VULTURES

Vultures are called the ‘dustbin –men ‘of the desert’. They eat any dead animal or dying, from the soft under belly to the toughest bones hooves. It helps a great deal in prevention of spreading deceases.

The vultures are often seen as squabbling birds fighting over a carcass on the African plain.

They are also often pictured in Western films circling high above over the land indicating there are some animal or human dying below.

Some vultures have changed into vegetarians. For instance the palm-nut vulture has become a vegetarian and only eats the fruits of the oil palm. It weighs 1.3 to 1.5 kg and has a wingspan of 150 cm across. Its body length is 80 cm. The habitat is forests and sub-savanna across sub-Sahara Africa. 

There are two species by which the vultures are distinguished.  The North and South America are known as the New World vultures and belong to the family Cathartidae.

 The remaining species are known as the Old World vulture and belong to the Accipitridae and this group; includes the eagles, buzzards and kites. 

The New World vultures are a different species and are voiceless plus have holes behind their nostrils.

Vultures feed on carcasses of dead animals and are specialists feeders. Vultures with heavy bills, such as the lappet-faced vulture, can tear through the thick hides of large animals and tale strips off the toughest meat.

Griffin vultures, however, wait for a carcass to be opened up and then feed on the offal inside.They measure a body length of 93 to 122 cm  and have wingspan of 2.3 to 2.8 meters. The female weighs 6.5 to 11.3 kg while the male weighs 6.2 to 10.5 kg.

The smaller billed Egyptian vultures use rocks thrown onto an ostrich egg to open it up. Another unusual behaviour for a bird is that it rolls up wool with twigs to built its nest.  When it feeds on carrion the very pointed bill is more ideal for cleaning up the carcass left behind by larger birds. It is quite widely spread. From southwestern Europe to northern Africa and India.

Vultures are not the only ones feeding on carrion. Other birds of prey will welcome an opportunity of a free meal but they mostly hunt and kill their food using their natural weapons like beak and claws