Egyptian vultures

I have spent the last few months getting to know two amazing Egyptian vultures. I thought you might want to get to know Egyptian vultures as well.

Kevin, an Egyptian vulture in adult plumage

Bob, a 3 year old Egyptian vulture,
still in mostly juvenile plumage.

Egyptian vultures are native to northern Africa, as their name would suggest, but they are also found in southern Europe across the Middle East and Asia to India and Nepal. They tend to prefer hilly and dry habitats, and nest on cliff ledges.

While other vulture species are seen in large groups, Egyptian vultures tend to be seen either solitary or in pairs. Often a mated pair may remain together outside of the nesting period, a trait unusual for raptors.

Kevin coming in to land after a Parahawking flight.

Kevin landing, you can just see my outline at the right of the photo.

Weighing 3 to 4 pounds with a 5 to 5.5 foot wingspan, Egyptian vultures are the smallest vultures in Europe and Asia.  

Due to their small size, they aren’t often seen at large carcasses, being unable to fight the larger vultures for the food. Instead they will arrive at a carcass after the larger vultures have left, and will use their smaller beaks to pick the remaining meat from the bones. They will also eat insects, vegetable matter, eggs, and feces, and are often seen scavenging at garbage dumps. 

Vultures are probably the smartest of the raptors. (Many people think of the “wise old owl” as the smartest of birds, but just think of those large owl eyes… the eyes that take up between 50-75% of the space in an owl’s skull. The “wise old owl” is a myth.) Egyptian vultures prove their intelligence by being one of the few birds that are known to use tools. The African population of Egyptian vultures has found that ostrich eggs make a good meal. Of course the eggs are too large for the vultures to pick up with beak or talons, and the shells are too strong for them to crack easily, so the clever birds have learned to pick up a smooth rock in their beaks and throw it at the egg until the shell cracks.

 

Bob picking up a chicken egg and throwing it on the ground to crack it. 

Kevin and Bob, the two Egyptian vultures at Himalayan Raptor Rescue, are fed chicken eggs as a treat. These eggs, they quickly figured out, are small enough to pick up with their beaks. To get at the food inside these eggs, they just need to pick up the egg and drop it on the ground until it cracks.  

Bob has just cracked the shell and gotten inside the egg.

The trick is dropping the egg gently enough that the contents aren’t splattered all over the ground, but hard enough that the shell cracks. Kevin, at 5 years of age, has mastered the technique. It only takes him one or two tries until the shell is cracked just enough that he can then get his beak inside. Bob, at 3 years of age, is still working on his egg-cracking skills. A year ago, he would crash every egg into the ground, and then spend ages slurping up as much of the contents from the ground as he could. Now he is over-compensating, and dropping each egg so gently on the ground that it takes him longer to open the egg than to eat it. He will soon get the hang of it, and be a master egg opener, just like Kevin.

Ancient Egyptians revered Egyptian vultures because of their intelligence, as well as their important role of cleansing the environment of carcasses. The vultures were associated with royalty and with Egyptian goddesses such as Isis and Mut, and were often referred to as the Pharaoh’s chicken. They were the first protected species, as the Pharaoh respected them to such an extent that he made killing an Egyptian vulture punishable by death.

Despite the ancient Egyptians’ best efforts, today Egyptian vultures are listed as Endangered species. They are vulnerable to pollution, poisoning and electrocution from power lines, and - as with many other vultures in Asia - they are declining due to the veterinary drug diclofenac. Diclofenac has been banned for veterinary use since 2006 in Nepal, India and Pakistan, and hopefully we will soon see a rise in Egyptian vulture populations again in these areas.

Kevin and Bob are great ambassadors, showing that vultures deserve our respect and admiration for what they do, and helping spread the word about the vulture crisis in Asia. 

Chitwan National Park

“Wait! Stop!” Our guide for our jungle trek stops in his tracks, and then frantically motions us to move back behind the tree. We back-up oblingingly and wait quietly. Chitwan National Park, with its rhinoceros, elephants, tigers and sloth bears, is not the type of place where you want to charge ahead of your guide. We can hear something large slowly moving through the grass ahead of us. We can’t see the source of the noise, as the grass is named elephant grass for a reason: it is tall enough to hide an elephant.

