Vultures eat anthrax, botulism, rabies, & cholera for breakfast.
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Vultures eat anthrax, botulism, rabies, & cholera for breakfast.
Their stomach acid is among the most corrosive in the animal kingdom, with a pH around 1, low enough to dissolve the bones, hide, & pathogens of dead animals that would kill almost anything else.
A vulture eating a diseased carcass isn't a vector for disease, it's the end of the line. The disease chain ends in the vulture's gut, & that's pretty hardcore.
When vulture populations crashed in India in the 1990s, rotting livestock carcasses sat where vultures used to clean them.
Feral dogs and rats took over the cleanup, both of which actually do spread rabies. Researchers later linked the vulture collapse to roughly 500,000 deaths in India over the following decade.
The same collapse is now underway in sub-Saharan Africa. 6 of 11 African vulture species are threatened with extinction, primarily from poisoned poaching baits.
The animals nobody finds cute are doing more public health work than most of the species we actively protect.
#Birds@dbattistella
Here's a kettle of Black vultures over my house in New England on 9 April.
I couldn't capture the whole group, I counted 24 while trying to record this. -
Edit: According to the article @rudy linked, it was kidneys, not livers, and cows in the field.
@cptbutton@dice.camp @dbattistella@mstdn.ca @rudy@mstdn.ca This is a story I'm somewhat familiar with for two reasons. I know (though not been in contact for some time) someone with a strong connection with India, and also I was taking the drug in question diclofenac. I'd largely forgotten about it. Thanks for this info.
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Vultures eat anthrax, botulism, rabies, & cholera for breakfast.
Their stomach acid is among the most corrosive in the animal kingdom, with a pH around 1, low enough to dissolve the bones, hide, & pathogens of dead animals that would kill almost anything else.
A vulture eating a diseased carcass isn't a vector for disease, it's the end of the line. The disease chain ends in the vulture's gut, & that's pretty hardcore.
When vulture populations crashed in India in the 1990s, rotting livestock carcasses sat where vultures used to clean them.
Feral dogs and rats took over the cleanup, both of which actually do spread rabies. Researchers later linked the vulture collapse to roughly 500,000 deaths in India over the following decade.
The same collapse is now underway in sub-Saharan Africa. 6 of 11 African vulture species are threatened with extinction, primarily from poisoned poaching baits.
The animals nobody finds cute are doing more public health work than most of the species we actively protect.
#Birds@dbattistella one of my favorite animals. Black vultures roost on a 911 tower outside my office.
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Vultures eat anthrax, botulism, rabies, & cholera for breakfast.
Their stomach acid is among the most corrosive in the animal kingdom, with a pH around 1, low enough to dissolve the bones, hide, & pathogens of dead animals that would kill almost anything else.
A vulture eating a diseased carcass isn't a vector for disease, it's the end of the line. The disease chain ends in the vulture's gut, & that's pretty hardcore.
When vulture populations crashed in India in the 1990s, rotting livestock carcasses sat where vultures used to clean them.
Feral dogs and rats took over the cleanup, both of which actually do spread rabies. Researchers later linked the vulture collapse to roughly 500,000 deaths in India over the following decade.
The same collapse is now underway in sub-Saharan Africa. 6 of 11 African vulture species are threatened with extinction, primarily from poisoned poaching baits.
The animals nobody finds cute are doing more public health work than most of the species we actively protect.
#Birds@dbattistella
... and the Spanish name for vulture is fun to say:
Zopilote (zoh-pee-loh-tee) -
Vultures eat anthrax, botulism, rabies, & cholera for breakfast.
Their stomach acid is among the most corrosive in the animal kingdom, with a pH around 1, low enough to dissolve the bones, hide, & pathogens of dead animals that would kill almost anything else.
A vulture eating a diseased carcass isn't a vector for disease, it's the end of the line. The disease chain ends in the vulture's gut, & that's pretty hardcore.
When vulture populations crashed in India in the 1990s, rotting livestock carcasses sat where vultures used to clean them.
Feral dogs and rats took over the cleanup, both of which actually do spread rabies. Researchers later linked the vulture collapse to roughly 500,000 deaths in India over the following decade.
The same collapse is now underway in sub-Saharan Africa. 6 of 11 African vulture species are threatened with extinction, primarily from poisoned poaching baits.
The animals nobody finds cute are doing more public health work than most of the species we actively protect.
#Birds@dbattistella
We call them TVs (turkey vulture) so the road kill they clean up, we therefore call TV dinners -
Vultures eat anthrax, botulism, rabies, & cholera for breakfast.
Their stomach acid is among the most corrosive in the animal kingdom, with a pH around 1, low enough to dissolve the bones, hide, & pathogens of dead animals that would kill almost anything else.
A vulture eating a diseased carcass isn't a vector for disease, it's the end of the line. The disease chain ends in the vulture's gut, & that's pretty hardcore.
When vulture populations crashed in India in the 1990s, rotting livestock carcasses sat where vultures used to clean them.
