Food tips for vultures

An iconic image of the Mata Atlantica is a flock of vultures* circling high in the sky, soaring lazily on thermals as they peer down looking for carrion. That's all very well, but frankly they could be up there all day without seeing anything, especially if the dead meat is under a forest canopy. What a hungry vulture needs is a short cut. There are several.


As I mentioned in a previous blog, some carrion hunters can detect the ethyl mercaptan from rotting bodies and so fly low over the forest until a whiff catches their attention. Black vultures simply use their superb vision to keep track of these birds, follow them in and nick it. There are not many creatures who will stand up to a determined gang of black hissing vultures** with a 5ft wingspan, not least when they use vomit as a defensive manoeuvre.


Black vultures roost together, setting off around sunrise on their daily hunt for corpses. Now, if there was a dead cow around yesterday there is a fair chance that something will still be left today. But maybe not much, and certainly not enough for everybody. It's been shown that Black vultures returning to a meal head off earlier in the morning, flapping energetically to get there beaks in the feeding trough first. Unfortunately, it has also been shown that the smarter vultures know this, and so follow any birds trying to sneak away surreptitiously before dawn, so there is invariably a crowd for breakfast. Still, as it might be you doing the following tomorrow, this seems to be generally accepted without too much rancour.


And lastly, one can just wait for food to drop dead in front of you. A common sight along many highways are vultures perched on the street lights - roads might be a bane for many animals, but they're a boon for vultures. High perches with a clear view are exactly what they need - life is after all a balance between energy spent and energy gained, spend none and you are half way there. Roads are also noisy, chaotic places, which is nothing new to a vulture, but tends to keep larger solitary raptors at bay. And lastly of course a steady diet of road kill, though not as much as you might think. Surveys show about 0.1 to 0.5 mammals per km per month, mostly possums and not enough for a growing vulture. So, unfortunately, the vulture does have to go and search for food the traditional way, but every little helps.

* a "kettle" apparently, though a "kettle of vultures" conjures up all sorts of unpleasant images
** a "venue" - this I can understand

Symbols of the Tribe

It seems to be human nature to associate oneself with an animal. The earliest cave paintings were, it has been suggested, attempts to absorb the spirits of mammoths and bison. Later, the Roman legions marched behind eagles, whilst for the ancient Babylonians and Greeks the lion was the symbol of kingship. In more modern times the British lion battled the eagles and bears of the Kaisers and Tsars in cartoons across Europe.
In what strenuously contrived manner can this be connected to modern day Brazil, and it's wildlife? Well, many of the human population again organise themselves into tribes and clans, in this day and age based on loyalty to their local football teams. And these have mascots. Can the mascots of the Brazilian first division tell us anything about the world around them?

The first mascot of the Rio team Botafogo was Donald duck, their second, following copyright issues with Disney, was the Manequinho, a replica of the boy, er, relieving himself, in Brussels. This probably says something deep about the psychology of Botofogo, but I'm not sure exactly what.
Moving on, we again find the lion, for Avai of Santa Catarina (above), and Vitoria of Bahia. Not native to South America of course, but neither is it native to Britain so we'll let them off. Anyway, Atlético Goianiense have a dragon. The eagle resurfaces in the form of the Gaviao or falcon. Corinthians of Sao Paulo have a supporters club known as the Faithful Falcons.

More prosaically, Atletico mineiro, of Minas gerais, have a rooster, or fighting cock (as do Tottenham in London of course). This works particularly well for them as not only do these birds symbolise aggression and a never-surrender spirit, but the commonest breed of domestic chicken in the region has black and white feathers, matching the team colours.

Colour is probably the reason for several choices of mascots. For instance Palmeiras , of Sao Paulo, and Goias, of central Brazil, both play in green and have green parrots as their symbols. These social, noisy birds are a common feature of rural Sao Paulo. Actually, Palmeiras have adopted another animal. Their Sao Paulo rivals would often refer to them as pigs, due to a perceived "espirito do porco" or lack of seriousness. Palmerians now yell "porco" as a war cry.


