Image via Wikipedia
Ever wonder why we don’t find more dead animals in the forest or along the roads?
It is due to Turkey Vultures, who are the clean-up crew of our environment. They remove carrion from the roads and dead animals from the forest. They are not hunters but gatherers. They have:
- a very powerful sense of smell and can smell dead animals from hundreds of feet away
- have powerful eyesight
- powerful digestive systems that enable them to digest old even rotting meat
- a featherless head that lets them get in animal cavities
- a diet that is primarily carrion
To read more see the Lake County Bee on Turkey Vultures
CSI: Germany-The Sniffer Vulture
German police have trained a Turkish Vulture to find bodies. The project has been named Sherlock. The bird has been trained to find dead bodies and can do it faster than sniffer dogs.
For more: Forget Dogs – Sniffing Vultures Are Taking Over the Hunt
Related Articles
- Cops Train Vulture to Hunt for Bodies (neatorama.com)
- German police to use ‘sniffer’ vultures (telegraph.co.uk)
Natural History Wanderings 
You’re right Sandy, I walked 26 miles of wilderness coastline and saw every kind of dead animal from sharks to sea lions and the vultures were cleaning up the place.
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By: Steve Siere on August 23, 2010
at 10:54 PM