In ancient Egypt, vultures were thought to be especially devoted mothers, so they were commonly associated with maternity and compassion. But some cultures admire vultures and their scavenging ways. Given their reputation as scavengers, people often think of vultures as disgusting or unsavory birds. Many cultures have viewed vultures in a positive light. Likewise, some African vultures track steppe and tawny eagles over long distances in the hope that these raptors will lead them to a nice meal of carrion. In short order, a whole bunch of observant vultures can gather around a carcass, simply by following other members of their species. When one of the birds locates a carcass, another individual may watch its descent and infer that the first bird is headed towards a dead animal. Old World vultures keep a close eye on their neighbors. To locate food, some vultures follow the crowd. Once the hard work has been done, though, ravens will sometimes swoop down, chase the vultures off, and steal the exposed yolks.
CONDOR VS VULTURE CRACK
With round-edged stones, the Egyptian vulture ( Neophron percnopterus) hammers away at ostrich eggs until they crack open. If you look at them from the side, it’s possible to see clear through their bills. Turkey vultures lack this structure, which is also absent in yellow-headed vultures. The nasal septum, a wall of bone and cartilage in the nose, separates the left and right nasal passages. The turkey vulture doesn’t have a nasal septum. But the turkey vulture has a phenomenal sense of smell, allowing it to zero in on carcasses from thousands of feet overhead-a nice compliment to the animal’s keen eyesight.
Most Old World vultures are indeed guided by vision-as is the North American black vulture, which is probably the species that Audubon looked at in his experiments. Divided over this issue, ornithologists broke off into rival factions: “Nosarians” still believed that vultures were scent-driven animals while “anti-nosarians” agreed with Audubon’s thesis. Audubon’s field experiments with birds he believed to be turkey vultures convinced him that the birds used sight to track down their food.
In 1826, John James Audubon challenged the prevailing belief that all vultures had an extraordinary sense of smell. John James Audubon instigated a vulture war. The waste serves an additional purpose: Thanks to their diet, vulture poop is highly acidic and acts as a disinfectant for their feet, slaying harmful bacteria they pick up while hopping around animal carcasses. To aid that process, some species will literally poop on their legs and allow the viscous liquid to evaporate, cooling their skin. Much like their bald heads, their unfeathered feet and legs can also help vultures get rid of excess body heat. Vultures poop on themselves-for two important reasons. The trick may come in handy since many vultures have to deal with extreme daily temperature variation in their habitats.
CONDOR VS VULTURE SKIN
The scientists concluded that the birds’ bare skin helped them regulate their body temperatures because the skin rapidly loses heat. They found that on hot days, the vultures tended to stick their necks out, and in cold weather, they tucked their heads underneath their wings. Researchers at the University of Glasgow compared photos of griffon vultures in different poses depending on the temperature of their environment. But it turns out their bald heads may offer another advantage. Historically, naturalists believed baldness was a sanitary measure, assuming that if vultures had facial feathers, they’d get drenched in blood and gore at mealtime. Most vultures, in both hemispheres, have little to no plumage on their necks and heads. Being bald might help vultures stay cool. By comparison, the beaks on New World vultures, which live in the Americas, are weaker-and these birds aren’t as adept at using their feet to manipulate objects. Old World vultures, native to Europe, Africa, and Asia, have strongly curved, eagle-like beaks and they can easily grasp things with their hooked talons. Genetic evidence tells us that these birds aren’t close relatives they independently evolved similar-looking physiques in response to environmental forces, a rare case of convergent evolution. Ornithologists split the 23 living species into Old World vultures and the New World vultures (condors belong to the latter). With the exception of Australia and Antarctica, every continent has a resident vulture population. Vultures are divided into two major groups-which aren’t closely related. If you’re not a fan already, we hope these astonishing facts will help you learn to love them. Your mom always told you to be nice to the custodian-and speaking of clean-up specialists, have you thanked a vulture today? The scavenging birds do our environment a world of good.
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