Food
Vultures are scavengers, meaning they eat animals that have died. Some vultures eat only large carcasses. However, the Lappet-faced vulture will also eat smaller items, including living prey. This gives them alternate food sources when carcasses are rare.
Habitat
The Lappet-faced vulture is considered and Old World vulture because it comes from the „Old World”, which includes Africa, Asia, and Europe. The New World vultures are found in North and South America, which is considered the „New World.” The Lappet-faced vulture relies on sight alone to locate food, so heavily wooded areas pose a problem. For that reason, they prefer the open arid areas of Africa.
Social Structure
Some vultures are very gregarious, but the Lappet-faced vulture is not. The birds nest in pairs and do not build nests near other vultures. As a result, each pair has a large range around its nest. This prevents the vulture from having to fly long distances from food. It also decreases the number of birds that gather around a carcass.
Senses
The Lappet-faced vulture relies on its excellent eyesight to locate prey. Other ideas about the method of locating food have included telepathy and even dreams, but in reality most vultures rely on eyesight. They do not use their sense of smell.
Lydia King is a huge animal lover and has always been fascinated with learning about the animal kingdom. She enjoys writing about anything animal related from scientific information about rare species to animal references in pop culture.
