Egyptian vulture skillful with tools but on extinction course

Of all the scavengers in the ecosystem, the vulture is among the most rugged that has faced various conditions in the ecosystem.

With over a dozen species, the vulture has weathered the storm of extinction and may now be losing the war against its existence as several other factors are gaining ground.

Thanks to conservation efforts around the world that have favoured the continued existence of vultures for their usefulness in the ecosystem.

The Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) traditionally referred to as Pharaoh’s Chicken in Egypt is one of the species with a remarkable population decline in recent times.

This specie is a small old world vulture widely distributed from the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa to India. They feed mostly on carrion and being opportunistic in nature, it would feed on small mammals, birds, reptiles and eggs of other birds.

One unique feature of this bird is its use of tools. It sure knows the tasks of which it must make use of tools. As a bird of prey, it can be opportune to feed on smaller birds and eggs of bigger birds and here it uses tools. Its creative nature makes it to adapt to using pebbles as tools to breaking larger eggs of other birds.

It can use the pebbles as a hammer while the use of tools is rare in birds. It breeds in the temperate regions then migrate southward during winter to enjoy tropical temperature.

The Egyptian vulture’s population dropped in the 20^th century while many are endangered by hunting, accidental poisoning, hunting, power lines.

Population of these birds has declined drastically as the population in 2001 was half of what exited in 1980. In Italy, number of breeding pairs declaimed from 30 in 1970 to 9 in the 1990s and human activities were responsible for their breeding failure.

The total extinction of vultures may mean the beginning of some catastrophe of sort while dead animals in the wild may decay only to breed germs that may infect other members of the ecosystem when there would be no enough scavengers to mop up carcasses.