In June 2020, an vulture visited the British Peak District National Park. Birdwatchers all over the UK are moving when they hear the news, carrying long spears and short cannons, and they are very likely to be inactive if they cannot see it.
Everyone must be very surprised. The vulture has no hair on its head and loves to eat rotten meat. What's the point of looking good?
In fact, not all vultures are so bald. Although this big bird is commonly known as Hu Vulture, it actually belongs to Vulture genus and is a small cousin of the Vulture genus, so it should be called its scientific name Hu Vulture .
Speaking of this kind of bird, the most amazing thing is its ability to swallow bones alive. Hu Wujiu With one stretched his neck, he could swallow 25 cm of bones in one breath, and would not be touched! What kind of "iron stomach" and "iron mouth" have such skills? Hu Wujiu's unique skills have made many people come here to feast their eyes.
Beard vulture that can live by eating bones
Beard vulture's head and neck are covered with brown-red feathers. It even has a mustache - it is these mustaches that people call it the hugu vulture. Judging from this sharp look and melancholy temperament, you can be called a good-looking person.
says that vultures eat rotten meat and are easy to feed. So, is it because this person is so good-looking and too picky that the number is rare?
In fact, the beard vulture is easier to feed than the rotten vulture, because it does not even need rotten meat, and can survive by eating just bones. Moreover, it also specializes in picking hard-to-chew bones, and likes the corpses of large animals such as antelope and bison.
Hu Wujiu is not only big but also has a big throat. Its throat is completely stretched out and its width can reach 7 cm . If you have no idea about the 25 cm bone we mentioned earlier, you can tell the distance from your fingertips to your elbows. It is almost the same specification. Hu Wujiu can easily stuff her mouth, and burp can also spit out your sports bracelet.
That's right. Although Huwu Vulture is strictly speaking, it is not a vulture genus. Its digestibility is the same as the vulture family. It is not strong, but super strong. gastric acid can easily melt steel, and the whole raw bone sways in the stomach. Before I could even hurt my heart, I was digested by gastric acid.
has been recorded that Hu Wujiu can swallow a whole piece of bone weighing up to 7 kilograms in one bite. When we eat sheep scorpion , we eat one and throw one into its mouth. I am afraid that we can eat it and digest it faster!
When encountering bigger bones, Hu Wujiu will not waste it easily. Of course, the Huwuqi will not go beyond the limit of self-challenging, swallowing the whole bone alive, and choking itself to death like some snakes.
Huwujiu is very smart. For bones that cannot be swallowed, they will grab large pieces of bones and fly into the sky, then release their claws to let the bones fall off. The gravity of the earth will help them smash bones . If you don't work, you will knock it again until the big bones are crushed and your tender bone marrow is exposed. This is Hu Wujiu's favorite delicacy.
It is said that this magical habit once killed an Ancient Greek artist Aeschylus . There was once a prophet who claimed that the artist would be smashed to death in the middle of his courtyard. Aeschylus disagreed and was still pondering in the courtyard. One day, a disaster finally came. A big bird flew over the sky, and a turtle fell from its claws. The turtle hit Aeschylus' head and actually killed him.
After later scientists analyzed, this high-altitude thrown bird was a Huwu vulture. It planned to smash turtle shell and eat the meat inside. Unexpectedly, the reflection on the ground was not a stone, but the artist's extremely smart forehead!
This is too incompetent. Why does Hu Wujiu still feed on bones even if he wants to fall and eat?
You should know that nature is very competitive, and there are often several or even dozens of animals for the same food source. However, Hu Wujiu found a shortcut for himself with her ability to swallow bones alive.
There are many animals that make a living by eating scaveng, such as the ugly cousin of the Huwu Vulture, and the hyena of the African savanna.However, there are almost no large animals that can make a living by bones, and only insects can share their food with them. Therefore, the bone feast that Hu Wujiu dominated the entire map is so pleasant!
But Hu Wuqi did not lay flat because of this, and it also learned a variety of foraging techniques. The turtle vulture uses bones as its staple food, but the bones can only come from animal corpses. So, it learned to recognize the sounds made by scavengers and carnivores, followed by wolfs, foxes, and let other animals hunt for themselves. If the food is found by crows and other birds, the bearded vultures will also rely on their weight advantage to squeeze them away and try them out for themselves.
