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59-470: A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion . There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors ). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe , Africa , and Asia ; New World vultures are restricted to North and South America and consist of seven identified species, all belonging to the Cathartidae family . A particular characteristic of many vultures

118-463: A Vultur genus , even including the harpy eagle . Soon anatomists split Old and New World vultures, with New World vultures being placed in a new suborder, Cathartae , later renamed Cathartidae as per the Rules of Nomenclature (from Greek : carthartes , meaning "purifier") by French ornithologist Frédéric de Lafresnaye . The suborder was later recognised as a family, rather than a suborder. In

177-672: A lammergeier might have killed Aeschylus by accident. Many stories of Brazilian indigenous peoples speak about children mauled by Uiruuetê, the Harpy Eagle in Tupi language . Various large raptors like golden eagles are reported attacking human beings, but its unclear if they intend to eat them or if they have ever been successful in killing one. Some fossil evidence indicates large birds of prey occasionally preyed on prehistoric hominids. The Taung Child , an early human found in Africa,

236-497: A 'kettle', while the term 'committee' refers to a group of vultures resting on the ground or in trees. A group of vultures that are feeding is termed a 'wake'. Although New World vultures and Old World vultures share many resemblances, they are not very closely related. Rather, they share resemblance because of convergent evolution . Early naturalists placed all vultures under one single biological group. Carl Linnaeus had assigned both Old World vultures and New World vultures in

295-449: A crop; however, owls do not. Similarly, all true quail ( Old World quail and New World quail ) have a crop, but buttonquail do not. Chickens , turkeys , ducks and geese possess a crop, as do parrots . Pigeons also have crops; one domestic breed type is even bred to exaggerate the typical crop-inflating behavior so that the crop is inflated like a balloon . Some extinct birds like Enantiornithes did not have crops. In

354-454: A distance or during flight, strong feet with sharp talons for grasping or killing prey, and powerful, curved beaks for tearing off flesh. Although predatory birds primarily hunt live prey, many species (such as fish eagles , vultures and condors ) also scavenge and eat carrion . Although the term "bird of prey" could theoretically be taken to include all birds that actively hunt and eat other animals, ornithologists typically use

413-467: A great deal of data is required. Dimorphisms can also be the product of intrasexual selection between males and females. It appears that both sexes of the species play a role in the sexual dimorphism within raptors; females tend to compete with other females to find good places to nest and attract males, and males competing with other males for adequate hunting ground so they appear as the most healthy mate. It has also been proposed that sexual dimorphism

472-465: A larger image to be projected onto the retina. The visual acuity of some large raptors such as eagles and Old World vultures are the highest known among vertebrates; the wedge-tailed eagle has twice the visual acuity of a typical human and six times that of the common ostrich , the vertebrate with the largest eyes. There are two regions in the retina, called the deep and shallow fovea, that are specialized for acute vision. These regions contain

531-406: Is a bald, unfeathered head . This bare skin is thought to keep the head clean when feeding, and also plays an important role in thermoregulation . Vultures have been observed to hunch their bodies and tuck in their heads in the cold, and open their wings and stretch their necks in the heat. They also urinate on themselves as a means of cooling their bodies. A group of vultures in flight is called

590-600: Is a deprecated superorder within Raptores, formerly composed of the orders Falconiformes and Strigiformes. The clade was invalidated after 2012. Falconiformes is now placed in Eufalconimorphae , while Strigiformes is placed in Afroaves . The order Accipitriformes is believed to have originated 44 million years ago when it split from the common ancestor of the secretarybird ( Sagittarius serpentarius ) and

