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Bird meanings and symbolism are open to wide interpretation and can vary across cultures and traditions. Popularly, owls are associated with wisdom, and doves are widely associated with peace.
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion.There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). [2] Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and South America and consist of seven identified species, all belonging to the Cathartidae family.
The American black vulture and the king vulture appear in a variety of Maya hieroglyphs in Mayan codices. The king vulture is commonly represented, with its glyph being easily distinguishable by the knob on the bird's beak and by the concentric circles that represent the bird's eyes. [55]
This is a list of national birds, including official birds of overseas territories and other states described as nations. Most species in the list are officially designated. Some species hold only an "unofficial" status. The Official status column is marked as Yes only if the bird currently holds the position of the official national bird.
The term raptor is derived from the Latin word rapio, meaning "to seize or take by force". [8] The common names for various birds of prey are based on structure, but many of the traditional names do not reflect the evolutionary relationships between the groups. [citation needed] Variations in shape and size
The bird was held sacred to Isis and Mut in ancient Egyptian religion. The use of the vulture as a symbol of royalty in Egyptian culture and their protection by Pharaonic law made the species common on the streets of Egypt and gave rise to the name "pharaoh's chicken".
In the Bible/Torah, the bearded vulture, as the ossifrage, is among the birds forbidden to be eaten (Leviticus 11:13). In 1944, Shimon Peres and David Ben-Gurion found a nest of bearded vultures in the Negev desert. The bird is called peres in Hebrew, and Shimon Persky liked it so much he adopted it as his surname. [53] [54]
The turkey vulture received its common name from the resemblance of the adult's bald red head and dark plumage to that of the male wild turkey, while the name "vulture" is derived from the Latin word vulturus, meaning "tearer", and is a reference to its feeding habits. [9]