How can vultures find corpses?

Although vultures do not belong to the group of 'lovely' birds in many people's eyes, this is a useful bird. And there are really interesting things about this 'delicious scavenger' bird that not everyone knows.

The mystery of birds 'scavengers still feel good'

The 'sanitation workers' collect garbage

It is possible to liken vultures as hard- working sanitation workers of the natural environment, clean up animal corpses in the pasture. From the nineteenth century, farmers in Western countries like Britain and the United States became more and more interested in the usefulness of vultures.

Vultures are likened to the hardworking sanitation workers of the natural environment

At that time, everyone thought vultures sought food by price c. They said that the stinking dead animal bodies would lure hungry vultures to beat the cup.

However, John James Audubon (1785-1851) - the famous naturalist of French Americans did not think so.

Audubon has proved that vultures use their keener eyes than use their noses to get food.

Aura cathartic vulture - Sensitive sense of smell

Aura cathartic vultures can use their sense of smell to feed, unlike their black vultures . Scientists later discovered that some other vultures such as aura vultures can use their sense of smell to find food.

Aura cathartes can use olfactory bulb to feed

Interestingly, in the 1930s, Texas oil engineers took advantage of this species' delicate sense of smell to detect cracks in the oil pipe.

They pumped an aromatic chemical into the oil pipe and if there was a gap, the aura cathartes would fly around, informing the engineers of the problem.

Why do vultures eat scavengers without getting sick?

A new study finds that the face and large intestine of vultures are full of harmful bacteria for most other organisms. However, this bird has evolved a healthy intestinal tract, preventing them from getting sick from digesting rotting flesh.

Vultures eat scavengers without getting sick

In the first analysis of the bacteria residing on and in the vulture, the researchers found that the scavenger bird was full of the decomposing Fusobacterium bacteria and the toxic Clostridia bacteria. When these bacteria decompose a dead body, they secrete toxic chemicals that make corpses a dangerous food for most animals.

Meanwhile, vultures often wait until the rotting process takes shape, making them more accessible to dead animals with tough skin. Moreover, they also often begin to eat rotten flesh from the anal part to enjoy the full heart. The dish of vultures is therefore filled with toxic feces and bacteria, but they seem to be immune to these deadly dangerous germs.

Ancient chamber vultures - lord of South America sky

Ancient vultures , also known as the Andean Gods . This animal has a massive body, the largest flying bird in the world. It has been recorded that the Andes Spirit individuals have a body length of up to 2m, weighs 20kg, wings 4.5m.

They have the scientific name Vultur gryphus , belonging to the New World vultures . This species is distributed in South America in the Andes, including the Santa Marta Mountains. In the north, its range begins in Venezuela and Colombia, continues south along the Andes in Ecuador, Peru, and Chile, through Bolivia and western Argentina Tierra del Fuego.

Although they are vultures, they have no kinship close to the Old World vultures , although they have many similarities, they eat corpses. They are very good olfactory species, unlike the Old World vultures, only have good eyesight.

They locate the scavenger by detecting the smell of ethyl mercaptan, a gas released by decaying corpses. Andes is the largest flying bird in the world, with an adult body length of 1.3m, weighing 13kg, wingspan of up to 3m.

California's ancient vulture is the largest winged bird in North America

They have long and wide wings, hard tails, suitable for hovering over thousands of meters, where the air is very thin, low pressure. They have weak claws, which are not suitable for tipping prey flying into the air.

The strange thing is that the God of Andes has no sound organ of birds, so their sound is only limited to the rare sounds of sings and whispers.