649-729: Is a simplified phylogeny of Telluraves which is the clade where the birds of prey belong to along with passerines and several near-passerine lineages. The orders in bold text are birds of prey orders; this is to show the paraphyly of the group as well as their relationships to other birds. Accipitriformes (hawks, vultures, and relatives) [REDACTED] Strigiformes (owls) [REDACTED] Coraciimorphae (woodpeckers, rollers, hornbills, etc.) [REDACTED] Cariamiformes (seriemas) [REDACTED] Falconiformes (falcons) [REDACTED] Psittacopasserae (parrots and songbirds) [REDACTED] A recent phylogenomic study from Wu et al. (2024) has found an alternative phylogeny for

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708-422: Is also said to be the result of both intentional and unintentional poisoning, with one study finding it to be the cause of 61% of the vulture deaths recorded. A recent study in 2016, reported that "of the 22 vulture species, nine are critically endangered, three are endangered, four are near threatened, and six are least concern". The conservation status of vultures is of particular concern to humans. For example,

767-492: Is an order of telluravian birds consisting of the living seriemas and extinct terror birds . Jarvis et al. 2014 suggested including them in the category of birds of prey, and McClure et al. 2019 considered seriemas to be birds of prey. The Peregrine Fund also considers seriemas to be birds of prey. Like most birds of prey, seriemas and terror birds prey on vertebrates . However, seriemas were not traditionally considered birds of prey. There were traditionally classified in

826-549: Is believed to have been killed by an eagle-like bird similar to the crowned eagle . The Haast's eagle may have preyed on early humans in New Zealand , and this conclusion would be consistent with Maori folklore . Leptoptilos robustus might have preyed on both Homo floresiensis and anatomically modern humans, and the Malagasy crowned eagle , teratorns , Woodward's eagle and Caracara major are similar in size to

885-445: Is commonly believed that the dimorphisms found in raptors occur due to sexual selection or environmental factors. In general, hypotheses in favor of ecological factors being the cause for sexual dimorphism in raptors are rejected. This is because the ecological model is less parsimonious , meaning that its explanation is more complex than that of the sexual selection model. Additionally, ecological models are much harder to test because

944-516: Is derived from the Latin word rapio , meaning "to seize or take by force". The common names for various birds of prey are based on structure, but many of the traditional names do not reflect the evolutionary relationships between the groups. Many of these English language group names originally referred to particular species encountered in Britain . As English-speaking people travelled further,

1003-411: Is merely the product of disruptive selection , and is merely a stepping stone in the process of speciation, especially if the traits that define gender are independent across a species. Sexual dimorphism can be viewed as something that can accelerate the rate of speciation. In non-predatory birds, males are typically larger than females. However, in birds of prey, the opposite is the case. For instance,

1062-401: Is stored in their crops. Other Hymenoptera also use crops to store liquid food. The crop in eusocial insects, such as ants , has specialized to be distensible, and this specialization enables important communication between colonial insects through trophallaxis . The crop can be found in the foregut of insects. In a bird 's digestive system, the crop is an expanded, muscular pouch near

1121-400: Is suspected that they died after eating the corpses of three elephants that were poisoned by poachers, possibly to avoid detection by the birds, which help rangers to track poaching activity by circling above dead animals. In Ancient Egyptian art , Nekhbet , a mythological goddess and patron of both the city of Nekheb and Upper Egypt was depicted as a vulture. Alan Gardiner identified

1180-457: Is the only vertebrate to specialize in eating bones; it carries bones to the nest for the young, and hunts some live prey. Vultures are of great value as scavengers, especially in hot regions. Vulture stomach acid is exceptionally corrosive ( pH =1.0), allowing them to safely digest putrid carcasses infected with botulinum toxin , hog cholera bacteria, and anthrax bacteria that would be lethal to other scavengers and remove these bacteria from

1239-509: The Americas belong to the family Cathartidae . Recent DNA evidence suggests that they should be included within order Accipitriformes along with birds of prey including hawks, eagles, and Old World vultures . Several species have a good sense of smell, unusual for raptors , and are able to smell dead animals from great heights, up to a mile away. The seven species are: Vultures are scavengers , meaning that they eat dead animals. Outside of

