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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.
Aegypiinae is one of two subfamilies of Accipitridae that are referred to as Old World vultures, the other being the Gypaetinae.They are not closely related to the Gypaetinae, and are instead a sister group to the serpent-eagles (Circaetinae).
Coragyps is a genus of New World vulture that contains the black vulture (Coragyps atratus) and two extinct relatives. The genus Coragyps was introduced in 1853 by the French naturalist Emmanuel Le Maout to accommodate the black vulture. [1] [2] The name combines the Ancient Greek korax meaning "raven" with gups meaning "vulture". [3]
The only extant species from this genus is the cinereous vulture or Aegypius monachus. This vulture is one of the largest birds of prey and it plays a huge role in its various ecosystems by eating carcasses, and which in turn reduces the spread of diseases. [3] The vultures are constantly exposed to many pathogens because of their eating habits ...
The turkey vulture can often be seen along roadsides feeding on roadkill, or near bodies of water, feeding on washed-up fish. [3] They also will feed on fish, tadpoles or insects that have become stranded in shallow water. [5] [67] It sometimes comes to rubbish dumps, but in general, is a rather different kind of scavenger from the black ...
The black vulture locates food either by sight or by following New World vultures of the genus Cathartes to carcasses. [54] These vultures—the turkey vulture, the lesser yellow-headed vulture, and the greater yellow-headed vulture—forage by detecting the scent of ethyl mercaptan, a gas produced by the beginnings of decay in dead animals. [55]
Fishes are a paraphyletic group and for this reason, the class Pisces seen in older reference works is no longer used in formal taxonomy.Traditional classification divides fish into three extant classes (Agnatha, Chondrichthyes, and Osteichthyes), and with extinct forms sometimes classified within those groups, sometimes as their own classes: [1]
The lesser yellow-headed vulture was first described in 1845 by John Cassin. [4] It is sometimes recognized as having two subspecies. The first, Cathartes burrovianus urubitinga, described by Austrian ornithologist August von Pelzeln in 1851, is the larger of the two and is found from Argentina north to Colombia, while the nominate subspecies, Cathartes burrovianus burrovianus, is smaller and ...