vultures

 

 Went out and took pix of the vultures that winter here.  We saw them last year too.  There were not that many here when we first got here, but man are there a lot now.  We watch them soar in the sky.  They are really very graceful and it looks like they are playing.  They can get up really high too.  They rarely flap their wings while they are soaring around in the sky.  We enjoy watching them.  So I looked up some neat facts about vultures, enjoy.   When it is evening and they circle around finding the perfect tree in which to roost.  When they are all settled in the trees for the night it is so awsome to see tree after tree filled with vultures. 

Vultures! One of the environment’s most necessary – but often overlooked – creatures.

 

There are 23 species of “vultures”: 16 Old World vultures found in Africa, Asia, and Europe, and seven New World vultures (including the two condors) found in the Americas.

Old World and New World vultures are actually not closely related. However, because both groups perform highly specialized functions, they have developed similar biological traits.

Old World vultures do not have a good sense of smell – they rely exclusively on incredible eyesight to locate food – a soaring vulture can spot a 3-foot animal carcass from 4 miles away.

Several species of New World vultures have a good sense of smell, unusual for raptors.

 

 

 

The Rueppell’s griffon vulture is the world’s highest flying bird. In 1973, one collided with an airplane off the Ivory Coast; at the time, the plane was flying at 37,000 feet.

Vultures can eat up to 20 percent of their own body weight in one sitting.

Vultures are equipped with a digestive system that contains special acids that will dissolve anthrax, botulism, and cholera bacteria.

Vultures do not go after healthy prey, but will attack wounded and dying animals.

 

 

 

New World vultures have the unusual habit of urohydrosis, or defecating on their legs to cool them evaporatively.

The bald, or lightly-feathered, head is specially designed to stay clean even when confronted with blood and bodily fluids present in the carcasses. Any remaining germs are baked off by the sun.

 

A group of vultures is called a venue, and when circling the air, a group of vultures is called a kettle.

 

 

By consuming the carcasses of diseased animals, vultures prevent the spread of life-threatening diseases such as rabies and anthrax among animals and humans. 

Most vulture species mate for life.

 

The vomit of a vulture, followed by the action of flying away, is a vulture’s most common defensive tactic against a predator or adversary. If the food is relatively undigested, the predator is rewarded with a free meal. If the food is mostly digested, the foul-smelling substance acts as a deterrent and will sting the eyes of a predator if it lands in their face .

 

 

Most vultures are social and several species can often be seen feeding together on the same carcass.

One of the few animals to use tools, Egyptian vultures use rocks to break open ostrich eggs – check out the video below:

 

 - Vultures can remain aloft for hours, soaring gracefully on the thermals (warm air) on their long, broad wings.
- When flying the Turkey vulture rocks from side to side, rarely flapping its wings. Its wings are at a V-angle called a dihedral.
- New World vultures have no voice.

 

 

Now some fun funnies, but first always remember our troops!!!

 

 

 You know who I am talking about here