Feral dogs and rats took over the cleanup, both of which actually do spread rabies. Researchers later linked the vulture collapse to roughly 500,000 deaths in India over the following decade.
The same collapse is now underway in sub-Saharan Africa. 6 of 11 African vulture species are threatened with extinction, primarily from poisoned poaching baits.
The animals nobody finds cute are doing more public health work than most of the species we actively protect.
#Birds@dbattistella wow, that's so cool! I already loved vultures, but my love for them has just grown even more.
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Vultures eat anthrax, botulism, rabies, & cholera for breakfast.
Their stomach acid is among the most corrosive in the animal kingdom, with a pH around 1, low enough to dissolve the bones, hide, & pathogens of dead animals that would kill almost anything else.
A vulture eating a diseased carcass isn't a vector for disease, it's the end of the line. The disease chain ends in the vulture's gut, & that's pretty hardcore.
When vulture populations crashed in India in the 1990s, rotting livestock carcasses sat where vultures used to clean them.
Feral dogs and rats took over the cleanup, both of which actually do spread rabies. Researchers later linked the vulture collapse to roughly 500,000 deaths in India over the following decade.
The same collapse is now underway in sub-Saharan Africa. 6 of 11 African vulture species are threatened with extinction, primarily from poisoned poaching baits.
The animals nobody finds cute are doing more public health work than most of the species we actively protect.
#Birdsputting in a vote for lammergeiers : “This is the only living bird species that specializes in feeding on bones.”
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Vultures eat anthrax, botulism, rabies, & cholera for breakfast.
Their stomach acid is among the most corrosive in the animal kingdom, with a pH around 1, low enough to dissolve the bones, hide, & pathogens of dead animals that would kill almost anything else.
A vulture eating a diseased carcass isn't a vector for disease, it's the end of the line. The disease chain ends in the vulture's gut, & that's pretty hardcore.
When vulture populations crashed in India in the 1990s, rotting livestock carcasses sat where vultures used to clean them.
Feral dogs and rats took over the cleanup, both of which actually do spread rabies. Researchers later linked the vulture collapse to roughly 500,000 deaths in India over the following decade.
The same collapse is now underway in sub-Saharan Africa. 6 of 11 African vulture species are threatened with extinction, primarily from poisoned poaching baits.
The animals nobody finds cute are doing more public health work than most of the species we actively protect.
#BirdsIMO vultures look better than turkeys.
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@dbattistella Aww, gee, now I want to get up early to go watch the flock of black vultures that gathers behind the Safeway most mornings. I guess the trash containers are no match for them?
@Heartofcoyote @dbattistella It helps if the raccoons unlock and open the trash containers first.
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@MissConstrue Calling them "buzzard" is a USian colloquialism. So you're correct, it's a vulture (although maybe not a turkey vulture, that's just the article that happened to have the linguistic note).
@herzleid @MissConstrue There's some cross-language mangling going on in there, too. Apparently buteo genus hawks may be called 'buzzards' in Europe but hawks in the Americas. The French for a red-tailed hawk is 'buse à queue rousse'.
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@dbattistella
Turkey vultures are a common sight here, (western NY State, US). At least a couple times a week, I see them riding thermals in circles overhead, usually in groups of three or four. They are actually beautiful birds in their gliding serene flight, though they have a reputation for having ugly faces.One of the recent Earth Day programs at the zoo where I work was on the importance of scavengers to a healthy ecosystem. Scavengers get a bad rap out of ignorance.
@CommonSparrow @dbattistella Have seen them over Manhattan NYC, and even once perched atop an apt building in my neighborhood. Not very often (well, infrequently, TBH), but the Hudson River is a corridor for large migrating birds.
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@CommonSparrow @dbattistella Have seen them over Manhattan NYC, and even once perched atop an apt building in my neighborhood. Not very often (well, infrequently, TBH), but the Hudson River is a corridor for large migrating birds.
@roadskater
When you mentioned seeing a vulture perched atop an apartment building, I realized I've never seen one perched anywhere, only in flight. I had a sudden mental image of a vulture gargoyle, carved on the roofline of a tall building, looking quite ominous. And then I incongruously pictured the gargoyle morphing into Snoopy doing his vulture perching routine, and I broke up laughing. And then some very offended circling vultures demanded to know what I'm laughing at. I think my brain is telling me it's late and I should call it a night. I will dream of vultures. -
Vultures eat anthrax, botulism, rabies, & cholera for breakfast.
Their stomach acid is among the most corrosive in the animal kingdom, with a pH around 1, low enough to dissolve the bones, hide, & pathogens of dead animals that would kill almost anything else.
A vulture eating a diseased carcass isn't a vector for disease, it's the end of the line. The disease chain ends in the vulture's gut, & that's pretty hardcore.
When vulture populations crashed in India in the 1990s, rotting livestock carcasses sat where vultures used to clean them.
Feral dogs and rats took over the cleanup, both of which actually do spread rabies. Researchers later linked the vulture collapse to roughly 500,000 deaths in India over the following decade.
The same collapse is now underway in sub-Saharan Africa. 6 of 11 African vulture species are threatened with extinction, primarily from poisoned poaching baits.
