King Vulture – the Scavenger with an Important Role!
How much do you know about the king vulture – or what we’d call the King John Crow? These birds play important roles that we often overlook and they have some special features that help them to carry out these functions. Like many other animals, their adaptations are unique and help them to survive and contribute to the ecosystem in which they live. Jamal Andrewin Bohn, the Education Director at the Belize Zoo, tells us more about these scavenger birds and how they have adapted. Here’s the story.
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
The King Vulture is a distinctive bird.Its black and white feathers are complemented with a striking, vibrant head.It’s the largest and most colorful of the species of vultures in Belize, better known as the ‘King John Crow.’
Jamal Andrewin Boh
Jamal Andrewin Bohn, Education Director, The Belize Zoo
“If you want to compare them to the King Vulture here, the black vultures are smaller and their heads are bald as well and not completely gray and they have very dark almost black eyes. The King Vultures, as far as vultures go, are more attractive. They are more brightly colored and they have these bright colored eyes as well and they have that black and white combination. Usuallywhen you a see a vulture like that you are guaranteed that it is a king and where as the black vultures are full black with silver streak through the wing tips as well.”
These big birds have a thick, strong beak which is well adapted for tearing, and long, thick claws for holding the meat. The King Vulture has keen eyesight andan incredible sense of smell that they use to find their food.
Jamal Andrewin Bohn
“They have a different structure than the macaws. It looks just as menacing but it is narrower and it is much sharper so that already tells you as you pointed out that this is a raptor, a bird of prey, and they specialize in eating meat. So, it is good for ripping and tearing tissue and sinew and bone. And they have strong jaws to kind of crack open these things as well. So, the birds of prey that is what gives them that ability. The talons that you see there – the claws that are good for grasping and hanging on to stuff and the bill – that combination is vital for any hunting bird.”
Like other vultures, the king vulture is a scavenger. It eats the decaying flesh of dead animals. These large birds glide on air currents, while searching below for carcass.
Jamal Andrewin Bohn
“But as we know, vultures have another unusual and rather unpleasant specialty. They are highly adapted to eating rotting prey or decaying matter. So, the advantage to that is you don’t have any competition. Nobody wants to eat a carcass that is several days old and been out in the sun. Most animals avoid that because of the stench and the risk of viral load and bacteria but the vultures have a highly acidic stomach. That’s why people joke and say you have jankro stomach – anything that goes in there gets destroyed. It’s to their advantage because there is less competition because they don’t have to go and hunt a living prey that might escape or might attack you. Something dead is there for the taking and so they have evolved over many years and can seek these things out. When you see them soaring up in the skies they are looking out for these things that they can spit literally three or four miles with their highly developed vision.”
…and sometimes when they end up on our highways to eat road kill they are killed by oncoming traffic.But the killing of these birds comes with a cost because they play a very important ecological role.
Jamal Andrewin Bohn
“They are the public health arm of the animal kingdom because they are actually doing a very valuable and community health service that’s cleaning up these things that might taint waterways and so on; to the point where there are certain viruses that they control. There is anthrax; there is tuberculosis and others that tend to thrive in decaying carcasses that might explode and come out or come out and affect communities. Having a healthy population these things are kept in check. They are not fully eradicated but it’s less that we have to worry about from a public health perspective.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
For middle and upper division schools that are interested in learning more about an animal adaptations and other important aspects of wildlife, you can get in touch with the Belize Zoo to learn more about their exciting virtual education programme.
