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VULTURES

Vultures must occupy the most unenviable position in the animal kingdom. Loathed and despised by most people for their scavenging habits and dreary, dirty appearance, their ravenously greedy behavior around a carcass unfortunately reinforces this opinion. Yet these birds perform one of the greatest services and are of enormous benefit to man - as sanitation agents vultures are undisputed masters of their art, effective beyond the ability of any other group of animals. By scavenging on dead animals they prevent a build-up of decomposing bodies littering the bush, decrease the possibility of outbreaks of disease, and assist breaking down and spreading the nutrients concentrated in a carcass.

Gliding high and with undeniable grace, they notice with uncanny rapidity any carcass; only those dead animals hidden in the riverine forests or covered with dense vegetation escape their extraordinary sight. Soon the first few drop from the sky to bounce closer to the bounty of meat. Other vultures notice their descent and converge on the scene, so that within a few hours more than a hundred vultures may be present at a single carcass.

Under normal circumstances a carcass results from any lion or other predator kill. In such cases the vultures will have to wait, impatiently, for the predators and any hyenas attracted by the commotion to finish their share before the birds can move in. When their turn comes, not much is left, so that much of a vulture's life is spent in a constant, hungry search for new carcasses. Their appetite is enormous, and with so much competition from other vultures, it is not surprising that any carcass lying in open veld is very soon stripped of any available flesh. Animals such as impala or kudu dying from disease are very soon discovered by vultures, and by their effort alone, with out the help of hyenas or jackals, the vultures will rip and tear the carcass apart until, within a matter of hours, all that remains is a bare skeleton with perhaps a few strands of skin dangling from the bones.

Watching a group of vultures around a carcass is fascinating and sometimes entrancing. The number of vultures which can fit on and around any body is limited, so that there is a continuous jostling for position - some crawling right into the hollowed-out abdominal cavity, others threatening and fighting each other to get at the meat, and most engaged in a frenzied rush, with razor-sharp beaks pulling and tugging at the remains before they are chased away by new arrivals. Standing around are the earlier arrivals, so heavily gorged that they have difficulty trying to fly. All the while there is the sound of flap ping wings - of vultures flying in or leaving, or simply flapping to vent frustration and anger - and the sound of raw flesh being ripped and torn to satisfy an impossible collective hunger.

Most vultures fly enormous distances during their search for food. Many hundreds of kilometers are covered in this way each week, so that a lack of nests in a particular area does not mean vultures do not use that area. The nest serves as a rearing place for the young, but food is rarely available nearby. The adults will return to the nest and regurgitate some of the food they have eaten, occasionally including a few bits of bone which supplement the intake of calcium by the chicks, a prime requirement for their own bone-growth.

By far the most abundant of the six species occurring in the Park is the White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus). They are brown in overall plumage with pale undersides, and the adults have a characteristic pale off-white patch on the back which is only visible when the wings are spread. They are often confused with Cape vultures but lack the yellow eyes of the latter species. White-backed vultures usually form the bulk of the scavenging birds around any carcass. Several have been found nesting in the Park, making their untidy nests in the topmost branches of acacia trees near rivers.

Largest is the Lappet-faced Vulture (Torgos tracheliotus) and, as befits its stature, it has the garb and dignified behavior of a monarch. Covered with dark brown feathers which contrast well with the bare, bright red skin of the proud neck and head, this bird, sometimes referred to as the 'King Vulture', has a wing span of more than 2,7 meters. Lappet-faced vultures are common but never abundant, generally being seen in twos or threes at a carcass. When they arrive the other vultures scatter in deference to the size and strength of this bird. Slowly they will approach the carcass and calmly feed until satisfied; only then will the other vultures return to resume their mad attack on the decomposing flesh. Lappet-faced vultures also breed in the area, making their large flat nests in the tops of trees and laying a single egg per breeding season.

Other vultures which occur in the Park are the Cape Vulture (Gyps coprotheres), White-headed Vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis), Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) and the Hooded Vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus).

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