Scientists still haven’t fully unraveled this mystery, but believe that vultures enjoy spoiled food without getting sick thanks to their immune system and the potent gastric juice secreted by their stomach. But that doesn’t mean they prefer rotten meat to fresh meat. It turns out that vultures do not have the ability to hunt, as the claws on their feet are inefficient for this task. Thus, they only have the carcasses of dead animals left. Despite being ugly and with a bad reputation, the vulture plays an essential role in nature. As it is a scavenger animal, which feeds on putrefying flesh, it does a kind of “cleaning” in the places where it lives, as it eliminates decomposing organic matter from the environment. To find the meal, they rely on a keen sense of smell and vision. They are able to see a small animal at 3,000 meters high! But vultures don’t crow like roosters: they don’t have a syrinx, the vocal organ of birds, and they only make weird noises called cawing.
STOLEN BEAUTY
Vultures are ugly and dirty, but full of tricks to survive the disgusting menu
UNDER THE SKIN
The naked head and neck of vultures help in survival. As they feed on rotten meat, full of bacteria and other lethal microorganisms, if they had feathers, these regions could come into contact with food, becoming points of contamination.
FLYING RIDE
Smart, vultures take advantage of warm air currents to glide for hours on end without making any effort. They make upward spiraling movements in wide circles and fly tens of kilometers after food. On the ground, when they feel threatened, they regurgitate to lose weight and take off more quickly.
STEP BY STEP
Vultures have a funny, gangly gait because of their flat feet. They do not have the ability to walk, as other birds do, and they use small hops to move around. Unlike birds of prey like eagles, they don’t have a functional claw, so they can’t capture prey.
EGGS ON THE WALL
Reproduction of vultures takes place in early spring. Unlike most birds, they do not build nests in plants. Females lay among hidden rocks, rock walls and hollow trees. Normally, they lay two or three eggs, and the incubation period varies from 49 to 56 days depending on the species.
DOUBLE PROTECTION
The stomach of vultures secretes a gastric juice that neutralizes the bacteria and toxins present in the putrefied meat. In addition, it is believed that the antibodies of its immune system make it immune to diseases that would affect humans if we decided to adopt the indigestible menu.
LAW OF THE STRONGEST
Five species of vultures, such as the bush vulture, live in Brazil. With the most acute sense of smell, the red-headed vulture and the yellow-headed vulture find food first and are followed by the others. But who eats first is the king vulture, which is bigger and has a stronger beak, ideal for tearing the skin off the carcass. While he feasts, the others, like the black-headed vulture, move away from the carrion. The king vulture is so named because of its strong beak and the exuberant coloring of its head.
DISGUSTING REFRESHMENT
As it does not have sweat glands to dissipate heat, the vulture uses a tricky strategy to prevent its body temperature from rising too high: it defecates and pees on its own legs! The bad smell also drives away potential predators. In addition, they keep their beak open to lose heat.
CONSULTANCY: FERNANDA JUNQUEIRA VAZ GUIDA, HEAD OF THE BIRDS SECTOR AT FUNDAÇÃO ZOOLOGICO DE SÃO PAULO