WEBVTT - Why should you never scare a vulture? 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:04.200 Welcome to you stuff you should know from house stuff 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:13.520 Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:16.920 Josh Clark. There's Charles W Chuck Bryant. We both look 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:19.000 like we're in some sort of fight club because our 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:21.960 hair is equally short. Things. Yeah, I got the summer 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:23.960 buzz cut. Let's see your finger nails. You keep him 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:26.159 trim while I chew the nails, you know. Yeah, I 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:28.240 got my trimp too. Okay. Is that one of the 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:31.240 rules of fight club. I didn't know that when I 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:34.400 was scratching. It wasn't a rule, it was it was 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:37.400 one of the reasons to keep your finger nails trimmed 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:39.879 in your hair cut. Yeah. Yeah, you know what I'm 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:42.080 gonna bring back. I saw Gangs of New York the 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.880 other day again, the fish hook when the guy fish 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:48.920 hooks the dude. That's a classic move in like old 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:52.080 school fighting. Yeah, Like you put your fisticuffs up and 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:53.720 then if you get ahold of a guy, you're gonna 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:55.720 give him the fish hook. You're bringing that back, huh. 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:58.080 I'm bringing back the tractice on me and I even 0:00:58.080 --> 0:00:59.880 practiced on myself a little bit because I was like, 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:04.000 is that really an effective move and it hurts and yeah, yeah, 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:06.479 it hurts me right now, just trying to I'm gonna 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:12.600 bring back vertically striped pants. Okay, okay and official qu um, So, 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.200 how are you doing. It's been a little while. Uh No, 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:18.240 it's been what three or four days? In the magic 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:22.720 of podcast releases, we're right on schedule. Okay. I have 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:26.679 a story for you. It's tragic, but it's interesting and 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:28.880 it relates to what we're talking about, like any good 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:35.039 intro ship. So uh. In April April two, a woman 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:39.559 was she was hiking through the Pyrenees in France with 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:42.520 a couple of friends and she lost her footing and 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:50.640 she fell about three d to her death obviously, and um, 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:52.720 of course her friends were like, oh my god. They 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:55.120 probably said something like soccer blue or something like that, 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:59.160 and contacted the authorities, and the authorities got out there 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:02.840 pretty quick. Within forty five minutes, they located and reached 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:06.880 her dead body. But what they found was nothing but 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:11.280 her bones and her tattered clothing and shoes for five minutes. 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:15.959 Within forty five minutes, the local griffin vultures had picked 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:19.000 the woman clean. She went from being alive to forty 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:22.200 five minutes later being a skeleton, and as gruesome as 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:26.400 that is, it's actually a really good sign if you 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:30.280 are pulling for healthy vulture populations. Yeah, and you know 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:33.640 what that actually dispels a myth right off the bat 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:39.160 vultures actually prefer fresh meat. Yeah, they don't necessarily like 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:43.960 rotten flesh, but they will eat rotten flesh. But they 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:48.120 prefer fresh meat of a dead carcas though. Right now, 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:50.920 the reason why there were so many vultures, why they 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:53.160 were able to pick this woman clean, is because there's 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:57.360 a lot of griffin vultures in France. And the reason 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:00.640 there's a lot, and the reason that they're hungry is 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:03.359 because the French government says you can't shoot these vultures, 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:07.680 leave them alone. And also farmers burn your dead livestock. 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:10.239 So you have a bunch of vultures that are protected 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:13.680 from humans, which is their number one predator, who are 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:17.200 hungry because their food supplies being burned by said humans. 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:20.160 So when an unlucky humans slips and losers are footing 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:23.680 in the Pyrenees, the vultures pick dead body cleaning forty 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:27.600 five minutes. That's pretty quick. Now, follow me chuck over 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:31.640 to Nepal. The Himalayas very nice. Back in the mountains, 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:34.320 it is. Did you I got my magic carpet clean? 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:36.760 It is very nice. It smells like a new car. 