{"id":6032,"date":"2019-06-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4vultures.org\/blog\/how-do-vultures-contribute-to-our-environment\/"},"modified":"2021-08-23T16:17:20","modified_gmt":"2021-08-23T13:17:20","slug":"how-do-vultures-contribute-to-our-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/4vultures.org\/es\/blog\/how-do-vultures-contribute-to-our-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"How do vultures contribute to our environment?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"How
\u00a9 Pilar Oliva<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

How do vultures contribute to our environmentfor a healthy environment? To celebrate World Environment Day<\/a>, we are taking the opportunity to raise awareness about the vital role vultures play for a healthy environment.<\/p>\n

Vultures have a bad reputation. With their perceived \u2018ugliness\u2019 and scavenging behaviour, vultures are easy to defame.\u00a0Even naturalist Charles Darwin described them as \u2018disgusting\u2019. But when you look more closely, you\u2019ll realise the world is better off with vultures.<\/p>\n

Why do we need vultures?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vultures are often overlooked and perceived as lowly scavengers, but they play a crucial role in the environments in which they live. These scavengers do the dirty work of cleaning up after death, helping to keep ecosystems healthy and prevent the spread of disease.<\/p>\n

Vultures have an extremely corrosive stomach acid that allows them to consume rotting animal corpses. These scavenged leftovers are often infected with anthrax, botulinum toxins and rabies that would otherwise kill other animals. Therefore, when vultures consume carcasses, they keep\u00a0diseases in check.<\/p>\n

The importance of these magnificent birds is only truly felt when they suddenly disappear from an ecosystem. When vulture populations crashed in India as a result of feeding on the remains of animals that were treated with the veterinary drug diclofenac, the impacts nearly caused a public health catastrophe. The feral dog population leapt by 7 million, to 29 million animals over 11 years and generated an additional 38.5 million additional dog bites. It\u2019s believed as a result of these bites that deaths from rabies increased by nearly 50,000 in that time costing the Indian government $34 billion to fight the spread of the disease.<\/p>\n

The work of vultures is what is often referred to as ecosystem services, and this example from Spain illustrates the benefit the people receive from these birds, often without even realising.<\/p>\n