Egyptian Vulture
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'''Habitat:''' Europe, Africa and Asia; Found in South Europe, Northern Africa, Mesopotamia and Northern India. | '''Habitat:''' Europe, Africa and Asia; Found in South Europe, Northern Africa, Mesopotamia and Northern India. | ||
| - | '''Status:''' | + | '''Status:''' Endangered. '''Global Population:''' 21,000 - 67,200 mature individuals. The Egyptian Vulture is declining in large parts of its range, often severely. In Europe and most of the Middle East, it is half as plentiful as it was about twenty years ago, and the populations in India and southwestern Africa have collapsed entirely. In the case of India, this apparently is attributable to the widespread use of the NSAID Diclofenac. Many famers poison vultures believing they promote disease—in fact, vultures do the opposite by cleaning up potential sites for diseases to spread. |
'''Diet:''' Egyptian vultures are specialists in egg-eating. They are among the only known birds in the world to use stones as tools. They will repeatedly strike at an abandoned ostrich egg with stones, and then use their beak to enlarge the hole and penetrate membrane. This behavior is not instinctive, but learned from other vultures, as the species is very intelligent. They also eat carrion and overripe fruit. | '''Diet:''' Egyptian vultures are specialists in egg-eating. They are among the only known birds in the world to use stones as tools. They will repeatedly strike at an abandoned ostrich egg with stones, and then use their beak to enlarge the hole and penetrate membrane. This behavior is not instinctive, but learned from other vultures, as the species is very intelligent. They also eat carrion and overripe fruit. | ||