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1298-458: The Maya and Aztecs , some depicting them negatively, others positively. Bird of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds , also known as raptors , are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals , reptiles and other smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predators have keen eyesight for detecting prey from

1357-581: The gullet or throat. It is a part of the digestive tract, essentially an enlarged part of the esophagus . As with most other organisms that have a crop, it is used to temporarily store food. Not all bird species have one. In adult doves and pigeons, it can produce crop milk to feed newly hatched birds. Scavenging birds, such as vultures , will gorge themselves when prey is abundant, causing their crop to bulge. They subsequently sit, sleepy or half torpid, to digest their food. Most raptors , including hawks , eagles and vultures (as stated above), have

1416-497: The kestrel is a type of falcon in which males are the primary providers, and the females are responsible for nurturing the young. In this species, the smaller the kestrels are, the less food is needed and thus, they can survive in environments that are harsher. This is particularly true in the male kestrels. It has become more energetically favorable for male kestrels to remain smaller than their female counterparts because smaller males have an agility advantage when it comes to defending

1475-641: The merlin ( Falco columbarius ). The taxonomy of Carl Linnaeus grouped birds (class Aves) into orders, genera, and species, with no formal ranks between genus and order. He placed all birds of prey into a single order, Accipitres , subdividing this into four genera: Vultur (vultures), Falco (eagles, hawks, falcons, etc.), Strix (owls), and Lanius (shrikes). This approach was followed by subsequent authors such as Gmelin , Latham and Turton . Louis Pierre Vieillot used additional ranks: order, tribe, family, genus, species. Birds of prey (order Accipitres) were divided into diurnal and nocturnal tribes;

1534-557: The sky burials of the Parsees are coming to an end, permanently reducing the supply of corpses. The same problem is also seen in Nepal where the government has taken some late steps to conserve the remaining vultures. The vulture population is threatened across Africa and Eurasia. There are many human activities that threaten vultures such as poisoning and collisions with wind turbines. In central Africa there have been efforts to conserve

1593-475: The Haast's eagle, implying that they similarly could pose a threat to a human being. Birds of prey have incredible vision and rely heavily on it for a number of tasks. They utilize their high visual acuity to obtain food, navigate their surroundings, distinguish and flee from predators, mating, nest construction, and much more. They accomplish these tasks with a large eye in relation to their skull, which allows for

1652-489: The accipitrid species. The phylogeny of Accipitriformes is complex and difficult to unravel. Widespread paraphylies were observed in many phylogenetic studies. More recent and detailed studies show similar results. However, according to the findings of a 2014 study, the sister relationship between larger clades of Accipitriformes was well supported (e.g. relationship of Harpagus kites to buzzards and sea eagles and these latter two with Accipiter hawks are sister taxa of

1711-697: The bills of birds of prey shown by hunters. In Britain, kites and buzzards were seen as destroyers of game and killed, for instance in 1684–5 alone as many as 100 kites were killed. Rewards for their killing were also in force in the Netherlands from 1756. From 1705 to 1800, it has been estimated that 624087 birds of prey were killed in a part of Germany that included Hannover, Luneburg, Lauenburg and Bremen with 14125 claws deposited just in 1796–97. Many species also develop lead poisoning after accidental consumption of lead shot when feeding on animals that had been shot by hunters. Lead pellets from direct shooting that

1770-531: The biogeographic realms of the Southern Hemisphere. The appearance of migratory behaviour occurred in the tropics parallel with the range expansion of migratory species to temperate habitats. Similar results of southern origin in other taxonomic groups can be found in the literature. Distribution and biogeographic history highly determine the origin of migration in birds of prey. Based on some comparative analyses, diet breadth also has an effect on

1829-586: The birds have escaped from also cause reduced fitness and premature deaths. Some evidence supports the contention that the African crowned eagle occasionally views human children as prey, with a witness account of one attack (in which the victim, a seven-year-old boy, survived and the eagle was killed), and the discovery of part of a human child skull in a nest. This would make it the only living bird known to prey on humans, although other birds such as ostriches and cassowaries have killed humans in self-defense and

