The Palm-nut vulture is unusual in several ways. Its plumage is unusually bright, and its diet is very different from that of other vultures. More than 60% of its diet consists of plant matter, mainly the oil-rich pulp of oil palms and raffia palms. It supplements this with crabs, mollusks, frogs, fish and sometimes lizards. The species is also one of the smallest Old World vultures, with a length of 57–65 cm and a wingspan of 135–155 cm.