Vultures: nature’s clean-up crew

INTRODUCTION: The Importance of birds and biodiversity

Vultures: nature’s clean-up crew

Vultures are a group of scavenging birds adapted to exploit food sources that many other animals are unable to use. They are quick to detect and pick clean carcasses before disease spores can take hold, thereby helping to control outbreaks of deadly diseases such as rabies, botulism and tuberculosis. Although they may not receive the same adulation as elephants and lions, they are a vital part of Africa’s ecosystems. The loss of the sanitation services they provide would have adverse ecological, public health and economic effects, with wide ramifications. They have earned the name “nature’s clean-up crew” because of this essential ecological role. A study in Laikipia, Kenya, demonstrated that, in the absence of vultures, animal carcasses are taking longer to be consumed, increasing the risk of disease transmission. These remarkable birds are, in effect, a fast-acting biological recycling unit, providing waste disposal services per individual estimated to be worth around US$11,600 over a lifetime.

(min/kg) 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

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Withvultures withoutvultures

FIG 2: Effects of vulture absence on carcass decomposition time,

SOURCE Ogada, D. L., Torchin, M. E., Kinnaird, M. F., Ezenwa, V. O. 2012. Effects of vulture declines on facultative scavengers and potential implications for mammalian disease transmission. Conservation Biology. 26 (3): 453-460.

Ishwar, N. M. 2016. The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity - India initiative Page 6 Website retrieved from https://www.giz.de/en/downloads/ giz2015-en-ecosystems-biodiversity-interim-report-india.pdf

White-backed Vulture Gyps africanus, Lappet-faced Vulture Torgos tracheliotus and Rüppell’s Vulture Gyps rueppelli feeding on carcass. (PHOTO: ©Peter Steward)