In the cities of ancient Egypt and India, vultures were considered sacred birds. But at the present time, for many, they cause only a feeling of disgust. Our article will tell you about how these birds live in their natural environment. The description of the vulture and its photo will be of interest to all lovers of wildlife.
Bird appearance
Vulture is a bird that belongs to the vulture family. In size, it is significantly inferior to its relatives. Adults weigh no more than 2 kg, and the body length does not exceed 50 cm. The weapon of the vulture is a thin, hook-shaped beak that fits perfectly with a small body.
Only one similarity makes vultures and vultures similar - plumage. The common vulture differs from the brown in its body completely covered with feathers. On the body of a brown representative of the family, the feathers are the same as those of other vultures. Only the head and neck remain bald. The brown and common vultures differ in the color of their skin and feathers. The brown vulture has brown feathers and gray skin. The Common Vulture has yellow-orange skin and light gray feathers.
Female and male are almost the same, except for a slight difference in weight in favor of the female.
Lifestyle
The vulture is a social bird. Often packs are formed for joint hunting and collective recreation. Communication in the flock is supported by various sounds: if everything is fine, something similar to meowing or croaking sounds; and when danger is nearby, growling and hissing.
Vultures feed on carrion. But they prefer to eat the corpses of small animals and birds. This is due to the weak beak of the bird, unable to overpower the thick skin of larger animals. They also pick up crumbs left by other birds of prey and animals after a meal. Common vultures also feed on the feces of mammals. Their droppings contain substances that turn the skin bright orange.
Another effective weapon of the vulture is extraordinary wit. They use it to hunt ostrich eggs. Since ostriches carefully protect their nests, this is not easy to do. Vultures wait for the moment when they leave for food and enter the nest. The small weight of the bird does not allow you to take food with you, so the meal takes place on the spot. A sharp beak cannot always crack an egg shell. The vulture goes to the trick: he takes a pebble with his beak and beats it on the shell. If you can’t break the egg in this way, then there is one more move in reserve: take a larger stone in your paws and simply drop it aiming from a height onto the egg.
Vultures are well adaptedto life in an urban environment. There they find their food in the city dumps.
Vultures, like most birds, breed in the spring. After mating, the female lays no more than two eggs. Both individuals are engaged in incubation of eggs for 42 days. Cubs are not born at the same time. The one who hatched first has a much better chance of surviving than the last one. The latter is likely to starve to death. After 3 months, the chick can fly, but for another month, the parents feed the baby.
Achieve puberty at age 5. Despite the fact that the vulture is a predator, it still has enemies. Adults cannot protect their young from the claws and beaks of other birds of prey. And if the chick fell out of the nest, it becomes a tasty morsel for a wolf or a fox.
Habitat
Vulture is a bird that has a permanent nesting site. The brown vulture mainly settles in the center and in the south of Africa. The common vulture is more common. He chooses habitats throughout Africa, India and the Caucasus. There were meetings with a bird in the Crimea. But individuals that settle in Europe fly to Africa with the onset of cold weather.
In our time, both species are endangered and are listed in the Red Book. They often run into high-voltage power lines, are poisoned by lead shot, which was in the body of a dead animal. They also have no immunity to harmful substances that enter their body through food.
