5 AMAZING AND POSITIVE FACTS ABOUT VULTURES THAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW

Vultures are a bird species that doesn't strike most people well at all. Bald, dirty, dead flesh eaters etc. And in some African countries its a bad luck bird.
But this article is meant to bring out some bright positive side of the bird. Let's see.

1. Highest flyers
The highest bird flight ever recorded was by a
Ruppell's vulture which impacted an aircraft at 37,000ft over the Ivory Coast in 1973. This is well above the height of Everest (29,029 ft) and the lack of oxygen would kill most other birds.
"Since then studies on this vulture revealed a
number of features in their haemoglobin and a
number of cardio-vascular adaptations that allow breathing in rarefied atmosphere. Vultures routinely soar high in the air, using thermals to get a wide view of the plains so they can find food.



2. They prevent the spread of disease outbreak.
"Every visitor to Africa assumes that the major
consumers of wild animals are lions, hyenas,
leopards, cheetahs, wild dogs and jackals. But they are not. Vultures are. About 40 million tonnes of dead animal every year.
Canivorous animals can only consume 36% and the rest is available to vultures.
Bacteria and maggots compete with vultures for this resource, but vultures remain the largest consumers."
Their role as the ultimate recyclers is said to help stop the spread of disease.

3 Powerful urine
Vultures urinate on their legs and while this
sounds unpleasant, scientists suspect the
behaviour could be an essential part of their
immunity arsenal.
Acid present in the urine could act as a way of
sterilising the birds legs after standing in rotting flesh to feed. God's wisdom.

4.Varied diet
They might be famed for tucking in to the rotting sinews and viscera of dead animals but not all vultures have a dead flesh only diet. Check this out.
The palm nut vulture, as its name suggests, enjoys a varied menu of palm nuts, figs, fish and occasionally birds. At carcasses it prefers the insects and maggots living on the flesh.
The lappet-faced vulture meanwhile is a large
African species with a wing span of up to 2.9m
(9.5ft) and has been observed preying on live
flamingo chicks. Live ooo. Amazing facts.

And the least

5 Strong stomachs
Bearded vultures are the only animals known to have a diet of 70-90% bone and their stomach acid allows them to take nutrients from what other species discard.
Vultures are well known for their incredibly strong stomach acid which can destroy bacteria, including cholera and anthrax, that would prove deadly to many other species.
They also carry special antibodies to help them
tackle botulism toxins so that even if the illness
killed their prey, the vultures can eat it without negative effects. Wow.

So there you have it. Amazing facts about vultures. Educative indeed!!