All life will eventually come to an end, which is the basic law of nature. Mass deaths sometimes occur in nature, such as forest fires and virus transmission. As decomposers of nature, scavengers such as vultures and hyenas have an indispensable niche. Without them, animal carcasses can't be cleaned in time, and corpses are everywhere. Rotting corpses not only stink, but also breed a large number of viruses and bacteria, which are easy to cause diseases and endanger the survival of other animals and human beings. Grassland may become unimaginable human purgatory.
Living habits of vultures
Vultures are large birds of prey belonging to the eagle family. After spreading their wings, their wingspan is about 2-3 meters. Although their wings are big, they can't fly very well. In order to save flying energy, they often fly by gliding and hardly wave their wings. They are good at gliding in the air with the help of airflow. Vultures have extraordinary farsightedness. When flying at an altitude of 1000 meters, you can accurately find small animals more than ten centimeters long on the ground and observe every move of prey.
When vultures feed, they are generally scattered in different areas of the air, constantly hovering, peeking at the earth and looking for animal remains. One of the bald herons found the dead animal, carefully observed the movement, and then swooped down to feed. At this time, other vultures around will know that there is food, and they will follow them to the scene. Within minutes, the body will be surrounded by vultures. The feeding speed of vultures is terrible, and 1 min can eat about 1 kg of meat properly. A flock of vultures can peck a dead yak to the bone in less than 1 hour.
The bald head and neck of vultures make it easier for them to put their heads into their bodies to eat. There are no feathers on their necks, and there is no need to worry about blood residue.
Why don't vultures who eat rot invade?
Corruption of animal carcasses generally releases a large number of bacteria and viruses, such as Botox and botulinum toxin. Rotten meat contains toxins, which ordinary animals dare not eat. After eating by mistake, they are easy to get sick and even die of poisoning. For vultures, carrion is a good meal, and it is still safe after eating it.
In nature, animal carcasses, some died normally, and some died of diseases. Vultures refuse carrion, and experiments have proved that they can also take care of the remains of animals that died of rabies virus, swine fever and anthrax. Why don't vultures who are used to carrion get sick?
This is because the digestive system of vultures is extremely powerful, and the acidity in their stomachs is 10 times higher than that of human gastric acid. Such a high concentration of gastric acid can even corrode metals, so it can easily kill most harmful bacteria in carrion and protect vultures from infection.
Although the stomach acid is very strong, there are still some difficult bacteria that can survive tenaciously in the intestines of vultures, such as Clostridium and Clostridium, which are extremely fatal to other ordinary animals. However, these two microbial communities can not only exist in the large intestine of vultures and live in harmony with them, but also form a mutually beneficial relationship with them.
In addition, due to long-term exposure to pathogens, vultures have evolved a powerful immune system, and some strong antibodies in their bodies can effectively protect them from pathogens.
More importantly, although vultures eat substances full of germs, the discharged substances are harmless. Vultures excrete when they eat, and the excrement is also highly acidic, which can disinfect the legs and around the corpse to curb the spread of diseases.
If there are no vultures and other scavengers, even if the carcasses are disposed of, the grasslands will be littered with corpses, and germs will multiply wantonly, polluting soil and water sources, affecting the living environment of human beings, causing disease epidemics and endangering the health of animals and human beings.
Vultures are industrious protectors of grasslands. They rely on their strong acidic microbial populations in the stomach and intestines and strong immune system to solve a large number of animal remains in nature for human beings by scavenging, kill a large number of pathogens in the environment, isolate them in their own bodies, and prevent the spread and spread of pathogens. They are the greatest cleaning guards on the grassland, keeping the grassland clean.
The existence of vultures provides us with the cleanest way to dispose of natural animal carcasses and reduces the harm caused by potentially harmful animal carcasses. They are a very important part of the ecosystem.