circling birds don’t give away the location of an illegally killed elephant, rhino, or lion. Some of the more pressing and widespread concerns, however, have to do with habitat loss and poisoning. Habitat loss is a fairly standard culprit when looking at endangered species, but poisoning is something else entirely.

What typically happens is that a rancher will poison the corpse of one of their flock or herd with the hope that that poison will be consumed by the painted dog, cheetah, leopard, or lion who’s been preying on their animals. This is discouraged in the first place because of the endangered status of all of those primary predators but is further problematic because any corpse will draw vultures from miles, sometimes hundreds of miles around. While this kind of poisoning will occasionally rid a shepherd of a bothersome leopard, it also decimates the local scavenger population.

When the scavengers aren’t there to clean up the dead, microbes take over the work instead. Microbes can cause diseases to spread among other local species, including us. We may not instinctively love vultures but we certainly should. Their super senses serve to keep huge areas of terrain free of rotting corpses. Their stomach acids are so strong that they’ll wolf down rancid meat riddled with the pathogens that cause anthrax, botulism, and rabies without batting an eye. This incredible cleaning capacity means that vultures play a key role in reducing disease vectors. The next time you see a black colored V soaring over your home, take a moment to thank it for the work it’s doing. This would be a much grosser place without them.

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