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:38.560 I had a new car sent spread on it, a 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:43.480 coconut new car. Um. So in the Himalayas, you've got 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:49.000 two different groups of the Zoroasters and the Tibetan Buddhists. Yeah, 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:52.960 and they hate each other. They are into sky burials, 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:56.600 remember those, Okay, So you want to refresh everybody with 0:03:56.680 --> 0:04:00.400 sky burialists. Yeah. Sky burial Uh. It's basically when you 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:03.560 you leave your loved one's body out in a field 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:08.360 for the vultures to pick clean. Right, And Zoroasters and 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:11.720 Buddhists both believe that you shouldn't just bury a dead body, 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:14.600 shouldn't crement a dead body of pollutes the earth. So 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:16.719 you give it to the vultures, which are kind of 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:19.520 these spiritual beings in both religions, and they poop in 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.920 that polluts the earth. The problem. The problem is is 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:26.040 there are so few vultures in the Himalayas these days 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:29.479 that they can't take care of the dead bodies that 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:33.120 they put out there. So the Zoroasters and Buddhists are 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:35.359 having to like ship them out of the country really, 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:38.640 so they're not even able to perform sky burials. No, 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:41.880 they do, but I mean it's not they're not fulfilled 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.000 because there's not enough vultures. The reason why there's not 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:48.200 enough fulters, we found out in two thousand six is 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:57.600 because of an non steroidal anti inflammatory drug called uh DI. Nice. Yeah, 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:02.359 and there are twenty three species total worldwide. Vulture on 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:06.640 every continent but Australia and Antarctica, which I was surprised 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:09.159 in Australia, man, that's like, I bet they would have 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:12.920 a ball out there, you know, vulture central. Yeah, it's 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:17.600 just wide open territory and dead bodies everywhere, especially if 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:21.960 Nick Cave has anything exactly and uh sadly fourteen of 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:25.400 those species are endangered or threatened at this point. Uh. 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:29.039 And the dike Lofak is a big culprit. It's um 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:33.320 ranchers used it too on their cattle and then the 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:36.800 vultures would eat and just like from one eating of 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:39.640 dead cows, would you know kill the vultures. Yeah, it 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:42.200 gave him a kidney failure. Yeah, And like the vultures 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:44.599 would be on their perches and just fall over dead, 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:49.920 and it wiped out three different species of vultures. Eastern 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:55.960 Old World vultures of the three species were just wiped out. Yeah, 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:59.440 I got ninety nine. Actually, Um, the good news is 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:01.480 is they ban it in two thousand six in India, 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:06.680 and in two thousand and twelve it actually the population 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:10.159 increased for the first time in many, many many years, 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:14.840 So they're slightly on the uptick in that area of 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:16.919 the world at least. But it was a huge like 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:19.719 mystery of what was going on, you know, what was 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:23.480 killing the vultures, And luckily for these vultures, their populations 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:28.320 were dwindling in India. Indians very much prize the vulture 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:33.800 as like a necessary creature to create, I guess, or 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:37.560 promote sanitary conditions in nature. Yeah. Well, I mean, if 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:41.400 if they're eating the sick animals, then the sick animal 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:44.480 bacteria isn't going to get into the ground and leach 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:47.520 into the water. And if there are no vultures around 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:49.880 there potentially could be like spikes and disease and things. 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.400 So they're actually really necessary, they really are. Not only 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:56.440 are there spikes and disease. Um, vultures kind of take 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:59.359 it for the team. The team being the rest of 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:02.440 the earth. They step in and they interseed. Like you said, 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:04.840 like if if there's a cow with some with antwers 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:08.599 or something, a vulture eats the carcass. But the vultures 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:12.800 digestive system is tuned to this acidity level that will 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:17.400 kill most, if not all, of whatever disease that cattle had, 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:20.960 and so it breaks the chain of infectious diseases. And 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:24.560 so you think of vultures is like these very dirty animals, 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:28.200 but they actually are performing this really specific and important 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:32.560 ecological service to the rest of the world. Yeah, and 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:35.880 we'll get to some more like vultures are clean facts 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:40.720 and which don't necessarily sound like like vultures are clean. Well, 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:42.640 we'll tell you we don't want to. Yeah, they're cleaner 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:44.720 than you think exactly. That's a good way to say. 