Egyptian vulture: even lower than scavengers (10 photos)

What won't you do for love! Flowers, cinema-wine, candles, inscriptions on the pavement... But these are all mere trifles compared to what Egyptian vultures do. To please the lady of their heart, these feathered romantics include in their diet... manure! Ugh? No, love!





Why do you stink? Because I love you!

The white, or Egyptian vulture, the Pharaoh's chicken is a very peculiar bird with a bald yellow head and bright white plumage. Despite their nasty habits, the Egyptians revered them as sacred birds of the goddesses Isis and Mut. There was a severe punishment for killing a bird - the bald ones had the protection of the pharaoh himself.



The ancients even had a hieroglyph with an image of a vulture, denoting the letter "A".

And yes, earlier people knew very well about the vulture's "smelly" habits. Moreover, it was for them that the birds were held in high esteem. Partly thanks to the scavengers eating carrion and garbage, an acceptable level of cleanliness was maintained in the cities. And among other lovers of rotten meat in the Old World, only the Egyptian vulture regularly feeds on other people's waste.





You've never seen such an epic sewage cleaner!

Such a specific diet is due to two things. Firstly, the pharaoh's favorites are not large enough to compete for the most delicious parts of carcasses. On average, they weigh about 2 kilograms, and their wingspan reaches no more than 1.7 meters. At the post-mortem feast, vultures humbly wait for their turn, when the larger feathered scavengers have had their fill and fly away. Their long beak-tweezers are convenient for cleaning up all the pieces from the most inaccessible parts of the skeleton. But it is almost impossible to eat your fill with such remains! So they have to eat what no one else will bite.



In addition to carrion and other people's waste, birds are very fond of eggs. This behavior is instinctive for them: as soon as they understand that a round object is edible, their beak itself reaches for a stone to break the shell. Thanks to this, the birds are able to enjoy the largest eggs in the world - ostrich eggs.

Secondly, Egyptian vultures get very important substances - carotenoids - from the manure of herbivores. In the body of birds, they are converted into vitamin A. This is a powerful antioxidant that increases immunity and the body's defenses, stimulates wound healing and reduces inflammation.



Why swallow dietary supplements and tablets when there is a natural source of vitamins?

Is it really impossible to get carotenoids from tastier foods, you ask? People, for example, get them from red fruits and vegetables. Birds would probably happily stick to a vegan diet, but they have no choice. Vultures live in North Africa, Asia, and Europe. But they avoid forests and gardens. They are much more at home in the steppes, deserts, and mountains. There are clearly fewer vegetables there than manure.



I don't even want to know what's in his mouth!

As a bonus, it is the carotenoids that color the bare skin of the vulture's head yellow. The more waste the bird consumes, the richer its crown. And the brighter the crown, the more likely it is to please the opposite sex. Bright coloring means that the potential partner is healthy, cheerful and not a fool, since he knows where to find a storehouse of vitamins.



It is clear without any medical records that this individual is bursting with health!

And to make sure the impression remains unforgettable, the feathered suitor rises to the very clouds and falls down like a stone, almost touching the ground with his wings. If the lady likes the performance, the couple will fly together into the sky, clasp their claws and fall - such a test of feelings.



Lovers quarrel — only to amuse themselves!

Mating games take place from March to May, after which the pair incubates 1-2 large eggs together for a little over a month. The chicks go from naked, ignorant fledglings to completely independent vultures in 4 months. All this time they sit on their parents' necks and endlessly demand food.



- Son, put on your hat. - Come on, mom! You yourself go without it!

The average lifespan of Egyptian vultures in the wild is about 20 years. And it seems like a decent period to hatch a lot of chicks and make a good contribution to the population. But the birds are on the verge of extinction in many regions of Europe and Asia. Their habitat is fragmented, and their genes have long been mixed, which greatly affects the health of the chicks. But the main reason for the death of both young and adult birds is painkillers!



Of course, I understand everything, you are a fan and all that. But let's do it without hands!

If you are the happy owner of chondrosis, then you are probably familiar with diclofenac. This is a powerful painkiller. It is used not only by doctors, but also by veterinarians to relieve acute pain in cattle. So, meat soaked in diclofenac has become poisonous for birds. Vultures digest cadaveric poison, all kinds of infections and bacteria, but with human chemicals, alas, their body fails.