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1888-523: The clade containing Aquilinae and Harpiinae). The diurnal birds of prey are formally classified into six families of two different orders (Accipitriformes and Falconiformes). These families were traditionally grouped together in a single order Falconiformes but are now split into two orders, the Falconiformes and Accipitriformes . The Cathartidae are sometimes placed in a separate order Cathartiformes . Formerly, they were sometimes placed in

1947-432: The continent's food web. These avian scavengers actively engage in competition with these predatory animals for sustenance, meticulously tracking their hunting activities. Traditionally, vultures are known to bide their time, patiently observing from a distance or high in the sky as predators bring down their prey and commence feeding. Once these formidable predators have satiated their hunger and moved away from their kills,

2006-567: The decline of vulture populations can lead to increased disease transmission and resource damage, through increased populations of disease vector and pest animal populations that scavenge carcasses opportunistically. Vultures control these pests and disease vectors indirectly through competition for carcasses. On 20 June 2019, the corpses of 468 white-backed vultures , 17 white-headed vultures , 28 hooded vultures , 14 lappet-faced vultures and 10 cape vultures , altogether 537 vultures, besides 2 tawny eagles , were found in northern Botswana. It

2065-436: The early 1990s. It has been found that this decline was caused by residues of the drug diclofenac in livestock carcasses. The government of India has taken very late cognizance of this fact and has banned the drug for animals. It may take decades for vultures to come back to their earlier population level, if ever. Without them to pick corpses clean, rabid dogs have multiplied, feeding on the carrion , and age-old practices like

2124-449: The environment. New World vultures often vomit when threatened or approached. Contrary to some accounts, they do not "projectile vomit" on their attacker in defense, but to lighten their stomach load to ease take-off. The vomited meal residue may distract a predator, allowing the bird to escape. In various regions of Africa, the dynamic interplay of vultures and predators such as lions, cheetahs, hyenas, and jackals significantly influences

2183-439: The evolution of migratory behaviour in this group, but its relevance needs further investigation. The evolution of migration in animals seems to be a complex and difficult topic with many unanswered questions. A recent study discovered new connections between migration and the ecology, life history of raptors. A brief overview from abstract of the published paper shows that "clutch size and hunting strategies have been proved to be

2242-471: The existing literature combining anatomical, genetic, and behavioural studies showed that, in general, raptors have functional olfactory systems that they are likely to use in a range of different contexts. Birds of prey have been historically persecuted both directly and indirectly. In the Danish Faroe Islands , there were rewards Naebbetold (by royal decree from 1741) given in return for

2301-493: The familiar names were applied to new birds with similar characteristics. Names that have generalised this way include: kite ( Milvus milvus ), sparrowhawk or sparhawk ( Accipiter nisus ), goshawk ( Accipiter gentilis ), kestrel ( Falco tinninculus ), hobby ( Falco subbuteo ), harrier (simplified from "hen-harrier", Circus cyaneus ), buzzard ( Buteo buteo ). Some names have not generalised, and refer to single species (or groups of closely related (sub)species), such as

2360-400: The highest density of photoreceptors, and provide the highest points of visual acuity. The deep fovea points forward at an approximate 45° angle, while the shallow fovea points approximately 15° to the right or left of the head axis. Several raptor species repeatedly cock their heads into three distinct positions while observing an object. First, is straight ahead with their head pointed towards

2419-402: The highly acute deep fovea. Like all birds, raptors possess tetrachromacy , however, due to their emphasis on visual acuity, many diurnal birds of prey have little ability to see ultraviolet light as this produces chromatic aberration which decreases the clarity of vision. Crop (anatomy) Cropping is used by bees to temporarily store nectar of flowers. When bees "suck" nectar, it