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:47.640 And also you were saying like they if the vultures 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:52.520 aren't around, disease cannot break. Not only that there, the 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:56.920 service that they perform is so vital it is it's 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:00.600 a service to an extent, like they're basically nature's up crew, 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:04.880 and they do it by eating rotting flesh, and they 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:08.320 do it really quick like in sky burials before the 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:13.360 decimation of the um of the Eastern species, the Indian 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:17.520 species um. They could take care of a dead body 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:21.920 in like thirty minutes. Thirty minutes. There's no other species 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:24.400 that can do that, and so this service, it is 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:28.000 a service that they provide vultures in. It makes so 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:34.679 much sense evolutionarily speaking, that the Old World species, right 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.080 that are in the Eastern hemisphere and the New World 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:40.600 species that are in the Western hemisphere are not related. 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:45.960 They co evolved two of the same thing, evolved from 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:49.960 two different groups of animals. They're not related. So it's 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:53.040 almost like nature is like, yeah, this is never gonna 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:55.319 happen with these birds are never gonna spread, but we're 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:57.760 gonna need him over here, so let's just have everything 0:08:58.040 --> 0:09:02.120 evolved into vultures. Vultus came up separately on two different 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:05.360 sizes of the world. That's how important. They are. Very important. 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:09.800 The Old World vultures which are Eastern Hemisphere, like we 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:14.199 just said, they're twelve species of those and they are 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:16.840 related to hawks and eagles. They they nest with sticks 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:19.120 and things like you might see a vulture nest like 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:21.760 sticking out on a log, sticking out from a cliff, 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:25.360 like it's a cartoon or something. That's how I imagine 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.680 it Western hemisphere of a here is where we have 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:32.160 the New World ones, very progressive vultures. They don't build 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:34.600 nest and they're just like, we're not into that because 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:38.560 we're we We like mid century modern digs and like 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:42.160 the California condor especially. Yeah, and you know the condor 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:46.240 is uh his rebounding to talk about in danger. They 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:48.240 dip to a low of twenty five and the nineteen 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:52.600 eighties and now as there are four hundred and five, 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.280 and they're pretty awesome. They're wingspans get to be like 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:58.320 nine ft across. Yeah, I think that it's not the 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.600 California condor, but gets one in Africa can get as 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:04.040 high as a leaven, as white as a lemon. That's 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:06.080 a big bird, man. Yeah, it's huge, Like the bird 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.640 could take you down. Yeah. And I think people don't 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:11.880 like vultures because hey, they feed on carrion and it's 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:15.320 sort of gross. People think another myth that they circle 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:17.959 dying animals, just waiting for them to die. It's not true. 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:22.560 But because they circle, and because like a California condor 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.920 can circle up to like fifteen thousand feet that's amazing 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:28.720 it is. But they smell these things, right, It depends 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:31.960 they have either really great site, really great smell, or both. 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:36.400 So in North America Turkey vultures have incredible sense of smell. 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:39.200 But there are New World species and they're unrelated to 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:41.520 Old World species, so it can go either way, but 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:43.800 typically to either their site or their smell. That's really 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.640 really great. Yeah. I like the ones that are that 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:51.000 look like they're wearing feather boas they are completely naked 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:52.520 on the neck and head and then just have the 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:55.959 big puffy black feathers around the neck. Well, let's talk 0:10:55.960 --> 0:11:01.080 about that. Why Why are vultures featherless on the head? Uh? 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:05.520 Hygiene because they're sticking those heads and necks into carrying 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:09.400 and rotted flesh. And it's actually just you know, it's 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:12.760 a nature's way of saying, I don't want your your feathers, 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:15.080 your nice feathers to get covered with blood and guts, 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:20.199 so it's actually sanitary. Um. They don't sing either. That's 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:23.160 another reason vultures get a bad rap. There's no like 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:26.839 vulture song like other people do, like singing birds, you know, 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:29.600 Vulters grunt and hiss apparently are like the two sounds 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:32.080 they make, and that's not gonna get you very far 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:34.920 if you're covered, if you're bald, wearing a feather, boa 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:37.160 grunting and hissing, and you're covered in like blood and guts, 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:40.319 people aren't gonna be like, what a nice bird. Well, yeah, 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:43.720 it's not, and it's not just people to like. Apparently, 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:46.760 animals kind of vultures are like on the outskirts of 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:52.720 all organisms, Like they have no natural predators, um any predators. 