although vultures are often stereotyped as cunning and menacing, most species of vulture rarely hunt, and clean up carcasses. many of them have learned to follow along roads and visit landfills due to the high amount of carrion. the black vulture is found from the united states to south america. when they do occasionally feed off sources other than dead animals, it is typically small & injured mammals, or bird eggs.
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the bearded vulture is a large old-world vulture found in parts of europe, asia, and africa. the majority of the bearded vulture’s diet consists of bones. small bones are eaten whole, while large bones are cracked open by the vultures, who drop them from great heights. the vultures are naturally a light off-white, but they dye themselves orange-red using clay. it’s theorized this is a status symbol, with the darkest-colored vultures being the highest ranking.
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todays bird is: this black vulture!
some black vultures in their southernmost range hang out with a capybara. thought vultures are stereotyped as aggressive, black vultures are often seen having harmless interactions like this one with other animals.
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palm nut vultures, found in africa, are an unusual member of the vulture family – a large portion of their diet consists of palm nuts. carrion doesn’t play a major role in their diet – they prefer to feed on eggs, fish, crustaceans, and reptiles.
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the palm-nut vulture is a bird of prey native to africa. these unusual vultures are the only member of their genus, and have strange diet habits for vultures – over 60% of the adult’s diet consists of palm fruit. they are also the smallest old world vulture, and don’t have a completely naked head like most vultures.
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a palm nut vulture, native to africa, in flight. palm nut vultures, unlike other vultures, eat little carrion, preferring palm nuts, crustaceans, fish and eggs.
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a rare albino turkey vulture. turkey vultures are normally a deep brown color. albinism can be deadly for birds – melanin is part of their feather structure, and albino animals lack melanin, which can mean weak feathers. albino birds are also often targets for predators and may be rejected by others of their species.
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a rare albino black vulture that was spotted in texas. albino birds rarely make it to adulthood, due to being easy targets for predators. since black vultures mainly feed off of carrion, it’s life is likely easier than that of an albino bird that hunts for its food, as it isn’t blatantly visible to its prey.
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a fluffy baby turkey vulture. turkey vultures have very unusual nesting behavior – they make pits inside of tree trunks, sometimes over a foot deep.
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today's bird 
