8MOE: S1_E8: Turkey & Black Vultures

Audio not working? Click Here

Instagram: @Ms.MalloryAdventures

Transcript:

Welcome everyone to another episode of 8 minutes of Eww! The place where we use curiosity and science to turn fear into fascination and those ewww’s into Oooo’s. Oh! By the way, I’m your host Ms. Mallory, the Curious Conservationist and self-proclaimed grosslologist.

Intro

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I thought we should talk about a very special bird. . .the turkey . . .vulture, that is!

Turkey vultures- along with their cousins- are some of the most beneficial and beautiful birds (in my opinion) to ever grace our wide-open skies.

While the big, brown gobler gets most of the attention this time of year, I bet you’ll be wanting to give thanks to another bald birdie after the next 8 minutes.

Background

Lucky for us, there are 22 species of vulture in the world and I hope one day I get to meet them all. The vulture ties for my favorite bird with the hummingbird, South American tinanou, and the dinosaur looking showbill stork. I can have many favorites, right? But the vulture is certainly, most definitely my favorite fear2fascination bird.

Although they get a bad reputation, humans would be in a lot of trouble if it wasn’t for the vulture. I mean, who else is going to want go around cleaning up dead stuff? Am I right? These unsung heroes munch on dead animal carcasses and are very important in stopping the spread of disease like rabies and anthrax.

If you didn’t know already, we have three types of vultures in the US: the black vulture, the turkey vulture, and the very impressive California condor. Because there are so many amazing things about these very important sanitation workers— and I only have 8 minutes— we will just talk about the first two on the list. If you like this episode and want to learn about the largest flying bird in North America—with a wingspan a foot longer than the tallest man to ever live— just let me know in the comments. Okay, Let’s get started.

Background

Black Vultures and Turkey Vultures look very similar when looking up at them from the ground, but there are some key differences. Turkey’s have large white patches that run the entire length of their wings and a bright red head if you are close enough to see it. Black Vultures only have whitish patches near the tips of their wings have an ash-grey head.

Speaking of heads. . Could you imagine having to wash your hair every time your stuck your head into a dead animal for a meal? Maybe, you say? What about if you didn’t have any hands? (haha) Thought so. A featherless head may be a fashion faux pas, but it is quite handy when your meals are . .. .mmmmm. . . .shall we say, messy.

But it isn’t just beauty these birds have, they also have their own special powers.

Skillsets

Even though though the turkey vulture and the black vulture eat the same things, they each have special skillsets that the other lacks. This comes in handy when there isn’t enough dead stuff to go around. Lol.

Unusual in the bird world, Turkey Vultures have a very good sense of smell. How good you may ask? They can can smell a recently smooshed animal from more than a mile away. Black Vultures, on the other hand, lack a highly developed sense of smell, but make up for it with their great eyesight and incredibly strong beaks, perfect for ripping into tough hides . . something a turvey vultures has a hard time doing. Groups of black vultures will often follow lonely Turkey Vultures to a fresh carcass, then gang-up on the timid TV, and driving it away from the meal. As a result, in places where there are a lot of black vultures, TV’s may specialize in scouting near forested areas where the black vulture’s eyesight may not be helpful, but a strong nose can be. Because they know the black vulture gang is probably watching from nearby, they will seek out small meals they can quickly swallow before the others arrive.

Topic 2:Disease Fighters

Rabies with a side of Anthax, anyone?

Even though vultures like their meals relatively fresh, they sometimes prefer for a little decay to have set in to make it easier to penetrate a carcass. It’s a good thing this clean up crew posses stomach acids so strong that they can eat bacteria-infected meat that would most likely kill other scavengers. It is so strong that it can dissolve really nasty stuff like anthrax, botulism, salmonella, cholera and rabies. This means that once the vulture eats it, it can no longer spread to another animal. Now that is a pretty special superpower!

Unfortunately, in Asia and Africa, many people didn’t know or believe scavangers were good and began putting poison in cattle carcasses. As a result, most of their very important vultures disappeared and feral dogs took their place as the local clean up crew. Although this didn’t seem like a bad trade at first, the locals soon found out one scary truth. Feral dogs can’t get protective shots from the vet like our pets do. As a result, many turned rabid and began biting people, making the people sick with rabies too. Now, conservation groups are working hard to bring back the vulture, but its been a tough journey. This is a good lesson to us in the States that even the creatures that we may not think are pretty— or may even be afraid of— can have very important jobs to do that help keep ecosystems— and us— healthy.

Topic 3: Staying healthy

Speaking of staying healthy. How do you think a vulture stays healthy when they’re eating dead, rotting meat all day? Besides having stomach acid that is strong enough to dissolve metal and about 100 times stronger than human stomach acid, vultures will often urinate and defecate where they eat. Although this may not seem very sanitary, the highly acidic waste actually ‘disinfects’ the areas they eat at . . thus even further preventing the spread of disease. As a bonus, vulture can also use their pee as a built in AC. Have you ever splashed yourself with water on a hot day and felt cooler? That cooling sensation came from the water evaporating off your skin. Since birds can’t sweat or always find a hose to spray itself off with, the vulture has learned to make its own. . . refreshing stream of liquid (haha). As the the water evaporates from the trickling stream of waste down the vulture’s legs, the bird cools off and gets rod of any gross, bacterial leftovers.

Oh leftovers. That reminds of my wildlife rehabbing days. Do you happen to know what vultures do when they get stressed out or afraid? Well, I do. They decide to bring whatever is leftover in their stomach out to meet you. And let me tell you, if you think a dead animal smells bad, try a dead animal that has been sitting in a hot acid soup for the last 24 hours smell like. ( haha). Thank goodness I love these birds so much because most hurt vultures don’t know wildlife rehabbers are there to help, so it can be a very stinky day when a member of nature’s clean up crew is in the clinic.

Many young turkey vultures and black vulutures end up at wildlife rehabilitation centers around the US because of humans. Often times it’s due to a car injury. Although it’s common sense for us to get out of the way when we see a car coming, a young vulture may not know any better or is so excited about his roadkill feast that it stops paying attention. Giving a little honk when you see vultures by the road is a kind gesture to nature’s remarkable clean up crew.

Outro

Well, my aspiring grossologists, my 8 minutes are about up. Did you learn something new about the turkey vulture and black vulture? Would you like to learn about the California Condor? I hope you do! Thanks again for joining me and don’t forget to subscribe and set those notifications, so you don’t miss the next 8 minutes of Eww.

Until next time, this is Ms. Mallory inviting you to Step Outside & Adventure.

8MOEMs. MalloryNovember 23, 2022Vultures