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:56.000 Predators they do have are like egg hunting predate predators. 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:58.360 They don't go after the vulture, they go after the 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:01.600 eggs and the like. You will once in a while 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:05.040 in times of extreme famine and hardship find like a 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:08.800 big cat attacking a vulture, but for the most part, 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:13.720 everything just leaves vultures alone. Humans, bobcats, everybody just wants 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:16.680 vultures discuss to stay over there and eat your rotting, fleshy, 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:20.560 disgusting things. Yeah, and there they're considered birds of prey, 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:23.840 even though they rarely feed on live animals, even though 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.640 they will if they get hungry enough they will. Yeah, 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:29.520 they apparently in France, where you can't kill a vulture 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:32.559 and you have to burn your lives style attacking. Yeah, 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:36.280 they're taking away live animals, and that's specific to Old 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:39.760 world vultures. They have a grasping foot so they can 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:43.640 carry away things like babies. Like you said, a New 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:46.240 world vultures are more like chickens and they can run, 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:48.560 but they can't grasp. Yeah, and I don't even think 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:51.520 the ones with the grasping feet are like they're still 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:54.560 not meant to grasp that much, right, Like from what 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:56.719 I read the talents even on the ones that are 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:59.480 able to do so, it's not like an eagle or 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:02.319 or a barn owl or anything. They can like snatch 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:06.960 your cat off your back deck. Um, So no feathers 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.959 on the head or neck. It's sanitary. And believe it 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:12.559 or not, what's the other thing that makes them sanitary? 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.760 The urinate on themselves. What Yeah, it's they pee on 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:18.839 their own feet. Yeah, they pee on their feet and 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:22.439 legs and it kills bacteria. It keeps them cool like 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:25.800 our sweat does. Yeah, because that the digestive system that 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:30.200 has such a high acidity is transferred to their urine. 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.400 And when they pee on their feet, they're basically cleaning 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:36.719 off all of the nasty bacteria that got on their 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:40.000 feet from crawling around the inside of a zebra or something. Yeah, 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:45.600 I'm proud of you for saying urinate and urine. Uh 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:47.839 you know what a group of vultures is called? Uh? 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:52.560 I love those questions. It's always like, I know what 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:54.800 a crow, I know what a group of crows coming? 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:58.679 Everyone knows it. What is that a murder? I didn't 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:02.320 know everybody knew that. Apparently vulters have a lot of names. 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:05.240 They can be. A group is usually called a committee, 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:09.480 which they're like we said, they're a necessary service. So 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:13.400 that's a committee, a venue, or a volt. And then 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:16.920 when sounds familiar, the vaulted vultures, when they're in flight, 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:19.600 they're known as a kettle, which I thought was interesting. 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:22.560 And when they're feeding a group is known as a wake. 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:27.800 Thank you jump your Yeah probably so thank you for 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:32.640 going off in the woods and doing your thing. All right, 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:34.440 So I guess we should get to vulture vomit as 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:36.880 if we weren't grossed out enough by eating dead flesh 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:41.720 and in yourself. Yeah, because you're saying, like, they they 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:45.280 don't sing, they p on themselves. They they feed on 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.640 dead animals, eat your dead relative. They one other thing 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:53.200 that vultures are very much noted for is vomiting in 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:56.600 times of stress, and they're freaked out when they feel 0:14:56.600 --> 0:15:00.280 like they're being preyed upon, when they're startled vull. Sure, 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:03.560 we'll throw up. It's called defensive vomiting. No, hold hold on, 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:05.520 hold on. I think now it's a good time for 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:07.960 a little message break, okay, and then we'll talk about 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:17.800 defensive vomiting. I promise, m hm. Back to vomit. Yeah. 