Vulture - description, habitat, interesting facts

Vultures belong to the hawk family. They are the smallest griffons in Africa.

Appearance

The body of an adult individual in length is about 62-70 cm. Body weight ranges from one and a half to two kg. The wingspan is about 160 cm. The color of their plumage is white. But on the wings there are black feathers, which are clearly visible when the bird soars in the sky. Throat has yellowish plumage. These birds have no feathers on their necks. The representatives of both sexes on the face visible black bar.

Plumage on the head is also missing. It has yellow folded skin. The beak at the base is also yellow with a black tip. The color of the legs of the vulture is yellow. The tail is wedge-shaped. The thin beak of the bird at the end is bent in the form of a hook.

Juveniles are yellowish-brown, with spots. Gradually plumage turns white. The skin on the head is gray.

Power Features

Often, vultures can eat animal feces. The litter contains carotenoids that help them maintain their bright yellow skin color. Often, they search for food in cities where they search landfills in order to find suitable remains for themselves, thrown away by humans. They are not afraid of people, so they often approach them. In the towns and villages of Africa, this bird can be seen very often. They can sit on the roof of a house or on a tree.

In addition, vultures love to eat ostrich eggs. To break their shells, birds use large heavy stones. They find the stones in advance, then to fly to the ostrich nest.Then they drop a stone on the egg until it breaks. If the stone is too light to break a thick ostrich egg shell, the bird flies away to find a heavier stone, and then returns, making new attempts. As soon as the shell cracks, they eat the germ or liquid contents.

Habitat

These birds are most common in the center and southern part of the African continent. This refers to the brown vulture. And representatives of the vulture species have a wider habitat. They live throughout Africa, as well as in Eurasia. Here they can be found in almost all regions characterized by a temperate climate. A lot of them on the territory of India, as well as in the Mediterranean. They live in the Canary Islands. In Russia they are in the Caucasus. But there are very few birds left in this area. Researchers have only about 20-30 pairs.

Today the species is considered rare. He is threatened with extinction. Populations that live in Europe, winter in the African continent.

Kinds

There are 2 main types. In addition to the vulture, there are quite a few representatives of the species of the brown vulture in nature. Its body length is about 65 cm. Wings in length reach about half a meter.They weigh from one and a half to two kilograms. Outwardly very similar to the ordinary. The main difference is the color of the plumage. They are completely brown. They also live in the center and in the south of Africa. They live in forests, savannas. Nests are built on trees near villages and cities. They also feed on carrion, garbage.

Sex differences

Plumage in representatives of different sexes is the same. The difference between them is only in size. Females are slightly larger than males.

Breeding and nesting

Vultures usually live in groups of several pairs, sometimes a couple lives separately from other individuals.

The mating season begins in spring. They perform mating ritual in the form of a spiral flight. Nests are built on the rocks. They pile into a few large branches, and inside lined with down and wool of various animals. Sometimes they build a nest in a cave or a small hole. Some couples build a nest under the rocks to protect it from precipitation. Nests are large, but look sloppy. Often birds bring in trash from landfills. In the nests you can also see paper, ropes. The remnants of food, they also do not throw out of the nest.

They have white eggs with brown small specks. In one laying usually two eggs. Both parents take turns incubating. After about 42 days, the chicks hatch. They appear with a difference of several days. In this case, the younger is usually weaker, and may die of hunger. Parents take care of them for 3 months. At the age of three months they learn to fly, but another month they require their parents to bring them food. Plumage of chicks mirrored color of adult birds.

When young individuals begin an independent life, they wander for two years, flying away quite far from the parental nest. They become sexually mature only in 5 years.

Vote

Birds spend most of their time in pairs, but in general they belong to social birds. They may gather in flocks around large prey or when they rest. To communicate, they can make a variety of sounds. In flight, they can croak and meow. In an angry state, they roar or hiss.

Interesting Facts

1. The name of the bird originates from the Old Slavonic language, from which the word “starva” can be translated as “carrion”.And the word Neophron is taken from the work Metamorphoses, authored by Antonin Liberal. According to legend, the ancient god Zeus turned Egipii and Neofron on birds of prey. They were called by the same name, but they differed in size and color of the pen.
2. In ancient times, the Indian and Egyptian peoples believed that the vultures were sacred birds, so they treated them with trepidation and respect. European residents at all times belonged to the vulture with particular disgust due to the fact that birds eat carrion.
3. Often greedy and evil people are called vultures. But in reality, these birds are rather calm and non-aggressive in nature.
4. Often the chicks are victims of foxes or other birds of prey. Parents are not able to protect their young due to the rather weak beak and paws. In case the cub falls to the ground from the nest, most often it is eaten by wolves or jackals. To date, the number of species is decreasing more and more rapidly. The main reason for the threat of extinction - destructive human activity. People do not destroy them directly, but birds suffer because of interference with nature in general.They die while sitting on power lines, or from lead shot when they eat animals killed by hunters. Together with carrion, chemicals that humans use enter the body of the vulture. The view is protected worldwide.

Video: Vulture (Neophron percnopterus)