International Vulture Awareness Day 2020 - Morti
Channel: TxStateAquarium
Date: 2020-09-05

Today is International Vulture Awareness Day. PEOPLE NEED VULTURES! Vultures clean our planet. 🌍They consume carcasses that would otherwise rot and spread diseases to humans and their livestock. Their highly acidic stomachs digest nasty pathogens such as rabies, cholera, botulism, anthrax, and tuberculosis. They're more than garbage collectors, they're the soap of the savanna. They clean the environment and prevent us from catching deadly diseases. In consuming 70% of animal carcasses in Africa, they stop the proliferation of pests that would otherwise feed on the carcasses and provide a valuable ecosystem cleaning service. If vultures go extinct, we are in trouble.

Our resident vulture Morti, is a turkey vulture, which is a species found across much of North and Central America. You can see them around Texas, often soaring above thermals or roosting on tall structures along with the larger black vulture. We celebrate International Vulture Awareness Day with a special enrichment opportunity for Morti, in which she imitates what vultures would do out in the wild… clean up!  They use their powerful perforate nostrils and incredible sense of smell to locate carcasses. 

Thank you to these scavengers for keeping our environment healthy and balanced!  #SaveOurScavengers  #VultureSAFE