Shh, there's something ahead in the grass

All we can do is stand by the one tree big enough to provide us some protection and wait. We watch the rustling grass move closer to the opening of our trail, until we are able to make out an ear through the grass, then the rest of the animal comes into view, and we find ourselves facing a one-horned rhinoceros.

Our first glimpse...

One-horned rhinoceros

It is a unique experience to be face to face with such a large animal (rhinos can get to well over 6,000 lbs) with no protective fencing in between. The advice our guide gave us at the start of our jungle walk was to either climb or hide behind a tree if we came across a rhino. The one large tree nearby wasn't climbable, and wasn't quite large enough to fit all 7 of us behind it. As the large animal lumbered onto the path, it turned towards us and regarded us for a moment. Rhinos are known for their poor eyesight, and if this one perceived us as some type of threat, it could easily charge. I held my breath, we took photos, and soon it decided we were of no interest and it continued its slow grazing walk. 

This was on the first morning we were in Chitwan National Park, but this was not the first rhinoceros we saw in Chitwan. The night before, after checking into our hotel and getting some food, we took a walk around the town of Sauraha - the tourist base for visiting the park. As the sun started dropping low across the terai, we saw a group of people gathered at the river, and we went over to see what they were looking at. A large rhino was grazing on some grass just across a branch of the river. He was completely ignoring the crowd of people staring and taking photos of him, just enjoying his evening meal. 

One-horned rhinoceros who was hanging out just across
the river from the main section of town on the night we arrived.

We saw four of the endangered one-horned rhinoceros during our 3 days in Chitwan. After malaria was eradicated in the 1950s, and people started moving to Nepal's terai region in droves, Chitwan's rhinos became the victims of poaching and their populations dropped to less than 100. They were the reason for the creation of Nepal's first national park. The populations were steadily increasing until the Maoist takeover caused a near elimination of park patrols. From a high in 2000 of over 600 rhinos, today there are around 400 rhinos in the park. Poaching patrols have started again, and the numbers are again increasing. 

The third rhinoceros we saw over 3 days -
we didn't get a photo of the fourth

Then of course, there were all the other wild animals we saw. Nepal is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, containing 10% of the world's species. Chitwan National Park is one of the most biodiverse areas in Nepal. Over the course of 3 days, and from a jungle trek, jeep safari and elephant safari, we saw a number of animals. Here are some of them...

Marsh mugger crocodile

Oriental pied hornbill

Spotted deer

Rhesus macaque

Crested serpent eagle

Gharial - a strange looking crocodile

We didn't see any wild elephants in Chitwan, although they are found there, but we had a number of elephant encounters.  The first night we were there, we came across one of the working elephants who was in his shelter for the night. His caretakers were making snack balls for him, grass wrapped around a chewy filling. We asked if we could feed him, and were each handed one of the finished snack balls. As I approached the elephant, he lifted his trunk and gently took the snack ball from my hands.

Feeding the elephant

We also inadvertently timed our visit to coincide with the International Elephant Races. We were able to catch one of the final races. All the elephants are decorated with chalk and paint and different colored banners. They line up at the starting line, and wait fairly patiently for the gun to fire. Then they run. If you've never seen an elephant run, it is somehow very comical. Watch the movie below to see. You can also see how seriously Nepalis take their elephant races!

At the 7th Annual International Elephant Races

Waiting at the starting line

Decorated and ready to run

Another elephant encounter we had during our time in Chitwan, was a visit to the Elephant Breeding Center. You are able to go there and interact with the baby elephants until mid-morning, at which time they take all the elephants to the jungle to feed. We didn't make it out to the breeding center until mid-morning, and were told we were too late, the elephants are gone, we should come back in late afternoon when they return from the jungle. We started to walk back the way we came, but then we saw a line of elephants of all ages leaving from the back of the center and making their way to the river. Of course, we followed them. We walked along with the elephants, including one very playful younger elephant who was running along and trumpeting the whole way. We watched them drinking and bathing in the river, before they headed off to the jungle.

Sean making friends with a baby elephant near the
Elephant Breeding Center

I'm sure I could have spent another full week in Chitwan and still not have seen everything. I would love to visit there again!