Taxonomically, it is most closely related to its counterpart in the northern regions of Africa, the waldrapp (Geronticus eremita).
[3][4] As a species, it has a very restricted homerange, limited to the southern tips of South Africa in highland and mountainous regions.
[8] The two Geronticus species differ from other ibises in that they have unfeathered faces and heads, breed on cliffs rather than in trees, and prefer arid habitats to the wetlands used by their relatives.
[4][7][11] The southern bald ibis was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1781 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux based a specimen obtained from the Cape of Good Hope region of South Africa.
[12] The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text.
[14] The southern bald ibis is now placed in the genus Geronticus that was erected by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler in 1832.
[16] The southern bald ibis is part of the family, Threskiornithidae, which is composed of birds from the warm temperate and tropical regions of the world, with the exclusion of Oceania.
This subfamily contains around 26 species of wading birds with long, thin, down-curved beaks, ranging in size from medium to large.
Both species nest on rock cliffs and display distinct breeding behaviours adapted for their particular locations.
The head is the key feature in recognizing this species due to the evident bare whitish skin.
[5] These birds are cliff-nesters and breed in the open areas of mountain faces, as well as river gorges and sometimes around waterfalls.
Their breeding habitat is composed mainly of mountainous grasslands that range in altitude from 1 200 to 2 000 meters above sea level.
[7] As insectivores, their diet is composed mainly of insects and other small invertebrates found in burnt grasslands.
[5][6] It is a forager, alternating between feeding in harvested maize fields, overgrazed pastures and burnt grasslands.
[7] Throughout July and the first half of August, before laying their eggs, the birds are found foraging in maize fields.
In the second half of August and early September, during the incubation period, the birds are seen alternating between the maize fields, grazed pastures and burnt grasslands.
These birds avoid the tall grasses due to the hindering of their mobility and the potential hiding of their prey.
[11] Their predominant feeding area, the burnt grasslands, are termed “sour” due to the low availability of nutrients.
In winter and spring, the ibises feed in the burned areas where new growth is emerging and scavenge for any available insects.
Furthermore, another threat is that the adult birds may be captured in order to collect the eggs and nestlings for food or medicine in some African tribal practices.