09/05/2026
Happy International Vulture Awareness Day!
"Bald is Beautiful" could be the subtitle for this annual event that highlights the importance of vultures and the urgent need to conserve them. Despite their reputation as grim symbols, vultures are dedicated partners and devoted parents as well as ecological heroes. They prevent the spread of disease by rapidly consuming animal remains and play a vital role in maintaining sustainable and healthy ecosystems.
Artist Rosemary Mosco created this cartoon with some cool turkey vulture facts. Here's a bit more information about vultures:
The stomach acid of vultures is so effective that it is capable of neutralizing diseases like rabies, botulism, anthrax, and many more that might prove fatal to humans.
Turkey vultures deter predators by projectile vomiting gastric juices as acidic as battery acid that can burn their attacker's skin and eyes.
When nature calls, some vultures will defecate straight down on their legs. This behavior is called “urohidrosis,” and it helps keep the birds cool and rinse bacteria off their feet—think of it as a personal vulture hand (or should we say foot) sanitizer!
Vultures are thought to have the strongest immune system of any vertebrate. Other less-efficient scavengers—like feral dogs—may contribute to the spread of disease, but vultures are a dead-end for pathogens.
Their featherless heads have caused people to call them ugly, but their bald domes feature disease-resistant microbiomes and prevent their meals from sticking to their face.
Pretty cool, eh?
