The Endangered Vultures
Since nature does not make mistakes, most people across the world misunderstand the endangered vultures because of their bad reputation not knowing that vultures are top silent protectors of the ecosystem. This is witnessed in cleaning the environment through clearing dead and rotten creatures, preventing diseases and balancing nature in its natural form.
The moment we lose these endangered species, we dont just lose a bird species, but instead we lose the natural protection we never knew we had since nature greatly depends on them.
Vultures don’t look pretty at all but they are scavengers that feed on dead animals. As soon as an animal dies be it naturally, by humans or predator, vultures will fly in to begin their work.
They will circle above the carcass in the air. Some atop the actual carcass, together with some birds above it, just circling around and this is typical vulture behavior. Having a bunch of big birds circling around in the same spot definitely gets attention.
When ever guides and rangers happen to see vultures circling around some where definitely you come to realise that there is some thing going on such as a kill from the predators especially lions, they could be just feeding on the freshly caught prey or a carcass some where.
Although some people dont think about it, but vultures are instrumental and definitely help in the fight against poaching, but unfortunately this comes at a price. This is because conservation is thankful for vultures, but as you can imagine poachers are not.
Poachers hate seeing vultures circling around as it will send a signal to good people as an alert to the concerned authority, hence for that reason vultures often get poisoned.
Poachers normally kill and poison these animals such that when the endangered vultures come to eat, they will dry there and then to avoid causing alarm. This is really a sad story as these vultures are getting caught in a fight that is not theirs to begin with.
This is similar to farmers who poison meat to get rid of predators such as lions, jackals, foxes, hyenas and others which is not their battle instead just doing their job. Their job is to clean by eating the dead bodies of these animals in order to prevent the spread of diseases. This means that they are so important in our ecosystem.
However, they are not only caught in some body’s battle but also poached for being vultures mainly for medicinal purposes, and rarely for bush meat, hence loosing vultures at a very faster rate. Yet these species are so important in our ecosystem and the world would run into problems if we happen to lose them all!
Globally, there over 23 vultures, where over 16 species are found in Africa including White-backed Vulture, White- headed Vulture, Beared Vulture, Hooded Vulture, Palmnut Vulture, Ruppell’s Vulture, Cape Vulture, Lappet-faced Vulture, White-rumped vulture and many others.
Things that make the endangered Vultures Special from other birds
Vultures kill bacteria and cool off their bodies by urinating on their legs that contains uric acid which acts as a natural disinfectant.
Vultures have a tendance of survival, once threatened they can vomit their meal to become lighter so that it can quickly escape which seems to be unpleasant defence mechanism.
Vultures possess a deadly stomach acid that can neutralise deadly bacteria like rabies, anthrax, and botulism with out making them fall sick.
They are capable of soaring in mid-flight without flapping their wings, using the thermal air currents from one place to another for a long time.
They have special instincts of smelling a kill from a distance, for example the turkey vulture can smell death from a distance which is rare among other bird species.
Vultures have bald heads which helps them to get rid of sticking bacteria especially when feeding deep into the carcasses od dead animals.
The endangered vultures are patient predators especially when up in the sky as they keep scanning and watch other predators active during hunting, then drops down when the kill is made.
Vultures are non selective when it comes to feeding, they prey on all types of dead carcasses as a way of survival hence cleaning the environment through clearing dead and decayed creatures, preventing diseases and balancing nature in its natural form.
