Adrian Toomes

Vultures are large in size and are the largest birds of prey on the plateau. When they spread their wings, their wingspan is about 2 meters long and 0.6 meters wide (the largest can reach more than 3 meters). Adult vultures have dark brown down feathers from forehead to occipital. The back of the head is longer and denser, and the feathers are also lighter. There are sparse black-brown hair-like short feathers on the sides of the head, cheeks, and ears. There are dark brown fine feathers before the eyes. The upper part of the back of the neck is bare and featherless, lead blue, and there are long light brown to dark brown feathers at the base of the neck. The wrinkles are formed by feathers, and some wrinkles are decorated with white. The exposed head can easily reach into the abdominal cavity of the corpse; the base of the vulture's neck has a circle of relatively long feathers, which is like a human napkin to prevent the feathers on the body from being dirty when eating the corp

Origin: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Georgia, Greece, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kazakhstan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, South Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Macedonia, Mongolia, Montenegro, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Portugal, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Spain, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam.
Regional extinction: Cyprus, Italy, Moldova, Romania, Slovenia.
Reintroduction: France.
Migrant bird: Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Egypt, Germany, Gibraltar, Hungary, Japan, Jordan, Latvia, Malaysia, Netherlands, Oman, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Yemen.
Origin uncertain: Albania, Morocco.
Distributed in all provinces of China. It breeds in western Xinjiang, southern and eastern Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, western Inner Mongolia, and northern Sichuan, and is scattered in other a

Vulture is a large bird of prey with no subspecies.

Vultures are resident birds, some of which migrate or wander after nesting. They are resident birds in Northeast China, northern North China, Northwest China and northwestern Sichuan. It is an occasional winter migratory bird in Taiwan, Hong Kong, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the eastern and southeastern coastal areas. It may be some resident birds that wander around in the winter irregularly.

Among birds of prey, vultures have relatively weak flying ability, and they can "glide" in a way that saves energy. These birds with large wings roam leisurely over the wild mountains and ridges, using their unique senses to capture the rising warm air currents that are invisible to the naked eye. They rely on the rising warm air currents to continue to rise comfortably so that they can fly farther. When flying, the two wings are stretched out in a straight line, and the wings rarely flap, but they can use the air currents to soar in the air for a long time. When they find a carcass on the ground, they fly to the nearby area to feed.

Vultures often act alone, occasionally in small groups of 3-5, and the largest group can reach more than 10, especially in places with abundant food. Active during the day, they often soar and glide leisurely at high altitudes, and sometimes fly at low altitudes. When soaring and gliding, their wings are stretched out, the primary flight feathers spread out into finger-like shapes, and the wing tips droop slightly. When resting, they often stand on protruding rocks, electric poles, or dead branches on treetops.

Vultures mostly eat dead bodies of mammals. When mammals rest on plains or grasslands, they usually gather together. After the vultures mastered this rule, they paid special attention to animals lying alone on the ground. Once they found a target, they carefully observed the other party's movements. If the other party did not move at all, they continued to hover in the air to observe. This kind of observation takes a long time, at least two days. During this time, if the animal still did not move, it would fly a little lower and observe from a close distance whether the other party's abdomen was rising and falling and whether its eyes were moving. If there is still no movement, the vulture will begin to land near the corpse and walk towards the other party quietly. At this time, it is hesitant, eager to act, but also afraid of being deceived and ambushed. It opens its mouth, stretches its neck, and spreads its wings, ready to take off at any time. The vulture approaches a little closer, and it makes a "coo-oh" sound. Seeing that the other party has no reaction, it pecks the corpse with its beak and immediately jumps away. At this time, it checks the corpse again. If the other party still does not move, the vulture will be relieved and pounce on the corpse and devour it.

Sometimes, vultures fly very high and may not be able to find animal corpses on the ground. The activities of other scavengers such as crows, jackals and hyenas can provide targets for this bird of prey. If they are found tearing up the corpse, the vulture will lower its flying altitude and conduct further reconnaissance. If it does find food, it will land quickly. At this time, vultures from dozens of kilometers away will also follow suit, rushing towards this delicious food at a speed of more than 100 kilometers per hour.