Santos, the port of Sao Paulo, have chosen the killer whale, Orcinus orca. To be absolutely honest, killer whales are not a regular feature of the Sao Paulo maritime scene, but they do occasionally appear working their way up the South American coast.


Cruzeiro, of Minas gerais, have a fox. Implausibly, arch rivals Cruzeiro and Atletico mineiro above both hired the cartoonist Mangabeira to assign their mascots in the 1940s. The fox was reportedly based on the then chairman of Cruzeiro, who was "sly, celver and intelligent, and never let anyone trick him, just like a fox". A somewhat backhanded compliment, but enthusiastically adopted. The mascot is often portrayed as a European red fox, but does sometimes seem to be based on the local grey/brown native crab eating fox, Cerdocyon thous.

It is noticeable that most of the mascots here are not especially Brazilian. This is perhaps understandable, the big clubs tend to be in big cities (in the case of Rio and Sao Paulo, VERY big cities) and so there isn't much contact with local wildlife. Many were also started by immigrants fresh from Europe. It is when one starts to look at smaller cities of the interior, with more of an agricultural past, that native animals start to appear. Surprisingly, there are very few examples of the jaguar (Panthera onca), but Resende, near Rio, has the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachurus), and Cascavel, of Parana, has the eponymous cascavel (Crotalus diurissus), an extremely dangerous rattlesnake.
What then would I recommend as a mascot for success? A lion? An eagle? A fox? Actually no, a vulture. Flamengo, the largest club in Brazil and current champions have adopted the Urubu, or Turkey vulture (Cathartes aura), as their symbol. After all, at the end of the day, it's always the vultures who feast after any battle.

Nature's Dustmen

Nature may be "red in tooth and claw", but it makes an awful lot of mess. Animals defaecate throughout their lives and then drop dead, plants litter the landscape with fallen leaves and great piles of dead wood. Fortunately, there are many animals, plants and fungi who specialise in the unenviable task of clearing all this up. Ants swarm everywhere and it is estimated that they form up to 20% of all animal biomass on land. The humble dung beetles are found on all the continents of the world except Antarctica, deriving all their nutrients and water from dung alone. They, at least, are recognised for the valuable public servants they are, and have been introduced into pasture land in Australia, South Africa and Europe to improve soil quality, and remove the habitat of various harmful flies who live in the dung.
But sometimes, more heavyweight refuse collectors are required.

Bird of the day

The Black Vulture

When I first came to Brazil I was surprised by widespread these birds were, soaring over the city of Belo Horizonte, or perched on street lights by the motorway in Vittoria. Throughout the states of Espirito Santo, Rio, Sao Paulo and Minas the only place I haven't seen them is the centre of Sao Paulo. They are conspicuous birds, with a 5ft wingspan and with a lazy overwatch flight, easy to see. Their close proximity to man is not, course, just chance. Just as kites infested medieval London, modern cities are a buffet for the vulture. Better yet, a buffet where the food is considerately laid out in an open air picnic, or dump. The hilly nature of the Mata Atlantica, with numerous rocky outcrops, suits the Black Vulture well, providing nesting and launching sites, but the natural forest does stifle them rather -their superb vision cannot penetrate the canopy. Some other species, such as the Turkey Vulture, cruise above the tree tops, searching for the scent of ethyl mercaptan from rotting bodies - and Black vultures follow them in and steal it.

Vultures are common, useful, and even quite majestic in flight, but they are not nice. They just.... aren't. When attacked on the ground they vomit over their attacker, thus simultaneously confusing him and lightening their flightload. In the hot tropical sun they defecates on their own naked legs, so that evaporation cools the blood. These droppings incidentally are so rancid they have been known to kill trees and other vegetation. Vultures can't even sing, lacking a syrinx, and communicate with hisses and grunts.

It is perhaps no surprise then, that in Mayan mythology the Black Vulture was associated with death. Their image is however positive in one specific area. The largest football club in Brazil, Flamengo, were long disparaged as The Urubus, or Vultures, by their enemies, presumably in reference to their black and red strip. This is now a source of perverse pride, and displayed at every opportunity!