This is the first post in the Knowsley safari park (pictures here) sequel.
The first two pictures are from vulture feeding. It was an hour earlier than the Flight of the talons.
Vultures are my favourite birds, beautiful and so important for our survival as a species. A few years ago I would have said I like more an eagle or a hawk, but now, vultures are definitely the ones.
They have an amazing immune system. They are able to eat carrion with ebola, antrax, rabies, digest the meat and organs and neutralize the diseases. Having very strong beaks, they remove all the flesh from the bones, even the smallest piece. So, they are incredible good at eliminate all the terrible diseases that kill thousands of people.
But, as humans aren’t too concerned with this type of things and they kill the vultures in the wild, the diseases are spreading faster and faster.
It happened in India, when they poisoned the vultures by feeding a drug to cattle. The vultures died after eating their carcasses. The dead dogs with rabies remained uneaten as there were no vultures and the diseases had spread. In only a few years there were almost 50,000 more deaths due to rabies. The authorities took measures and banned the drug, but the vultures are almost extinct in India. The same thing is happening in Africa.
The keeper didn’t get into so many details in his presentation, but I was aware of the situation. The situation is getting better, as their numbers are not declining, but a few species are still on the verge of extinction.
In the movie the vultures are “fighting”, but in reality they can’t eat bigger pieces if there isn’t another vulture to pull from the other side. It doesn’t look good, but it’s not an actual fight.
Being able to see them eating in real life it was amazing. I saw details about their behaviour in different TV shows. It is so important to raise awareness. If you are at Knowsley, go and see the birds, listen to the keepers.
American eagle, beautiful, but not as fierce as one might think.
This owl is really incredible. It is strong enough to hunt small deer! Also, it has a rate 1 to 3 (kills to attempts). Pretty impressive for a bird that looks a little bit friendly.
Another beautiful vulture.
A small raven, less than 1 year old. He was there because he has to learn how to fly at this displays.
Kites, the lasts birds at the Flight of the talons. They are so fast, the lady threw pieces of meat in the air and they caught them.
It was an wonderful display, the birds are amazing, the keepers gave a lot of info. It was very interesting.
Do you like birds of prey? Have you been to Knowsley?
