Vulture is a patient bird

Vulture is a bird that is almost always looked down upon. It is mainly due to their natural behavior. Vultures feed on dead animals. They are perceived as the villains of the nature who patiently wait for an animal to die so that they can have a nice meal. It is because they don’t kill their prey, but indeed wait till the animal is dead. Obviously, in nature, it is very difficult to find a freshly dead animal because some other animal is quite likely to find it first.

Vultures, however, don’t mind rotten meat and often eat it up, leaving only the carcass behind. This characteristic, which actually makes vulture a very special bird, has earned it a bad name. But vulture, in reality is scavenger bird that cleans up the nature.

This characteristic of living off the dead has pushed the Indian Vultures in an endangered species list. It is now known that the veterinary drug called Diclofenac is behind this epidemic of vulture deaths. Diclofenac causes kidney failure in many species of vultures. Diclofenac given to the cattle in their last days was consumed by vultures. After the problem was identified, Diclofenac was banned as a veterinary drug. However, a lot of damage was done before this step was taken.

Now that the cause has been identified and necessary measures taken, we can hope that these natural scavengers will be back with their service to the nature.