A vulture is a bird of prey that feeds on the decaying flesh of a dead animal.
There are 23 species of vultures: 16 Old World vultures in Africa, Asia and Europe and seven New World vultures (including condors) in the Americas. There are no vultures in Australia.
True vultures only occur in the Old World. The Old World vultures found in Africa, Asia, and Europe belong to the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards, and hawks.
The New World forms of vultures found in warm and temperate areas of the Americas are not closely related to the similar Accipitridae, but belong in the family Cathartidae, which also includes the American condor. Although New World vultures have many resemblances to Old World vultures they are not very closely related.
HABITATION
There are 23 species of vultures: 16 Old World vultures in Africa, Asia and Europe and seven New World vultures (including condors) in the Americas. There are no vultures in Australia.
True vultures only occur in the Old World. The Old World vultures found in Africa, Asia, and Europe belong to the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards, and hawks.
The New World forms of vultures found in warm and temperate areas of the Americas are not closely related to the similar Accipitridae, but belong in the family Cathartidae, which also includes the American condor. Although New World vultures have many resemblances to Old World vultures they are not very closely related.
In the 20th century India lost more than 95% of its vulture population. The deaths are due to a medication for cows that is poisonous to the birds. The loss of vultures increased the spread of disease and vermin populations.
The head and neck of a vulture is bare, the plumage is shaggy and the beak and claws are hooked.
Because a vulture has a bald head, devoid of normal feathers the bird has been observed to hunch their bodies and tuck in their heads in the cold, and open their wings and stretch their necks in the heat.
Vultures are renowned scavengers, often feeding on wounded, sick or dead bodies.
Vultures are fairly unique in that they're able to eat carrion that has succumbed to the effects of decay and disease, a feat few stomachs in the animal kingdom can match.
They also have no problem eating an animal infected with rabies, hog cholera and numerous other diseases that would ultimately be lethal to most other scavengers.
The red-bearded vulture is the only known animal whose diet is almost exclusively bone. Bones that are too large to eat have to be dropped from the sky and shattered against rock. The process can take years to master and practiced individuals will often use one favored dropping site known as an ossuary.
Vultures can turn a dead body into a skeleton in under five hours.
Vultures can eat up to 20 per cent of their own body weight in one sitting.
New World Vultures have a much better sense of smell than Old World vultures, who find carcasses exclusively by sight.
A high-flying vulture can spot a 3ft animal carcass from four miles away.
The Parasi community in Mumbai traditionally left their dead out to be picked to pieces by vultures.
Many of the birds in Europe starved to death after European Union rules to tackle mad cow disease made farmers clear away dead livestock.
By eating the carcasses of dead animals, vultures prevent the spread of serious diseases such as anthrax and rabies.
Some vultures vomit acidic and smelly semi-digested food at predators to scare them away. This also lightens their body weight so they can escape more easily into flight.
Vultures urinate on their legs and feet to help cool off on hot days, and their urine also helps kill off bacteria from carcasses.
The earliest known mention of vultures in English was in Geoffrey Chaucer's poem Troilus And Criseyde around 1374.
A group of vultures is called a colony, a wake, or a venue. A group of circling vultures is a kettle.
Vultures are frequently used as a metaphor by songwriters for those who prey on the weak or dying. Artists who have sung about vultures include John Mayer, Iggy Pop, Gallows, Halestorm, Pendulum and Labrinth.
The Ruppell's griffon vulture is the world's highest-flying bird, soaring to altitudes above 30,000 feet, high enough to collide with airplanes — which has happened. Native to Africa, the birds have natural adaptations that allow them to breathe at altitudes where oxygen is limited. They nest and breed in high mountains and spend hours each day flying around looking for carrion and prey on the ground.
Sources Daily Express, Daily Mail
ANATOMY
The head and neck of a vulture is bare, the plumage is shaggy and the beak and claws are hooked.
Because a vulture has a bald head, devoid of normal feathers the bird has been observed to hunch their bodies and tuck in their heads in the cold, and open their wings and stretch their necks in the heat.
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| Pixiebay |
FEEDING
Vultures are fairly unique in that they're able to eat carrion that has succumbed to the effects of decay and disease, a feat few stomachs in the animal kingdom can match.
They also have no problem eating an animal infected with rabies, hog cholera and numerous other diseases that would ultimately be lethal to most other scavengers.
The red-bearded vulture is the only known animal whose diet is almost exclusively bone. Bones that are too large to eat have to be dropped from the sky and shattered against rock. The process can take years to master and practiced individuals will often use one favored dropping site known as an ossuary.
Vultures can turn a dead body into a skeleton in under five hours.
Vultures can eat up to 20 per cent of their own body weight in one sitting.
New World Vultures have a much better sense of smell than Old World vultures, who find carcasses exclusively by sight.
A high-flying vulture can spot a 3ft animal carcass from four miles away.
 |
| Pixiebay |
The Parasi community in Mumbai traditionally left their dead out to be picked to pieces by vultures.
Many of the birds in Europe starved to death after European Union rules to tackle mad cow disease made farmers clear away dead livestock.
By eating the carcasses of dead animals, vultures prevent the spread of serious diseases such as anthrax and rabies.
BEHAVIOR
Some vultures vomit acidic and smelly semi-digested food at predators to scare them away. This also lightens their body weight so they can escape more easily into flight.
Vultures urinate on their legs and feet to help cool off on hot days, and their urine also helps kill off bacteria from carcasses.
FUN VULTURE FACTS
The earliest known mention of vultures in English was in Geoffrey Chaucer's poem Troilus And Criseyde around 1374.
A group of vultures is called a colony, a wake, or a venue. A group of circling vultures is a kettle.
 |
| Pixiebay |
Vultures are frequently used as a metaphor by songwriters for those who prey on the weak or dying. Artists who have sung about vultures include John Mayer, Iggy Pop, Gallows, Halestorm, Pendulum and Labrinth.
The Ruppell's griffon vulture is the world's highest-flying bird, soaring to altitudes above 30,000 feet, high enough to collide with airplanes — which has happened. Native to Africa, the birds have natural adaptations that allow them to breathe at altitudes where oxygen is limited. They nest and breed in high mountains and spend hours each day flying around looking for carrion and prey on the ground.
Sources Daily Express, Daily Mail
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