Speaking of Vultures

 In the post below, I talk about the surprising role of vultures in the Indian ecosystem. I wanted to add one thing about vultures. We tend to think of them negatively (how many movies use the idea of vultures circling as a symbol of imminent death?).

White-backed Vultures of Africa

Why? Because they eat disgusting things and they are ugly. But they are ugly for a reason. 

They have long beaks and look like witches because they need to reach inside a carcass to eat the last pieces of food stuck on the bones. Their heads pull back into the body because their necks have to be very strong to yank out dead flesh, so they are effective. However, those big strong necks are not very aerodynamic, so they are "stored" inside their feathers. And their heads are bald and devoid of feathers because they stick them inside dead animals. Baldness means insects and blood don't get on feathers they cannot clean.

They are ingenious inventions of evolution (or God - should you swing that way). Their very ugliness is there for a reason.

California Condors (the are a type of Vulture).