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:20.880 When they when they throw up, they can get away 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:23.680 a lot quicker. Yeah, Like I just ate four pounds 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:25.680 of cat meat and I just puped it up so 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:28.400 I can fly out of here quickly, exactly. So that's one. 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:33.360 That's one reason that avian biologists think that they throw 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:36.800 up defensively. The other one is this it's a decoy. 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:40.000 It's a present to their predator, like don't eat me, 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:44.840 eat this. Yeah, And a lot of predators, more often 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:47.320 than not, we'll eat whatever they vomited back up because 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:50.880 it's not always like digested flesh. It can be something 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:54.400 like a big bite of meat that they just you know, 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:58.520 showed um very recently because that's how they feed their 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:02.280 little baby vulture. So it's it's regurgitation like many birds do. 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:04.680 So it may not be so different for an eagle 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:07.240 to swoop down and say like, hey, that cat meat 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:09.880 looks like it's just you just vomited it up and 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:11.640 you just ate it. So what's the big deal? Right, 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:15.320 And eagles actually do. Bald eagles specifically love to eat 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:19.160 vulture vomit, which is weird because think about this, like, 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:23.560 the bald eagle is a revered animal, but it's not bald. 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:29.360 The vulture is, and that it eats vulture vomit. Vultures 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:33.880 do the vomiting. Yeah, it's like turning everything just on 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:39.400 its head. You're anti American. Uh So the other cool 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:41.960 thing I guess you might say about vulture vomit is 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:46.600 it's actually a defense in that it's highly acidic. Like 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:49.280 we're talking pH levels between one and two, which is 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:53.360 more than gastric and hydrochloric acid in our own stomach 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:57.040 and more corrosive than acid rain. So like that's some 0:16:57.120 --> 0:17:00.800 acidic vomit. Yeah, I mean it's more crosive than acid rain. 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:04.720 It's like, um, if you if you, I guess poured 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:07.320 acid rain on something, though, you'd be like, you're gonna 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:12.600 this will eventually do something to you. Maybe this is 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:15.280 this is if you're a statue, this is going to 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:18.720 harm you in thirty years. Well we're talking pH levels. Yeah, 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:21.720 I remember acid rain kills fish in the acid Rain 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:24.080 podcast we did so. Yeah. I guess if a fish 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:26.480 comes up and scares the vulture, it's in trouble. Or 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:28.560 if you bought a goldfish and you filled up your 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:31.680 little goldfish ball with acid rain, it might probably it's 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:36.040 not good, or vulture vomit, the fish is in trouble. 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:39.719 The point is it's highly acidic, and even more so 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:44.239 than other birds of preying and carnivorous birds. So like 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:46.880 the vultures kick it up a notch. So, and that's 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:51.520 that's how the vulture doesn't die from eating bacteria that 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:56.760 would probably kill other animals. So chuck. That's also there, 0:17:56.880 --> 0:18:01.160 um there. Digestive juices are how they avoid getting sick 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:03.400 eating things that would like kill you or me. Yeah. 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:05.560 See that's a good point because I think people probably 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:08.320 wonder how can they eat all this like rancid disease 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:12.360 and bacteria rotted flesh. That's how the pH of their 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:17.320 stomach most things can't survive. Although they aren't perfect killing 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:21.320 microbe killing machines. You can't find traces of, say like 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:25.560 antrax spores in their stool after they eat infected meat. 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:28.760 But for the most part, the fact that vultures eat 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:33.000 things that may contain disease, have the ability to contain 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:38.440 that disease, and are naturally reviled by pretty much everything 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:42.440 else under the sun, and stay away from everything else. 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:47.639 They are really great at breaking the chain of infectious 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.800 disease in nature. Yeah, and endangered and threatened. So like 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:55.199 nice kind of vultures. I would encourage vultures. If you're listening, 0:18:55.760 --> 0:19:00.240 learn a song or two. Wouldn't hurt you know, maybe, Yeah, 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:02.760 I'd like to teach the world to sing that melts 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:08.159 everybody's head. Yeah, any carpenter standard, oh for sure. Um. 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:10.520 And also it maybe like one Christmas song just with 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:13.359 the holidays. That's a great one. Uh. If you have 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:19.439 a problem with vultures, still hear me. Now, vultures, in 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:23.240 the absence of a healthy vulture population, there are still 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:26.920 lots of rotting carcasses, more than there would be if 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:29.920 the vultures were around. And where there's rotting carcasses, there's 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:33.680 feral dog packs. And where there's feral dog packs. There's rabies, 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:37.159 and dogs don't stay away from humans like vultures to. 