All of the New World vultures and some of the Old World vultures have bare heads, a condition that prevents feathers from matting with blood when the birds reach inside carcasses. Most vultures have a large pouch in the throat (crop) and can go for long periods without food—adaptations to a feast-or-famine scavenging lifestyle. In some species the beak is exceptionally strong and heavy for tearing hide, muscle, and even bone. Eyesight in all vultures is well developed, as is the sense of smell in the turkey vulture. Old World vultures have relatively strong feet, but New World Vultures have flat, weak feet that are poorly adapted for grasping.

Vultures are widely distributed, but they are absent from Australia and most oceanic islands. Most have broad food habits, consuming carrion, garbage, and even excrement, but rarely do they descend upon live animals. A few occasionally take helpless prey such as lambs and tortoises or, in the case of Andean condors, newborn calves. Vultures may remain aloft for hours, soaring gracefully on long, broad wings. When one bird descends to a dead or dying animal, others may be attracted from miles away. When feeding, vultures maintain a strict social order based on body size and strength of beak. Smaller vultures must wait for the scraps left behind by the larger, dominant species. Even large vultures, however, give way to nearly all mammalian competitors, including jackals, hyenas, and coyotes.

Most vultures inhabit open country, often roosting in groups on cliffs, in tall trees, or on the ground. Old World vultures build large stick platform nests in trees or on cliffs, sometimes in large colonies. Most of the larger Old World vultures lay only a single egg. New World vultures do not build nests but lay their eggs in bare scrapes in natural cavities in cliffs or trees; none nests colonially. The smaller New World vultures lay two eggs and incubate them for just over a month. The largest species lay only a single egg that may take nearly two months to hatch. The young mature more slowly than those of typical birds of prey. New World vultures have no voice because they lack a syrinx; they have a perforated nasal septum.

New World vultures are generally classified with storks in the order Ciconiiformes (ciconiiform).

The Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), also called Pharaoh's chicken, is a small Old World vulture about 60 cm (24 inches) long. It is white with black flight feathers, a bare face, and a cascading mane of feathers. This vulture's range is northern and eastern Africa, southern Europe, and the Middle East to Afghanistan and India.

The common griffon (Gyps fulvus), or Eurasian griffon, is an Old World vulture of northwestern Africa, the Spanish highlands, southern Russia, and the Balkans. Gray above and reddish brown with white streaking below, it is about a metre long. The genus Gyps contains seven similar species, including some of the most common vultures. In South Asia three Gyps species, the Asian white-backed vulture (G. bengalensis), the long-billed vulture (G. indicus), and the slender-billed vulture (G. tenuirostris), have been brought close to extinction by feeding on the carcasses of dead cattle that had been given pain-killing drugs; the pain killers cause kidney failure in the vultures.

The lappet-faced vulture (Torgos tracheliotus), sometimes called the eared, or Nubian, vulture, is a huge Old World vulture of arid Africa. Being a metre tall, with a 2.7-metre (8.9-foot) wingspan, it dominates all other vultures when feeding. It is black and brown above and has a wedge-shaped tail; there is white down on the underparts. Large folds of skin hang from the sides of its bare head. The face is pink or reddish.

The palm-nut vulture (Gypohierax angolensis) lives in western and central Africa. It is about 50 cm (20 inches) long and has a bare orange face and yellow beak. It is unusual in being primarily vegetarian, although it sometimes takes crustaceans and dead fish.

The red-headed vulture (Sarcogyps calvus), often called the Pondicherry vulture or the Indian (black) vulture, is an Old World vulture ranging from Pakistan to Malaysia. It is about 75 cm (30 inches) long and has a wingspan of about 2.7 metres (8.9 feet). It is black with white down on the breast and has a huge black beak and large lappets on the sides of the neck.

The white-headed vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis) is about 80 cm (31 inches) long and has a wingspan of about 1.8 metres (6 feet). Black with white secondary wing feathers and belly, it has a high black neck fringe and a massive red beak. This bird has a uniquely triangular head, which is pale yellowish and bare except for a cap of white down.

Old World vultures comprise the subfamily Aegyptiinae of the hawk and eagle family, Accipitridae, which is part of the order Falconiformes (falconiform).