Vultures
Griffon vulture, Gyps fulvus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves
Orders
Falconiformes (Fam. The Griffon Vulture, or Eurasian Griffon Vulture, ( Gyps fulvus) is an Old World vulture in the Bird of prey family Accipitridae Chordates ( Phylum Chordata) are a group of Animals that includes the Vertebrates together with several closely related Invertebrates Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. The order Falconiformes is a group of about 290 Species of Birds that include the diurnal birds of prey. Accipitridae (part)) Ciconiiformes (Fam. The Accipitridae is one of the two major families within the order Falconiformes (the diurnal birds of prey) Traditionally the order Ciconiiformes has included a variety of large long-legged wading birds with large bills Storks Herons Egrets Cathartidae)

Griffon Vulture soaring

Some members of both the old and new world vultures have an unfeathered neck and head, shown as radiating heat in this thermographic image. The New World vulture family Cathartidae contains seven Species found in warm and temperate areas of the Americas.

Vultures are scavenging birds, feeding mostly on the carcasses of dead animals. Scavenging, or necrophagy, is a Carnivorous Feeding behaviour in which a predator consumes Corpses or Carrion that were killed Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. Vultures are found on every continent except Antarctica and Oceania.

A particular characteristic of many vultures is a bald head, devoid of feathers. In Anatomy, the head of an Animal is the Rostral part (from Anatomical position that usually comprises the Brain, Eyes Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering or Plumage, on Birds They are considered the most complex integumentary structures This is likely because a feathered head would become spattered with blood and other fluids, and thus be difficult to keep clean. Blood is a specialized Bodily fluid that delivers necessary substances to the body's cells ��such as nutrients and oxygen—and transports Waste products

A group of vultures is occasionally called a venue, and when circling in the air a group of vultures is called a kettle. A kettle is a term that birdwatchers use to describe a group of birds wheeling and circling in the air The word Geier (taken from the German language) does not have a precise meaning in ornithology, and it is occasionally used to refer to a vulture in English, as in some poetry. Geier is a German word for Vulture. Geier is also a notable Surname and less frequently is seen as a Place name. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Ornithology (from Greek ὄρνις ὄρνιθος ornis, ornithos, "bird" and λόγος logos, "knowledge" is the branch of

Classification

Vultures are classified into two groups: Old World vultures and New World vultures. The similarities between the two different groups are due to convergent evolution. Convergent evolution describes the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages

Old World vultures

Main article: Old World vulture

The Old World vultures found in Africa, Asia, and Europe belong to the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards, and hawks. Old World vultures belong to the family Accipitridae, which also includes Eagles Buzzards kites and Hawks Old World vultures Old World vultures belong to the family Accipitridae, which also includes Eagles Buzzards kites and Hawks Old World vultures The Accipitridae is one of the two major families within the order Falconiformes (the diurnal birds of prey) Eagles are large birds of prey which are members of the Bird order Falconiformes and family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera Kites are raptors with long wings and weak legs which spend a great deal of time soaring A buzzard is one of several large birds but there are a number of meanings as detailed below The term hawk can be used in several ways In strict usage in Europe and Asia, to mean any of the Species in the Subfamily Old World vultures find carcasses exclusively by sight.

New World vultures

Main article: New World vulture

The New World vultures and condors found in warm and temperate areas of the Americas are not closely related to the superficially similar Accipitridae, but belong in the family Cathartidae, which is quite close to the storks. The New World vulture family Cathartidae contains seven Species found in warm and temperate areas of the Americas. The New World vulture family Cathartidae contains seven Species found in warm and temperate areas of the Americas. Condor is the name for two Species of New World vultures each in a Monotypic Genus. The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World, consisting of the Continents of North America and South America The New World vulture family Cathartidae contains seven Species found in warm and temperate areas of the Americas. Storks are large long-legged long-necked wading Birds with long stout bills, belonging to the family Ciconiidae. Several species have a good sense of smell, unusual for raptors, and are able to smell the dead they focus upon from great heights. Birds of prey are Birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing using their keen senses especially vision

Feeding

Vulture, getting ready to strike.

A group of White-backed Vultures eating the carcass of a Wildebeest. The White-backed Vulture, Gyps africanus, is an Old World vulture in the family Accipitridae, which also includes Eagles

Vultures seldom attack healthy animals, but may kill the wounded or sick. Vast numbers have been seen upon battlefields. They gorge themselves when prey is abundant, till their crop bulges, and sit, sleepy or half torpid, to digest their food. A crop (or croup) is a thin-walled expanded portion of the Alimentary tract used for the storage of food prior to Digestion that is found in many animals They do not carry food to their young in their claws, but disgorge it from the crop. These birds are of great value as scavengers, especially in hot regions. Botulinum toxin, the toxin that causes botulism, does not affect them, and they can eat rotten flesh containing anthrax and cholera bacteria. Botulinum toxin is a Neurotoxin Protein produced by the Bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Botulism ( Latin, botulus, "sausage" is a rare but serious Paralytic illness caused by Botulin Toxin. Anthrax is an acute Disease in humans and animals caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis which is highly lethal in some forms Cholera, sometimes known as Asiatic cholera or epidemic cholera, is an infectious Gastroenteritis caused by the Bacterium ^[1] When a vulture's dinner has too thick of hide for his beak to open, he waits for a larger scavenger to eat first. ^[2]