"Beauty Bird" Huwujiu
Various animal illustrations paint the feathers on Huwujiu's head and neck into white, and these feathers were originally white. But the bearded vultures seen in nature often fly around with a rusty apron.
Is this the blood stain left by hunting? Or is it a dirty blood rubbing against the animal corpse?
As mentioned before, most bearded vultures make a living by eating bones and occasionally hunt some small animals. This red outfit is not a dirty thing, but Hu Wujiu's fashionable beauty makeup.
When the Huwuqiu becomes an adult, no matter male or female, he will find a red mud rich in iron oxide , and roll it in it until the white feathers from head to abdomen are dyed red by the mud. However, Hu Wujiu didn't open an account on social media and sold beauty masks. Why do you paint yourself like this?
Some people believe that Huwuqi, like humans, will dress up to attract the opposite sex. Others believe that the opposite is that Huwujiu uses red color to scare away natural enemies and opponents of his kind. Of course, some people think that Hu Wujiu is very smart and has learned to use iron oxide mud to kill parasites.
Scientists have proposed various hypotheses to explain this behavior, but there is no conclusion yet.
The beautiful and powerful Huwu Vulture
Huwu Vulture can hover at an altitude of 7,000 meters for more than 6 hours, and the number of visual cells on the retina reaches 2 million, which is 10 times that of humans. It can also adapt to the climate of the three continents of Asia, Europe and Africa, and can survive from flat ground to mountainous areas with an altitude of 4,000 meters.
However, Huwuqi has been listed on the endangered list in many countries and has almost disappeared in densely populated Europe. It can be said that the bird world is so beautiful and powerful.
The beard vulture has a low reproductive ability and can produce two bird eggs at a time. There is still a cruel competition between this pair of compatriots, and the two chicks will compete for a bite of food. The stronger young birds will even directly attack their weak compatriots, and parents are just watching from the side. In the end, only the strongest one can survive. If the stronger chick died, the parents would take good care of the rest.
Moreover, it is difficult to reproduce large carnivores. Biochain energy transfer follows the "tenths of law". This means that the Huwu Vulture ate a sheep scorpion with ten joints, only one of which will be used for itself, and will become protein on its body. The energy generated by the remaining nine bones is consumed in activities such as exercise, keeping warm and other behaviors.
Therefore, in order to provide enough food for the chicks, the Huwu Vulture often adopts a two-way system. A female has two males to provide protection and food for her children. The two dads competed with each other and even fought at first, but they got along well after a long time. After all, if you want to live a life...
Even so, the number of Huwuqi still declined rapidly and has disappeared in Europe. The reason is very sigh-worthy, it is actually because of the superstition of Europeans.
Before the 19th century in Europe, many Europeans made a living by shepherding. They believe that the bearded vulture often appears near corpses and is a bird that brings bad luck. Moreover, the bearded vultures are so big that they will definitely threaten the flock, especially the young goats. Therefore, Huwu was called a goat killer at the time and even captured children. The nobles who owned a hunting ground, and those who loved hunting grouse and wild ducks believed that the bearded vultures would eat their prey. Wouldn't this make them have no hunting to hunt?
So starting from the 19th century, Europe began a campaign to pursue and intercept the bearded vultures.In the Alps, people's hunting directly led to the extinction of this species in the local area.
protects the best Huguqiu in the world
Today, people have got rid of superstition and no longer rejects Huguqiu because it tracks the rotten corpse. Instead, they realize the important role of Huguqiuqiu in the biological chain in the alpine areas.
In high-altitude areas, microorganism grows slowly, and it is difficult for organisms to degrade, not to mention hard parts such as bones.
A skeleton is an extremely huge thing for insects such as dung . With insects and microorganisms alone, this skeleton will be kept on the ground for a year and a half, and will continue to emit odor and breed bacteria. Therefore, only by relying on bone-eating to track down the skeleton can the skeleton be degraded as soon as possible.
EU has included gull vultures as protected birds. Hu Wujiu is also loved by people because of her chic and majestic appearance, and can be called the SSR of bird watching enthusiasts. No wonder a bearded vulture flew from other places, and the whole of England was going to watch the fun.