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:41.919 They attack humans. Rat populations blow up to when vultures 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:46.399 aren't around, So leave the vultures alone. Good point. I 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:49.520 got one more little bit bit for you. Um, they're 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:53.320 actually using vultures now in forensic Science in the Journal 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:56.720 of Forensic Science International, they took a body out um, 0:19:56.800 --> 0:20:02.920 researcher Kathleen Katherine Spradley of Texas State University, San Marcos. Oh, 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:05.359 they have a body farm. Member. Yep, go Boco the 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:10.399 cat Poco, the bobcat. Um. And I actually had to 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:15.320 look that one up. Yeah. Um, they have a body farm, 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:17.880 like you said, and they recently took a body dumped 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:20.680 it out there to see how long it would take 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:26.080 vultures to skeletonize it and distribute the remains. Because basically 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:30.440 their aim is to see how long it takes vultures 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:34.240 to discover a body, how long it takes the vultures 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:38.200 to skeletonize it, how far they will distribute the parts, Uh, 0:20:38.240 --> 0:20:41.679 what they do and don't eat because essentially, when you 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:44.639 find a body in the woods, sometimes it can be 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:47.200 ravaged and you don't know like Why are there no 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:50.159 bite marks? Who ravaged this body? How long has this 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:52.959 body been here? Why are we finding body parts all 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:55.720 over the places? That's some kind of sick. Oh, that's 0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:59.280 like tearing these bodies to pieces. So it's uh, it's 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:02.240 a forensics studdy and um. They got a video camera 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:06.119 triggered by motion and it took thirty seven days actually 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:10.080 to be triggered, and thirty a thirty strong wake of 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:15.480 American black vultures took care of the body in five hours, 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:18.639 and both of those results surprised, like how long it 0:21:18.640 --> 0:21:21.080 took them to get there and how long it took 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:24.560 him to skeletonize it, because it's like way longer than usual. 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:27.520 Like we said, yeah, well three can take care of 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:30.640 a body in like thirty minutes, so thirty and five 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:32.480 hours it's not too bad. Yeah, they thought it was 0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:34.439 a little long. Um. And then they got a spatial 0:21:34.440 --> 0:21:36.720 pattern of the discarded body parts snapped it with the 0:21:36.720 --> 0:21:40.560 GPS over fifteen weeks, and they're hoping that this pattern 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:44.160 like aids you know, forensics in the future. How far 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:46.280 has it gone? Do they say? No? They didn't say 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:51.919 pretty interesting though, Yeah, that's very interesting. Forensics vultures saving 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:58.280 people from being unfairly accused of being a grizzly serial killer. Exactly. Um. Also, 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:01.000 one last thing, if you are interest did and probably 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:04.320 are flushed with cash, you can go paragliding with vultures 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:08.280 in the Himalayas. There's a man who's trained vultures. So 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:11.080 you go flying on you know, a para sale. You 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:15.119 fly attached to a vulture. No, you fly attached to 0:22:15.160 --> 0:22:18.080 the dude who trained the vultures in a ParaSail, and 0:22:18.160 --> 0:22:20.560 the vultures like hang around. Yeah, they fly around you. 0:22:20.680 --> 0:22:23.040 They said, it's like swimming with dolphins, but like five 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:25.200 thousand feet in the air, and they will eat buffalo 0:22:25.240 --> 0:22:27.479 meat out of your hand, Like they land on your 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:29.960 arm and eat and then like fly around and they're 0:22:30.000 --> 0:22:33.240 like thank you. One of them's name is Kevin the vulture. 0:22:33.440 --> 0:22:38.080 Really well, they let you paraglide with buffalo meat dangling 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:44.000 from your ankles. Maybe probably man, this is I'd like 0:22:44.040 --> 0:22:46.280 to do that. That's now on my bucket list on 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:50.880 the chucket list, the chucket list. Uh is that it? Okay, 0:22:50.920 --> 0:22:53.560 there's everything about vultures that we can find everybody. We 0:22:53.560 --> 0:22:56.000 hope you enjoyed it. And uh, let's say, if you 0:22:56.000 --> 0:22:58.639 want to learn more about vultures, type vulture into the 0:22:58.640 --> 0:23:01.239 search part. How stiff works out cam And since I 0:23:01.280 --> 0:23:06.680 said that, it means it's time for a message break. 0:23:10.400 --> 0:23:13.359 And how about some listener mail. Huh yeah, this one 0:23:13.400 --> 0:23:15.520 is sort of long now that I'm looking at it. 0:23:15.560 --> 0:23:18.160 But oh wait, wait before we do that, can I 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:22.560 plug somebody? Okay, so, um, we are not sure. I 0:23:22.600 --> 0:23:24.960 don't think we did plug this guy before we're plugging 0:23:24.960 --> 0:23:28.679 them again. Ok. Yeah, what's the hard exactly. Thomas Trask 0:23:28.920 --> 0:23:32.080 was one of the finalists in our Halloween horror fiction 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:34.920 contests that we held last year, right, and we said, 0:23:34.960 --> 0:23:37.520