Threat due to diclofenac poisoning

Diclofenac poisoning has caused the vulture population in India and Pakistan to decline by up to 95% in the past decade, and two or three of the species of vulture in South Asia are nearing extinction. Diclofenac (marketed as Flector patch, Voltaren, Voltarol, Diclon, Dicloflex Difen, Difene, Cataflam India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and ^[3] This has been caused by the practice of medicating working farm animals with diclofenac, which is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) with anti-inflammatory and pain killing actions. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, usually abbreviated to NSAID s or NAID s, are drugs with Analgesic, Antipyretic and in higher Diclofenac administration keeps animals that are ill or in pain working on the land for longer, but, if the ill animals die, their carcasses contain diclofenac. Farmers leave the dead animals out in the open, relying on vultures to tidy up. Diclofenac present in carcass flesh is eaten by vultures, which are sensitive to diclofenac, and they suffer kidney failure, visceral gout, and death as a result of diclofenac poisoning. Visceral gout is a disease of birds in which Kidney failure causes a build-up or Urates in the internal organs leaving a chalky white coating on them In the context of Biology, poisons are substances that can cause damage, Illness, or Death to Organisms usually by

The decline in vultures has led to hygiene problems in India as carcasses of dead animals now tend to rot, or be eaten by rats or wild dogs, rather than be tidied up by vultures. Rabies among these other scavengers is a major health threat. Rabies (from rabies “madness rage fury” Also known as “ hydrophobia ” is a viral Zoonotic neuroinvasive disease that India has one of the world's highest incidences of rabies. ^[4]

The decline in vultures causes particular problems for certain communities, such as the Parsi, who practice sky burials, where the human dead are put on the top of Towers of Silence and are eaten by vultures, leaving only dry bones. Sky burial or ritual Dissection was once a common funerary practice in Tibet wherein a human corpse is cut into small pieces and placed on a mountaintop Towers of Silence are circular raised structures used by Zoroastrians for exposure of the dead

Meloxicam (another NSAID) has been found to be harmless to vultures and should prove an acceptable alternative to diclofenac. Meloxicam is a Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug used to relieve the symptoms of Arthritis, primary Dysmenorrhea, Fever; and as an Analgesic ^[3] The Government of India banned diclofenac, but over a year later, in 2007, it continued to be sold and is still a problem in other parts of the world. ^[3]

In culture

Ancient Egypt

In Southern Africa, the name for a Nubian vulture is synonymous with the term applied to lovers, because these vultures are always seen in pairs, mother and child remaining closely bonded together. The Lappet-faced Vulture or Nubian Vulture (Torgos tracheliotus is a mostly African Old World vulture belonging to the Bird order Love is any of a number of Emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong Affection. Pairing, bonding, protecting, and loving are essential attributes associated along with the vulture's size and its ability to soar high in the sky.

The Egyptians considered the vulture to be an excellent mother, and the wide wingspan was seen as all-encompassing and providing a protective cover to her infants. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. The white Egyptian vulture was the animal picked to represent Nekhbet, the mother goddess and protective patron of southern, Upper Egypt. The Egyptian Vulture ( Neophron percnopterus) is a small Old World vulture, found from southwestern Europe and northern Africa In Egyptian mythology, Nekhbet (also spelt Nechbet, and Nekhebit) was an early Predynastic, local Goddess who was the patron of the The vulture hieroglyph

was the uniliteral sign used for the glottal sound (3) including words such as mother, prosperous, grandmother, and ruler

Contemporary concepts

Although the vulture plays an important natural role, in the Western world, the image of the vulture is quite negative, with 'vulture' used as a metaphor for those who prey on the weak or dying, with associated negative connotations of cowardice and selfishness. Egyptian hieroglyphs (ˈhaɪərəʊɡlɪf from Greek grc-Grek ἱερογλύφος " sacred carving " also hieroglyphic = grc-Grek Metaphor (from the Greek: μεταφορά - metaphora, meaning "transfer" is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects

References

• Ferguson-Lees, Christie, Franklin, Mead and Burton Raptors of the World ISBN 0713680261
• Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, Birds of India ISBN 0-691-04910-6
• Hilty, Birds of Venezuela, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
• Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey and Warwick Tarboton, SASOL Birds of Southern Africa (Struik 2002) ISBN 1-86872-721-1
• NSAID effects on vultures (BBC website)
• "India's Vultures Fall Prey to a Drug in the Cattle They Feed On", New York Times, Amelia Gentleman, March 28, 2006.

External links

• Vulture videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• www.wildsaurashtra.com, videos, photographs and resources on Indian birdsIndian bird resources
• http://www.vulture.org.yu/