When they eat, they often need to put their heads deep into the cavities of rotting carcasses. Like all vultures, Slender-backed Vultures have very few feathers on their heads. But you’ve never seen a bird with a hair brush, right? Instead, they use their beaks to clean, or preen, their feathers. In fact, it is important for all birds to keep their feathers neat and well-groomed. They truly help keep us safe and the environment clean! Vultures like to be clean, too. In fact, around a hundred of these birds can strip a 100-pound carcass in three minutes, thereby helping to contain any spread of disease. Old Word vultures (those that live in Asia, Europe and Africa), on the other hand, do have voice boxes and though their vocalizations aren't much more melodic, they do have a larger repertoire of sounds which includes squeals, shrieks, and croaks.Īs nature's clean-up crew, vultures and other carrion eaters often consume organisms in dead and decaying animals that are harmful to humans and the environment. New World vultures (such as the Turkey Vulture or the Black Vulture) don't have voice boxes - so they are limited to just hissing and grunting for vocal communication. This means that the male and female look identical to each other in size and plumage color/patterns. Unlike many other raptor species, vultures do not exhibit outwardly visible traits of sexual dimorphism. Its legs are partially covered with cream-colored feathers, which are visible in flight, making it easy to pick out this vulture from some of the other species found within the same landscape. Its back and breast are covered in a mix of darker brown, light brown and beige feathers. It has piercing, dark eyes and, of course - a long, shiny, slender bill. It has a long black neck and a black head, both of which are almost completely featherless. In fact, some have not been opposed to using the word "scruffy" to describe its appearance. The Slender-billed Vulture is a stunning, if not a bit disheveled looking, creature. The species might be observed searching for a tasty meal while dumpster diving in trash bins or garbage dumps or patrolling the grounds of a local slaughterhouse! What They Do Though it tends to avoid humans and human-inhabited areas, the draw of an easy meal can sometimes lure it in. This lovely vulture uses savannas, arid open country mixed with some wooded patches, generally in lower elevations, to forage, feed, roost and nest. There haven't been any records of the species on the Peninsula for more than 50 years. Sadly, however, that was a long time ago. In the past, it was also considered a regular visitor to the Malay Peninsula. The Slender-billed Vulture is found throughout much of Asia, including such beautiful countries as India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, and Burma. Watch Peregrine Fund biologist - Munir Virani - as he gives a Ted Talk on Why I Love Vultures! Where They live The Peregrine Fund also helps support vultures worldwide by promoting and celebrating International Vulture Awareness Day, which is the first Saturday in September each year! You can help by celebrating this day on your own by going out and watching vultures in your area, or by encouraging others in your family, school or neighborhood to celebrate too! We are also working to support local students, and are working with communities to educate them about the importance of vultures, as we continue to monitor the populations to help us understand if populations are stable, rising or going down, and many other exciting things. "Vulture restaurants" are where biologists set out carcasses that had never been treated with Diclofenac so, they are safe for vultures to eat. The Peregrine Fund was the first conservation organization to set up “vulture restaurants” in South Asia. The drug was banned for veterinary use in 2006 by India, Pakistan and Nepal, and Bangladesh took similar action in 2010. In 2003, The Peregrine Fund discovered that the veterinary drug Diclofenac was responsible for a catastrophic collapse of vulture populations in South Asia in less than a decade.
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