We underestimated "Reaper" vultures, whose stomach acid is strong enough to corrode metals and prevent outbreaks in grasslands

Without vultures in the grasslands, it might seem like nothing to us, but in India and Nepal, as vulture numbers dwindle, the local area is becoming a breeding ground for the virus.

The decline of vultures has also affected the customs and culture here. In some places in India and Nepal, the custom of sky burial is still preserved. The so-called sky burial means that human remains are placed in a specific place to eliminate vultures in the sky.

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From a scientific point of view, celestial burial re-enters the ecological chain with the energy carried in the body, which is a more environmentally friendly way of burial. However, with the decline of vultures, people had to use cremation or burial to bury the dead.

So the question is, why are the vultures, which are not amazing and even ugly, so important in nature?

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Carrion: Vultures

Our human civilization not only admires the strong, but also sympathizes with the weak, so we can not only appreciate the brave and fearless fighting of lions, but also worry about the antelope being preyed on by lions. But vultures are not in the scope of human worship and pity, because vultures are opportunistic, they do not hunt by themselves, but when the prey dies they fly over for a free lunch.

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Although the ecological niche of vultures is not liked by humans, they are actually very important to the ecological environment, no less important than lions and antelopes.

Vultures are scavengers, and scavengers have a unique trick, that is: the stomach acid is very strong, this is because the carrion will contain a large number of microorganisms, and these microorganisms not only contain a large number of pathogenic bacteria but also many viruses. Carrion carries a risk of death.

But vultures have never been afraid of carrion, because their strong stomach acid can kill pathogenic bacteria and viruses in the carrion. The pH of human stomach acid is 1.5, which is strong enough, but the stomach acid in vultures is 10 times higher than that of humans, reaching a level of strong acid that can kill most microorganisms and even corrode metals.

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Although very few microorganisms can resist the strong acid mucus in the stomach of vultures, in the process of long-term evolution, vultures have been able to live peacefully with them, even if they carry a small amount of germs, they will not cause them to get sick. It is precisely because of this that vultures can not refuse carrion.

The role of vultures

Because of its scavenging properties, vultures become "scavengers" in the grasslands. We know that there are many remains in nature that have died due to illness or been captured by predators and have not been eaten. If these remains are left unchecked, microorganisms will come to decompose.

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Although microorganisms can decompose the remains completely, the decomposition rate of microorganisms is very slow. It may take half a month for a pig to decompose in a warm environment, and it may take half a year or even several years in a cold area to be completely decomposed.

During the process of decomposing the remains, some pathogenic bacteria will also participate and multiply in large numbers. These pathogenic bacteria may drift to the surrounding places with the action of running water or wind, polluting the nearby environment. If other animals accidentally drink water containing pathogenic bacteria, or come into contact with plants contaminated by pathogenic bacteria, it may cause the animals to become sick, and in severe cases, large-scale epidemics may occur on the grasslands, not only threatening local animals, but also also threaten humans.

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The existence of vultures solves this problem very well. The first is that vultures decompose remains very fast. Scientists have observed that vultures can swallow about 1 kilogram of meat in 1 minute, and a group of vultures can wipe out a giraffe in a very short time.

Secondly, the remains of giraffes will carry a large number of pathogenic bacteria and viruses. When these pathogenic bacteria and viruses enter the stomach of vultures, the strong stomach acid will kill most microorganisms, and at the same time, excrete feces containing fewer microorganisms. It has achieved the effect of purifying the grassland and prevented the six-star epidemic of infectious diseases in nature.

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The demise of the vulture

However, even the vultures, which are so important to the ecological environment, cannot escape the clutches of humans.

With the increase of the population, the phenomenon of humans crowding out the living space of wild animals has become more and more serious. In order to protect their livestock, some places will poison local carnivores or herbivores. For example, the Maasai used to hunt lions as a Lord, but now there are also many Maasai people who will poison lions.

A lion that died of poisoning would attract the attention of vultures, but some poison remained in the flesh of the lion, causing the vultures to also die of poisoning.

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On the other hand, poaching is serious in African grasslands. For example, elephants and rhinos are at risk of poaching. Poachers have found that once the elephants die, they will attract vultures, and the vultures will attract the attention of the environmental protection department. To kill the vultures, the poachers will poison the vultures.

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In addition to this, the dwindling local wildlife has also led to the vultures getting less and less food, so that their numbers are getting smaller and smaller.

However, when the number of vultures decreases by an order of magnitude, it will be difficult for the local creatures to be eliminated in a short time after death, and it is very easy to cause infectious diseases. In order to protect the local ecology, today's environmental protection organizations are also working hard to protect vultures and promote the importance of vultures to the world. sex.