A brown vulture lives in Central and South Africa, its brother covers the whole of Africa, as well as the Mediterranean coast of Europe, the Caucasus, India; Individual specimens are noted in the Crimea. Birds from European populations fly to winter for winter in Africa. Although vultures live in pairs, they can be safely called social birds. They easily form flocks not only near the prey, but also on vacation. For communication, they use a variety of sounds: meowing and croaking (in flight and in a calm state), hissing and even growl (when angry or defended).
Often you can hear how a vulture is called a cruel and greedy person, in fact, the character of these birds is harmless. The name of the birds comes from the ancient Slavic word “bitch”, so in ancient times they called carrion. Indeed, the basis of the food of vultures are dead animals, only the corpses of large animals can rarely be seen. With their weak beaks, vultures are unable to break the thick skin of ungulates; Does not promise them dinner and the help of larger relatives, if after a meal of large vultures the vultures remain some pieces, then only the most insignificant.
Therefore, both species of these birds specialize in eating corpses of small birds, rodents, rabbits, lizards, snakes, frogs, rotten fish, insects – in short, everything that is unable to interest powerful vultures. Ordinary vultures were also noticed for eating feces. It turns out that in the mammalian litter there are carotenoid dyes that are necessary for these birds to maintain a bright orange skin color.
