In honor of vulture awareness day, let me ask you a question.
Do you love vultures?
You should.
Here’s why:
1, They are simultaneously the most majestic, and the most f*cking derpy of birbs. Observe -
2. THEY’RE SO FUCKING BADASS. We all know that they eat dead things. Eww, right? Wrong. They’re capable of digesting fucking rabies, cholera, hundreds of strains of bacteria that would straight up kill your ass given the chance. They deserve ALL of the respect, but they don’t get any, because ‘eww they eat dead things’.
3. THEY ARE FUCKING AMAZING AT WHAT THEY DO - Some of the highest flying birds ever recorded, with amazing eyesight and smell. Vultures are highly specialised - yes, that means they sometimes have bald heads. So what? People are all over sphinx cats and those semi-hairless dogs.
4. If you think they’re ugly, well, look at these precious babs and tell me you still don’t feel anything:
I have more reasons, but, look, I’ll just get straight to the point:
THEY’RE GOING EXTINCT, AND MORE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW.
Populations of some vultures have fallen more than 90% in the last 20 years, and that’s scary as fuck. Reasons for this range from livestock carcasses being contaminated with certain drugs, to poachers killing them off because vultures give them away. But whatever the reasons, they’re dying off fast, and we need to act before it’s too late. We need to help protect them and conserve them as much if not more than some of the ‘cuter’ endangered creatures.
So what can you do? Here are some useful links if you want to learn more:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/joinandhelp/donations/campaigns/vultures/
http://www.hawk-conservancy.org/Documents/HCT_IVP_leaflet_2013_E_ver.pdf
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/africanvultures
http://www.tusk.org/vulture-conservation-project
http://www.save-vultures.org/
http://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/news/international-vulture-awareness-day-%E2%80%93-no-cause-celebration
http://www.vulpro.com/
https://tristatebird.org/adoptavulture/
https://webcamvultures.wordpress.com/adopt-a-vulture/
http://www.wwfpak.org/species/Vulture.php
Please consider helping our seldom appreciated vulture buddies, either by donating, or even just by helping to change their bad reputation!!
They really are amazing birds ~ thank you for sticking with my long-ass post
:P
are there animals that use cosmetics? ya know, not for stuff like protection, but actually for the ✨looks✨
bearded vultures deliberately dustbathe in the reddest dirt they can find to give themselves a bloody appearance that others of their kind find attractive!
this is also the most on-brand animal fact I think I've ever written about, BOY HOWDY.
Canadian engineering team Aerovelo just broke their own world record in the Eta, a recumbent bicycle fitted with a windowless, egg-like shell. Most of the incredibly efficient machine is built of carbon fiber. The engine is muscle, sweat and sinew – engineer Todd Reichert.
I’ve covered Aerovelo’s efforts before: in 2012, they were racing to build a human powered helicopter. They succeeded in 2013.
Here’s a video I made about their competitors, a team of graduate students and undergrads from the University of Maryland.
mlem mlem mlem mlem
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Snow days are fun because frosty conditions make the birds flock to the feeders. It is of course looking especially pretty when the sun is shining too. All the pretty snow has pretty much melted already but here is a little visitor medley from earlier.
thinking bout owls
No thoughts. Just float
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OMFG.
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