Thursday, December 8, 2011

Bot Fly

Ever heard of a really disgusting story and an insect in a persons body? I bet you wouldn't like having an insect living in your body. In my science class we talked about ecology, of which one of the topics was about parasitism, which is a relationship between two organism of which one of them lives in/on the other organism and it harms it. In this case, I found a video of a man and a visitor enjoying his skin.. :)
It might be a bit disgusting, but I was really interested in it so I wanted to share!-Enjoy


Thursday, December 1, 2011

Egyptian Vulture/Neophron percnopterus

What is an Egyptian Vulture? What does it do? How does it survive? All your questions will be answered here!
The Egyptian Vulture is usually white with black on the edge of its wings, but it might appear to be soil like because of the place it lives in. They are usually found in Southwestern Europe, Northern Africa and southern Asia and savannas/forests.
"It is the only living member of the genus Neophron" -Wikipedia
Predator or pray?
Predator

Food
Insects
Eggs
Will even scavenge garbage

Interesting Fact
The Vulture is one of the only bird who knows how to "use" a stone tool
  • In South-eastern France Life-Nature project is trying to recover Egyptian Vulture since 2005
Defense
Flying
(Fighting)

Mating Season
Female and Male will create a nest on top of a rocky place where the view of everything is exposed, eggs hatch in about 42 days and after 3 month the little bird leave the nest.

Measurements
weight:1.6 to 2.0
length of 53-70 cm
wing-span of 155-170 cm
"The plumage is white tinged cream with black remiges in adults, dark brown in immatures."
Population:
10500-16800 individuals

Threats
"Disturbance, lead poisoning (from gun shot), direct poisoning, and electrocution (by powerlines) are currently impacting upon European populations"
Less area for them to survive in 

Video of the Egyptian  Vulture and its stone usage:

Bibliography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Vulture
http://www.dallaszooed.com/animalfacts/animalfacts.php?id=13&ci=7&li=9&name=DEF
http://www.waza.org/en/zoo/visit-the-zoo/birds-of-prey-1254385523/neophron-percnopterus
http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3371
http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/106003371/0