Cape Vultures

Circling high above the South African plains, nature's own sanitation crew spots another clean-up site. Cape vultures provide an invaluable service to the farmers below, disposing of carcasses and preventing the spread of disease. But Wild Chronicles has discovered that some vultures are dying, and the farmers may be playing a role.
1. How soon do vultures arrive to feast on a fresh carcass?
  
  Show Answer
  
  Vultures can arrive within minutes.
2. Why do some South African farmers put poison in carcasses on their land?
  
  Show Answer
  
  Farmers hope to poison jackals, a scavenger that also preys on livestock.
3. How is Dr. Gerhard Verdoorn working to reduce the unintended vulture deaths?
  
  Show Answer
  
  He is working with farmers to set more efficient, humane traps that only target jackals.

Term	Part of Speech	Definition	Encyclopedic Entry
carcass	Noun	dead body.
disease	Noun	harmful condition of a body part or organ.
farmer	Noun	person who cultivates land and raises crops.
invaluable	Adjective	priceless, or extremely valuable.
plain	Noun	flat, smooth area at a low elevation.	Encyclopedic Entry: plain
sanitation	Noun	promotion of hygiene, health, and cleanliness.
vulture	Noun	bird that mostly eats dead animals.

Credits

Media Credits

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

Editor

Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society

Producers

Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society
Nina Page, National Geographic Society

Last Updated

Nov. 16, 2016

User Permissions

For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact natgeocreative@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please visit our FAQ page.

Media

Some media assets (videos, photos, audio recordings and PDFs) can be downloaded and used outside the National Geographic website according to the Terms of Service. If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the lower right hand corner () of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.