Vultures get a bad reputation in popular culture.
From phrases like Vulture Capitalist or Culture Vulture, to characters across different media,
the characteristics associated with vultures are almost universally negative.
But Vultures are really important.
And they're in danger of going extinct. Let's swoop in closer to learn more!
Vultures live across North and South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. There are 23 different
species of vultures in two broad categories - the New World Vultures of North and South America,
and the Old World Vultures of Africa, Europe, and Asia. The two groups are not closely related,
but they both have the same lifestyle - fly until they see a dead animal, and eat it.
Vultures are some of the most efficient scavengers in the world. By flying high they can patrol
huge amounts of land. A vulture can see a dead animal three feet long from four miles
away. As they search, vultures also keep an eye on other vultures, and follow them when
they glide down for a meal. On the African and South Asian Savannahs, different vulture species
specialize in different parts of a dead animal. For example, the Bearded Vulture has a diet
of bones! With their combined work, a dead animal is completely cleaned up within
hours. In Africa, vultures remove up to 70% of dead animals. The vultures' strong
stomach acid kills diseases from the dead animal and prevents sickness from spreading.
But vultures are facing two major crises at the same time.
One crisis is happening in India, and the other is in Africa.
The Indian vulture crisis started in the 1990s when a farmers started using a medicine called
diclofenac to treat free-roaming cattle.
When the cattle eventually died of natural causes and vultures came to consume the bodies as usual,
the leftover medicine in the cattle caused vultures to be poisoned, causing kidney
failure. The number of vultures plummeted. Without vultures to clean up dead animals,
dead cattle started rotting, poisoning people's drinking water and attracting pests such as
rats and stray dogs. Rats and stray dogs could carry diseases like rabies from the dead cattle.
India banned the veterinary use of diclofenac in 2006 to help protect both vultures and people.
In contrast, the primary cause of the ongoing African vulture crisis is the intentional killing
of vultures. Vulture parts are used in traditional medicine, so poachers use poisoned meat to kill
the vultures and sell them. Additionally, vultures circle around large dead animals, so poachers who
are illegally killing large animals will also poison vultures to keep their activity secret.
Currently, there are many local activists and international organizations working to crack down
on poaching of vultures and other wildlife in Africa, but the problem continues. But in
the Afrotropical realm, seven of the nine regularly-occurring vulture species are in danger
of extinction, so we need to start protecting these important birds before it's too late.
The Indian Vulture crisis is not over yet. There are still some vulture-unfriendly medications
used in cattle. The country is moving towards phasing them out,
and the neighboring country of Bangladesh, which is also part of the crisis,
has outright banned all veterinary drugs that may harm vultures.
Africa faces different problems that need different solutions. It feels like big
land animals get all the attention in Africa. Instead of just focusing on big land animals,
safaris should increase awareness of Africa's vultures and the important roles they play.
Better policing of poaching will help protect both large animals and vultures from poachers.
As for what we can do for vultures in general, we need some positive Vulture characters in
our culture! Maybe we can lean into them caring about cleanliness, or them being really good at
finding resources. Vultures are very helpful to the other species in their environment,
so they need better representatives in culture, and fewer negative stereotypes.
If we use our creativity and do interesting things,
we can help people protect vultures for the future.
Let me know if there's anybody working on interesting, positive vulture characters!
Thanks to Vernon Fridy for sharing his expertise in Vulture conservation.
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