Old World vulture

Old World vultures
Lappet-faced Vultures (left) and a White-backed Vulture
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Falconiformes Family: Accipitridae Subfamily: Aegypiinae
Genera
See text.

Old World vultures is the common designation for various large birds making up part of the family Accipitridae, characterized by a head with few or no feathers, the lack of a perforate nasal septum, keen sight, good soaring ability, a poor sense of smell, and generally by scavenging behavior, feeding primarily on carrion. Accipitridae also includes eagles, buzzards, kites, and hawks. Old World vultures are variously grouped together in the subfamily Aegypiinae, or divided into two subfamilies, Aegypiinae and Gypaetinae (Lerner and Mindell 2005; Lerner 2007), or placed in the same subfamily, Accipitrinae , as almost all members of the Accipitridae family (ITIS 2008).

Old World vultures belong to a different family than the superficially similar New World vultures (family Cathartidae]], which share a similar featherless head, large size, good sight, scavenging behavior, and good soaring ability. However, these two groups are not considered to be closely related genetically and often are even placed in different orders, with New World vultures placed in Ciconiiformes with storks and Old World vultures in Falconiformes. Old World vultures lack the good sense of smell of some of the New World vultures and are limited to finding carcasses by sight.

which also includes

Old World vultures are not closely related to the superficially similar New World vultures and condors, and do not share that group's good sense of smell. The similarities between the two groups of vultures are due to convergent evolution rather than a close relationship. They were widespread in both the Old World and North America, during the Neogene.

Overview and description

The Accipitridae is one of the two major families within the order Falconiformes (the diurnal birds of prey). Many well-known birds like hawks, eagles, kites, harriers and Old World vultures are included in this group. Most, but not all, other raptors belong to the Falconidae, or falcon family, which is often considered a distinct order (e.g. in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy), in which case the present group would belong to the order Accipitriformes.

The accipitrids are a family of small to large birds with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects to medium-sized mammals, with a number feeding on carrion and a few feeding on fruit. The Accipitridae have a cosmopolitan distribution, being found on all the world's continents (except Antarctica) and a number of oceanic island groups. Some species are migratory.

The beaks of accipitrids are strong, hooked (sometimes very hooked, as in the Hook-billed Kite or Snail Kite. In some species there is a notch or 'tooth' in the upper mandible. In all accipitrids the base of the upper mandible is covered by a fleshy membrane called the cere which is usually yellow in colour.

Old World vultures are probably a polyphyletic group within Accipitridae, with Palm-nut Vulture, Egyptian Vulture and Lammergeier separate from the others.

Old World vultures Vultures are classified into two groups: Old World vultures and New World vultures. These are not closely related and are sometimes placed in different orders—Old World vultures in the order Falconiformes and New World vultures in the order Ciconiiformes—although traditionally they have both been placed in the Falconiformes order. The similarities between the two different groups are considered to be due to convergent evolution.

Both Old World and New World vultures are scavenging birds, feeding mostly from carcasses of dead animals. Old World vultures find carcasses exclusively by sight. A particular characteristic of many vultures is a bald head, devoid of feathers. If vultures had head feathers, they would become spattered with blood and other fluids when the vultures ate flesh from carcasses, and thus would be difficult to keep clean.

Some species of vulture are very susceptible to diclofenac poisoning, which causes the birds to suffer from renal failure and death, and this had caused a very marked decrease in wild vulture populations in the Asian subcontinent, where diclofenac used for farm animals has directly led to poisoning of vultures. Often farm animal carcases containing diclofenac in their flesh are left out in to open for vultures to eat and tidy up. Meloxicam has been found to be harmless to vultures and should prove an acceptable alternative to diclofenac.

Species

Genus Aegypius

• Eurasian Black Vulture or Monk Vulture, Aegypius monachus

Genus Gypaetus

• Lammergeier or Bearded Vulture, Gypaetus barbatus

Genus Gypohierax

• Palm-nut Vulture, Gypohierax angolensis

Genus Gyps

• Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus
• Indian White-rumped Vulture, Gyps bengalensis
• Rüppell's Vulture, Gyps rueppelli
• Long-billed Vulture Gyps indicus
• Slender-billed Vulture Gyps tenuirostris
• Himalayan Griffon Vulture Gyps himalayensis
• White-backed Vulture, Gyps africanus
• Cape Griffon, Gyps coprotheres

Genus Necrosyrtes

• Hooded Vulture, Necrosyrtes monachus

Genus Neophron

• Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus

Genus Sarcogyps

• Red-headed Vulture, Sarcogyps calvus

Genus Torgos

• Lappet-faced Vulture, Torgos tracheliotus

Genus Trigonoceps

• White-headed Vulture, Trigonoceps occipitalis

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hlerner/LM2005.pdf Lerner, H. R. L, and D. P. Mindell. 2005

http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=175280 Accipitridae Accipitridae Taxonomic Serial No.: 175280

Molecular Phylogenetics of Diurnal Birds of Prey in the Avian Accipitridae Family By Heather R. L. Lerner 2007 http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:WXqbv9sgV5kJ:deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57684/2/hlerner_1.pdf+Gypaetinae+Aegypiinae&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us&client=firefox-a University of Michigan

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