The animals nobody finds cute are doing more public health work than most of the species we actively protect.
#Birds@dbattistella
/cc vulture lover @ianrosewrites -
@roadskater
When you mentioned seeing a vulture perched atop an apartment building, I realized I've never seen one perched anywhere, only in flight. I had a sudden mental image of a vulture gargoyle, carved on the roofline of a tall building, looking quite ominous. And then I incongruously pictured the gargoyle morphing into Snoopy doing his vulture perching routine, and I broke up laughing. And then some very offended circling vultures demanded to know what I'm laughing at. I think my brain is telling me it's late and I should call it a night. I will dream of vultures.@CommonSparrow It was brief. It was surprising, like a WTF moment. And you should get some sleep.
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Vultures eat anthrax, botulism, rabies, & cholera for breakfast.
Their stomach acid is among the most corrosive in the animal kingdom, with a pH around 1, low enough to dissolve the bones, hide, & pathogens of dead animals that would kill almost anything else.
A vulture eating a diseased carcass isn't a vector for disease, it's the end of the line. The disease chain ends in the vulture's gut, & that's pretty hardcore.
When vulture populations crashed in India in the 1990s, rotting livestock carcasses sat where vultures used to clean them.
Feral dogs and rats took over the cleanup, both of which actually do spread rabies. Researchers later linked the vulture collapse to roughly 500,000 deaths in India over the following decade.
The same collapse is now underway in sub-Saharan Africa. 6 of 11 African vulture species are threatened with extinction, primarily from poisoned poaching baits.
The animals nobody finds cute are doing more public health work than most of the species we actively protect.
#Birds@dbattistella The collapse of vulture populations in India is something that feels very personal to me, because I grew up seeing vultures all around.
Seeing all of India's vultures
I am fortunate to have seen all of India's vulture species — some of which may become extinct in my lifetime, Author: Abhijit Menon-Sen
toroid.org (toroid.org)
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M meph@social.treehouse.systems shared this topic
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@jmht @dbattistella majestic - agree! When you see them flying so high in the skies, so big, so calm - they do look absolutely majestic!
@olena @jmht @dbattistella I've only seen one flying at head-height
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"When vulture populations crashed in India in the 1990s, ..."
I read about this, the problem was there was an anti-arthritis medicine you gave to your horse or donkey so they could work a few more years. But the vultures couldn't handle the drug, which destroyed their livers when they ate the dead horse or donkey in the dump.
This also lead to more leopard attacks on humans, since they were also eating them, and obviously there are lots of humans coming to the dump...
@cptbutton @dbattistella
Diclofenac is deadly to lots of animals and it's still getting thrown around mindlessly. People using Voltaren salve need to be very careful with their cats and dogs, too.
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@olena @jmht @dbattistella I've only seen one flying at head-height
@jackeric @jmht @dbattistella I’ve seen them in zoos before, was already impressed, but after moving to the area where a black vulture can just casually fly over my house, I got a different level of awe for them
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Vultures eat anthrax, botulism, rabies, & cholera for breakfast.
Their stomach acid is among the most corrosive in the animal kingdom, with a pH around 1, low enough to dissolve the bones, hide, & pathogens of dead animals that would kill almost anything else.
A vulture eating a diseased carcass isn't a vector for disease, it's the end of the line. The disease chain ends in the vulture's gut, & that's pretty hardcore.
When vulture populations crashed in India in the 1990s, rotting livestock carcasses sat where vultures used to clean them.
Feral dogs and rats took over the cleanup, both of which actually do spread rabies. Researchers later linked the vulture collapse to roughly 500,000 deaths in India over the following decade.
The same collapse is now underway in sub-Saharan Africa. 6 of 11 African vulture species are threatened with extinction, primarily from poisoned poaching baits.
The animals nobody finds cute are doing more public health work than most of the species we actively protect.
#Birds@dbattistella they cute tho
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R relay@relay.publicsquare.global shared this topic
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Vultures eat anthrax, botulism, rabies, & cholera for breakfast.
Their stomach acid is among the most corrosive in the animal kingdom, with a pH around 1, low enough to dissolve the bones, hide, & pathogens of dead animals that would kill almost anything else.
A vulture eating a diseased carcass isn't a vector for disease, it's the end of the line. The disease chain ends in the vulture's gut, & that's pretty hardcore.
When vulture populations crashed in India in the 1990s, rotting livestock carcasses sat where vultures used to clean them.
Feral dogs and rats took over the cleanup, both of which actually do spread rabies. Researchers later linked the vulture collapse to roughly 500,000 deaths in India over the following decade.
The same collapse is now underway in sub-Saharan Africa. 6 of 11 African vulture species are threatened with extinction, primarily from poisoned poaching baits.
The animals nobody finds cute are doing more public health work than most of the species we actively protect.
#Birds@dbattistella I love them so much. They're such an important part of their ecosystem and need protection as much as the "prettier" species. Thank you for this post; helping people understand how vital these beautiful birds are is so important.
