Re: more vulture stuff

["Berislav Krzic" <veselinka.stanisavac@siol.net>]

David A. McClintock wrote:
>Received two messages calling it the Egyptian vulture and saying that the
person killed was Sophocles.

The great Greek dramatist was killed by a falling tortoise??? I didn't know
that.

>>The dropping of bones to break them was apparently noted by the
ancients. Also that in the Atlas range the tortoise was their main prey.
It seems to me that you would need a heavy population of tortoises to
support these big birds. (By the way I didn't mean to sound ignorant -- I do
know
the difference between turtles and tortoises.)

Indeed Testudo graeca (European tortoise) was  REALLY abundant until a
couple of decades ago. Full truck-loads and train wagons have been
exported to the rest of Europe. When I was a little kid (eons ago) I used to
steal some with my friends from the warehouse in Zagreb (the poor creatures
were piled like woods, without water or food) and had them as pets (fun and
undemanding). Now it is endangered species in Croatia and protected by law
(from the last year).

>Their tool using proclivities are new to me.Such behavior is rather rare
among birds.

It is rare, but there are more examples in other species, too.


>Around here (Ohio) the turkey vulture is extremely common. Driving
40 miles you might see 6 to 12 overhead and occasionally four or five
indicating a choice carcass such as a dead cow or deer.

Vultures (Gyps fulvus) are extremely rare here ( in Slovenia and Croatia). I
drove near their nesting site on the Cres island (Croatia) a couple of years
ago, but couldn't spot any bird (there are just about 50 pairs).

Cheers!

Beri
Berislav Krzic
veselinka.stanisavac@siol.net
Beri's Dinosaur World
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/1638/index.html
Dinosaur Books
http://www2.siol.net/ext/zza/index.html