Vultures mainly feed on the carcasses of large animals and other rotting animals. They are called "cleaners on the grassland" and often soar over open and relatively exposed mountains and plains to peek at animal carcasses. Occasionally, they fly low along the mountains and actively attack small and medium-sized mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds, and sometimes attack livestock.

When vultures fight for food, the color of their bodies will undergo some interesting changes. Usually its face is dark brown and its neck is lead blue. When it is pecking at an animal carcass, its face and neck will appear bright red. This is a warning to other vultures: run away quickly and never get close. A strong vulture came running to compete for food. It could not resist and was defeated helplessly. It left its original position. At this time, its face and neck immediately changed from red to white. The winner took the food with pride, and its face and neck also became red as fire; the loser began to calm down, and it gradually recovered its original body color. According to these changes in body color, people can know the strength of the vulture.

       The breeding season of vultures is from March to May. Usually nesting in the upper part of the forest, also nesting in exposed high mountain areas. The nest is mostly built on trees, occasionally on the hillside or on the rocks on the edge of the cliff. The nest area and nest position are relatively fixed. A nest can be used for many years, but the old nest must be repaired and new nest materials must be added every year, which often makes the nest extremely large. Usually, the newly built nest is 1.3-1.4 meters in diameter and 0.6 meters in height, but later it reaches more than 2 meters in diameter and more than 1 meter in height. The nest is disc-shaped, mainly made of dead branches, with thin branches, grass, leaves, bark, cotton and wool inside. The nest is not high from the ground, usually 6-10 meters. Mating takes place on the nest, accompanied by groaning sounds. Each nest usually lays one egg, which is dirty white with reddish-brown stripes and spots. The size of the egg is 84-97 mm × 64-72 mm. The male and female parents take turns to incubate the eggs, and the incubation period is 52-55 days. The chicks are late-maturing and grow very slowly. Usually, they can leave the nest after 90-150 days of nesting under the feeding of the parents.

Sky burial is a common burial custom among Tibetans, also known as "bird burial". It is used by ordinary farmers and herdsmen and ordinary people. Tibetan Buddhists believe that sky burials represent a desire to ascend to "heaven". Every region has a sky burial site, or sky burial ground, and there are professionals (sky burial masters) engaged in this business.

The reason why Tibetans choose vultures. After the interpretation of Buddhist teachings, Tibetans with simple materialistic consciousness have become more respectful of the soul and less concerned about the body. Feeding the body to the eagle and completely destroying it is considered a merit and a prelude to the reincarnation of the soul. Some even believe that the vultures around the sky burial platform are the incarnation of monks and have magical powers. But fundamentally speaking, the theory of separation of soul and body and the concept of soul reincarnation have penetrated into the life and death view of every Tibetan. If a person dies and the body does not disappear, the dead soul may still be attached to the original body, and thus cannot be reincarnated. This runs counter to the wishes of the deceased and their relatives for early reincarnation, and does not conform to the Buddhist theory of the six reincarnations. Unlike other eagles, vultures never eat living things, only dead things, which is why Tibetans admire and choose them. There is another reason why they are valued, that is, to let the body return to the "wind" among the four elements of the world. Letting vultures be buried in the sky also symbolizes the intention of returning to nature.

Worldwide, the population of vultures is obviously decreasing. In many parts of Europe, vultures have disappeared. The global population is estimated to be 7,200-10,000 pairs, which is roughly equivalent to 14,000-20,000 mature individuals. This includes 1,700-1,900 pairs in Europe and 5,500-8,000 pairs in Asia (2004). The number in South Korea is estimated to be c.50-10,000 wintering (2009). It is estimated to be approximately equivalent to a total of 21,000-30,000. There are only about 365 pairs in Spain and about 100 pairs in Turkey.

Listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2018 ver 3.1 - Near Threatened (NT).

Listed in Appendices I, II and III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 2019 at Level II.

Listed in the List of Wildlife under Key National Protection in China at Level I.

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