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2478-431: The intervention of a male, and therefore linked the birds to purity and motherhood, but also the eternal cycle of death and rebirth for their ability to transform the "death" they feed on – i.e. carrion and waste – into life. In Pre-Columbian times , vultures were appreciated as extraordinary beings and had high iconographic status. They appear in many Mesoamerican myths, legends, and fables from civilizations such as

2537-517: The late 20th century, some ornithologists argued that New World vultures are more closely related to storks on the basis of karyotype , morphological, and behavioral data. Thus some authorities placed them in the Ciconiiformes family with storks and herons ; Sibley and Monroe (1990) even considered them a subfamily of the storks. This was criticized, and an early DNA sequence study was based on erroneous data and subsequently retracted. There

2596-603: The most important variables in shaping distribution areas, and also the geographic dissimilarities may mask important relationships between life history traits and migratory behaviours. The West Palearctic-Afrotropical and the North-South American migratory systems are fundamentally different from the East Palearctic-Indomalayan system, owing to the presence versus absence of ecological barriers." Maximum entropy modelling can help in answering

2655-821: The narrower definition followed in this page, excluding many piscivorous predators such as storks , cranes , herons , gulls , skuas , penguins , and kingfishers , as well as many primarily insectivorous birds such as passerines (e.g. shrikes ), nightjars , frogmouths , songbirds such as crows and ravens , alongside opportunistic predators from predominantly frugivorous or herbivorous ratites such as cassowaries and rheas . Some extinct predatory telluravian birds had talons similar to those of modern birds of prey, including mousebird relatives ( Sandcoleidae ), and Messelasturidae indicating possible common descent . Some Enantiornithes also had such talons, indicating possible convergent evolution , as enanthiornithines weren't even modern birds . The term raptor

2714-444: The nest and hunting. Larger females are favored because they can incubate larger numbers of offspring, while also being able to brood a larger clutch size. It is a long-standing belief that birds lack any sense of smell, but it has become clear that many birds do have functional olfactory systems . Despite this, most raptors are still considered to primarily rely on vision, with raptor vision being extensively studied. A 2020 review of

2773-629: The object. Second and third are sideways to the right or left of the object, with their head axis positioned approximately 40° adjacent to the object. This movement is believed to be associated with lining up the incoming image to fall on the deep fovea. Raptors will choose which head position to use depending on the distance to the object. At distances as close as 8m, they used primarily binocular vision. At distances greater than 21m, they spent more time using monocular vision. At distances greater than 40m, they spent 80% or more time using their monocular vision. This suggests that raptors tilt their head to rely on

2832-541: The oceans, vultures are the only known obligate scavengers. They rarely attack healthy animals, but may kill the wounded or sick. When a carcass has too thick a hide for its beak to open, it waits for a larger scavenger to eat first. Vast numbers have been seen upon battlefields. They gorge themselves when prey is abundant, until their crops bulge, and sit, sleepy or half torpid, to digest their food. These birds do not carry food to their young in their talons but disgorge it from their crops. The mountain-dwelling bearded vulture

2891-470: The oldest dates published so far in the case of birds of prey. For example, a previous reconstruction of migratory behaviour in one Buteo clade with a result of the origin of migration around 5 million years ago was also supported by that study. Migratory species of raptors may have had a southern origin because it seems that all of the major lineages within Accipitridae had an origin in one of

2950-412: The order Ciconiiformes . The secretary bird and/or osprey are sometimes listed as subfamilies of Acciptridae: Sagittariinae and Pandioninae, respectively. Australia's letter-winged kite is a member of the family Accipitridae , although it is a nocturnal bird. The nocturnal birds of prey—the owls —are classified separately as members of two extant families of the order Strigiformes : Below

3009-503: The order Gruiformes . And they are still not considered birds of prey in general parlance. Their bodies are also shaped completely differently from birds of prey. They have long legs and long necks. While secretarybirds also have long legs, they otherwise resemble raptors. Seriemas do not. Their beak is hooked, but too long. Migratory behaviour evolved multiple times within accipitrid raptors. The earliest event occurred nearly 14 to 12 million years ago. This result seems to be one of

