But the vultures don't just follow the eagles to their next meal. They also use the sharp-beaked eagles as a way to better access food, letting them tear open tough carcasses - a talent that vultures lack - before swooping in and taking it all for themselves. - Halil

"Vultures were once the most abundant birds of prey in the world, but their numbers have been hammered in recent decades by habitat loss, inadvertent poisoning, and hunting," said Andrew Jackson, who supervised the research. "Our study shows, as is often the case in the tangled web of ecology, that it is important to consider other species when trying to conserve vultures. In this case, conserving early rising raptors may help to boost the chance that vultures find enough food to survive." - Halil

Sometimes we have a dozen vultures circling the ridge in front of our house, surfing the warm air as it rises up and away. Gorgeous to watch. - Todd Hoff

Extra news: July of last year, roughly 500 vultures died after they ate the pesticide-laced carcass of an elephant that had been killed by poachers in Namibia. It was an example of one poaching technique in Africa that seems to be on the rise: the poisoning of vultures so that authorities won’t be alerted to the location of the crime. http://raptorpolitics.org.uk/2014... - Halil