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BirdAfricaCritically endangered

White-backed Vulture

Vultures are dramatic in a deep canyon aviary but cannot share space with guests.

2 min read · Care guide

ScreenshotWhite-backed Vulture
White-backed Vulture in Planet Zoo 2

Key requirements

Walk-throughNot supported

Habitat set-up

  • Plenty of sand
  • Dead trees and dry bushes, greener plants near water
  • Bathing water
  • High nests and many perches

Enrichment & feeding

  • Large food trays
  • Rubber snakes

Keeper tips

  • Guests cannot walk through a vulture aviary, but aquarium glass tunnels can be used as bridges through the habitat.

Full white-backed vulture care guide

2 min read · Updated 2026-11-07

White-backed vultures are the most common vulture in Africa, and they're now critically endangered. Their numbers have dropped by more than 80% in recent decades, mostly because of poisoning. In 2019 more than 500 vultures died at a single poisoned carcass in Botswana. That gives you a strong conservation story to tell your guests, and a vulture canyon is one of the most dramatic aviaries you can build.

Vulture facts for your education boards

  • Wingspan of over 2 m. They spend hours soaring on warm air.
  • A group of around 100 can strip a carcass in a few minutes.
  • Their bald heads help them stay clean while feeding.
  • They love bathing and often spend afternoons at water holes.

No walk-through aviaries

Vultures don't support walk-through aviaries. Guests can't share their space, and the aviary gate won't place for them.

There is a workaround that looks fantastic. Aquarium glass tunnels can be placed through the habitat and used as bridges. Guests walk through the tunnel inside the canyon while the vultures fly around them. I built two, one high and one low. The only catch is that the ends of the tunnel have netting that guests walk through, since an aviary gate can't go there.

Building a vulture canyon

  1. Sink the path. Slope the path down underground and dig the canyon around it.
  2. Use the push tool and flatten to foundation to carve steep canyon walls.
  3. Run paths through the rock as tunnels with windows looking into the canyon.
  4. Cut a few holes in cave ceilings to let light in.
  5. Use African desert and savanna rocks, scaled up, to build the canyon walls. Start with a foundation of huge rocks along the bottom, then layer up. Vary size and rotation so nothing looks flat or repeated.
  6. Paint the canyon floor with a rock texture.
  7. Add a glass section in the barrier for an extra viewing window.

The aviary roof bug

When you use the roof tool to net the canyon, the netting sometimes only builds at the bottom. The fix:

  1. Drop one roof pole down into the habitat.
  2. Place the roof again.
  3. Lift the pole back up.

What vultures need

  • Lots of sand. Cover the whole canyon floor. It also makes sense visually, since eroded rock wears down to sand.
  • A little grass in patches.
  • Dead bushes, dead trees, split trunks, fallen logs and leaning trees on the rim. Tuck dry bushes into cracks.
  • Greener plants around the water to make an oasis.
  • Bathing water. A stream with a waterfall is perfect. Push the terrain while the water is in place to carve the stream bed.
  • Perches everywhere: on rocks, at the top of waterfalls, along every edge, and even on top of the glass tunnels so they land right above guests.
  • Big nests on high ledges.
  • Leaf bedding.

Enrichment

  • Large food trays, placed close to the viewing glass so guests see feeding time.
  • Food enrichment items.
  • Rubber snakes as toys.

Group size

Vultures are social and need a lot of space. My canyon held 25 vultures, and it was a sight to see.