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3068-813: The owls remained monogeneric (family Ægolii, genus Strix ), whilst the diurnal raptors were divided into three families: Vulturini, Gypaëti, and Accipitrini. Thus Vieillot's families were similar to the Linnaean genera, with the difference that shrikes were no longer included amongst the birds of prey. In addition to the original Vultur and Falco (now reduced in scope), Vieillot adopted four genera from Savigny: Phene , Haliæetus , Pandion , and Elanus . He also introduced five new genera of vultures ( Gypagus , Catharista , Daptrius , Ibycter , Polyborus ) and eleven new genera of accipitrines ( Aquila , Circaëtus , Circus , Buteo , Milvus , Ictinia , Physeta , Harpia , Spizaëtus , Asturina , Sparvius ). Falconimorphae

3127-833: The placement of the birds of prey. Their analysis has found support in a clade consisting of the Strigiformes and Accipitriformes in new clade Hieraves . Hieraves was also recovered to be the sister clade to Australaves (which it includes the Cariamiformes and Falconiformes along with Psittacopasserae ). Below is their phylogeny from the study. Coraciimorphae (woodpeckers, rollers, hornbills, etc.) [REDACTED] Strigiformes (owls) [REDACTED] Accipitriformes (hawks, vultures, and relatives) [REDACTED] Cariamiformes (seriemas) [REDACTED] Falconiformes (falcons) [REDACTED] Psittacopasserae (parrots and songbirds) [REDACTED] Cariamiformes

3186-695: The predator numbers are low or distracted, these large birds might move in earlier, attempting to snatch morsels from the kill before the predators have fully vacated the scene. This daring strategy, while high-risk, underscores the fierce competition and survival instincts prevalent in the harsh realities of the African wild. New World vultures also urinate straight down their legs; the uric acid kills bacteria accumulated from walking through carcasses, and also acts as evaporative cooling. Vultures in south Asia, mainly in India and Nepal , have declined dramatically since

3245-464: The question: why species winters at one location while the others are elsewhere. Temperature and precipitation related factors differ in the limitation of species distributions. "This suggests that the migratory behaviours differ among the three main migratory routes for these species" which may have important conservational consequences in the protection of migratory raptors. Birds of prey (raptors) are known to display patterns of sexual dimorphism . It

3304-407: The remaining vultures and bring their population numbers back up. The decline is largely due to the trade in vulture meat, "it is estimated that more than 1 × 10 ^  kg [2.2 × 10 ^  lb] of wild animal meat is traded" and vultures take up a large percentage of this bushmeat due to the demand in the fetish market. The substantial drop in vulture populations in the continent of Africa

3363-490: The species that was used in divine iconography as a griffon vulture . Arielle P. Kozloff argues that the vultures in New Kingdom art, with their blue-tipped beaks and loose skin, better resemble the lappet-faced vulture . Many Great Royal Wives wore vulture crowns - a symbol of protection from the goddess Nekhbet . Ancient Egyptians believed that all vultures were female and were spontaneously born from eggs without

3422-411: The vultures swoop in, making the most of the leftovers. New research has revealed that these birds can, in addition to sight, respond to auditory cues indicative of potential foraging opportunities. Interaction between vultures and predators is not strictly sequential or one-sided. Vultures, being opportunistic creatures, will often engage in risky behavior if a prime opportunity arises. Sometimes, when

3481-628: Was then an attempt to raise the New World vultures to the rank of an independent order, Cathartiformes, not closely associated with either the birds of prey or the storks and herons. The Old World vultures found in Africa , Asia , and Europe belong to the family Accipitridae , which also includes eagles , kites , buzzards , and hawks . Old World vultures find carcasses exclusively by sight. The 16 species in 9 genera are: The New World vultures and condors found in warm and temperate areas of

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