From Archbold Biological Station's Facebook feed:
Appreciating Our Vultures
There are two species of vultures year-round at Archbold: Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus) and Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura). They both feed exclusively on carrion.
'The two species often associate: The Black Vulture makes up for its poor sense of smell by following Turkey Vultures (excellent sense of smell) to carcasses. Highly social birds with fierce family loyalty, Black Vultures share food with relatives, feeding young for months after they’ve fledged.'
Adult Turkey Vultures have bald red heads while Black Vultures have bald gray heads. Why are they bald up top? 'The widely held assumption in zoology that vultures have a bare head and neck to prevent soiling of feathers seems plausible', says University of Glasgow researcher Dr. Dominic McCafferty. But, their new research suggests how important posture and bald skin areas are for thermal regulation:
'By changing their posture to expose more or less of the bare skin on their heads and necks, vultures could cut their heat loss by half in cold conditions and increase their heat loss by almost a quarter in certain hot conditions. "That's a really valuable energy saving for a scavenging bird that may spend many days without food," says McCafferty. There may be more than one selective advantage in evolving bald heads".'
#InternationalVultureAwarenessDay is today, September 3!
'These birds were threatened by side-effects of the pesticide DDT, but today they are among the most common large carnivorous birds in North America. Other threats include trapping and killing due to erroneous fears that they spread disease. Far from it, vultures actually reduce the spread of disease.'
