Many species of Old World vultures live throughout Africa and have a great impact on their surroundings. They vary from small birds with slender bills, such as hooded vultures, to large hunters with heavy bills, such as African white-backed vultures.
The family Accipitridae consists of 217 different species of hawks, eagles and Old World vultures.
Old World Vultures
Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus)
Cape Vulture (Gyps coprotheres)
Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus)
Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus)
Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus)
Himalayan Vulture (Gyps himalayensis) ...
Old World Vultures (Europe, Asia, Africa)
The Old World vultures found in Africa, Asia and Europe belong to the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks. They find carcasses exclusively by sight.
Old World vultures are not closely related to New World vultures. They resemble each other because of convergent evolution. Vultures in general feed on dead animals.
Old World vultures look like their eagle and hawk relatives. They have large, grasping talons, a voice box to vocalize with, and build nests made of sticks on rocky platforms. These vultures have also been around longer than the New World vultures.
The old world vultures are found in Asia, Europe and Africa with these species of vulture thought to be most closely related to eagles and hawks.
[edit] Hawks to Old World vultures
Order: Falconiformes Family: Accipitridae ...
The Old World vultures (family Accipitridae) are allied to hawks and eagles; the more ancient American vultures and condors are of a different family (Cathartidae) with distant links to storks and cormorants.
Old World vultures share a common ancestry with eagles and hawks; similarities between New World and Old World vultures are the result of convergent evolution (similar adaptations because of similar life styles).
As with other Old World vultures, this species has a difficult time sustaining flapping flight and does best when it begins its soaring flight from a high location or by using thermal updrafts on a heated plain.
Many well-known birds, such as hawks, eagles, kites, harriers and Old World vultures are included in this group.
The Old World Vultures (Eurasia, Africa) are indeed relatives of the raptors, and are properly within the Falconiformes, in the family Accipitridae, along with the Osprey, Kites, Harriers, Sea-eagles, etc.
Despite the similarities in appearance and lifestyle between the new and old world vultures, scientists now believe that new world vultures, like the turkey vulture, are more closely related to the storks.
Vulture Large bird of prey of the old world vultures are related to hawks and eagles, they are mainly found in tropical temperate regions of the world .
Old World and New World: The Old World vultures of Africa, Asia and Europe are not closely related to the New World vultures of the Americas.
The Cinereous or European Black Vulture is the largest of the Old World Vultures, with a wingspan of 8 1/2 to 9 feet. It lives in Spain to southern Russia, and across Tibet, Mongolia, and the Himalayas.
Vultures are divided into two groups: Old World vultures (family Accipitridae, 15 species) and New World (American) vultures (the voiceless, hissing family Cathartidae, 6 species, including the California Condor and the Turkey Vulture).
Brave Old and New Worlds: Vultures fall into two groups. The Old World vultures found in Africa, Asia and Europe belong to the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks. They find carcasses exclusively by sight.
FAMILY: Accipitridae (hawks, eagles, Old World vultures)
GENUS/SPECIES: Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Size: Wingspan up to 8 ft (2.3 m) ...
The other birds of prey under this group are the eagles, the kites, the Old World vultures and the secretary birds. Hawks come in the same order as the falcons, the New World vultures and the ospreys. These birds of prey are also known as raptors.
They are birds of prey which along with hawks, eagles, Old World vultures and many others are in the family Accipitridae.
" The common name derives from the wool-like down that covers the lower throat and rear of the neck. Old World vultures (from Asia, Europe and Africa), such as the hooded vulture, are not closely related to vultures from North and South America.
Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus)
Huge and majestic, the lammergeier is a highly distinctive bird-of-prey and one of the largest old world vultures. Enormous wings enable it... More 35 Images 5 Videos ...
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves (the birds)
Order: Falconiformes (the diurnal birds of prey)
Family: Accipitridae (the hawks, eagles, and old world vultures) ...
Vulturidae, Old World vultures, excluding Australia. Falconidae, cosmopolitan, since the Eocene. Harpagornis, Pleistocene, New Zealand; Lithornis, Eocene, England. Pandionidae, ospreys or fish hawks, cosmopolitan.
The New World vultures (not closely related to the Old World vultures) were once classified with the herons and allies, but they have provisionally been grouped with the diurnal raptors on the basis of recent genetic studies.
is believed to serve multiple functions: drying the wings, warming the body, and baking off bacteria. It is practiced more often following damp or rainy nights. This same behavior is displayed by other New World vultures, by Old World vultures, ...
They weigh around six pounds. The ivory bill is hooked. The female is slightly larger. At one time, they were placed with raptors as they look very similar to Old World vultures (due to convergent evolution).
Raptors hunt by day and feed on a variety of prey including fish, small mammals, reptiles and carrion. The group includes eagles, hawks, kites, the secretary bird, ospreys, falcons and old world vultures and comprises a total of 304 species.
 See also: Vulture, Eagle, Falcon, Osprey, Buzzard
  
|
RSS
