Thursday, June 23, 2011

Lappet-faced Vulture: Torgos tracheliotos

If yesterday's vulture was the wizened elf of the vulture world, this guy is its fierce giant.

Lappet-faced vultures are large, roughly 4 feet tall, and they're a more aggressive vulture. Their size and (relative) ferocity means that most other birds scatter when they come to feed... not necessarily a bad thing because lappet-faced vultures have very strong beaks capable of tearing at carrion that other birds (or mammalian scavengers) might not be able to manage.


Lappet-faced vultures are old-world vultures (Asia/Africa), related to hawks and kites; their feet are strong enough that they could conceivably use them to kill, even though they're primarily carrion eaters.

By the way, according to Mirriam-Webster, a lappet is a fold or flap on a garment or headdress or a flat overlapping or hanging piece, and in this case it refers to the flaps of skin on either side of the lappet-face's head/neck... Attractive... NOT.

Doodled from this photo at Wikimedia Commons.