Gribber has a picture crisis. Seen as ugly and associated with death, they are among the least loved animals in the world. But conservationists in Africa try to change it.
They have launched an effort to save endangered vultures by trying to put a dollar figure on their incredible value.
A recent report from BirdLife International Conservation Organization estimated that Gribber is worth $ 1.8 billion a year to certain ecosystems in southern Africa, which may surprise anyone who is not familiar with cleaning up, pest control and anti-creep change performed by one of the most effective scavers on the plan.
“They are not up there on the beautiful scale. And they are not popular. But we know they are very useful,” said Fadzai Matsvimbo, an extermination prevention coordinator at Birdlife International.
The report comes at an important time for Africa’s vulture; Six of the 11 species found on the continent are listed as threatened or critically threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which says that vultures are very threatened in many parts of the world. In Africa, some species have fallen by almost 90%, Matsvimbo said.
Conservationists hope the report will make the authorities and the public more aware of the positive impact of vultures.
It focused on research in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe and shows how a wake of the vulture – the expression of a group of feeding hills – can strip a degradation of carcasses for hours, clean up ecosystems, reducing the chance of diseases and the presence of injuries such as rats and fale dogs.
Gribber also has extremely strong stomach acid, does not get food poisoning and are able to consume and neutralize anthrax, botulism and other bacteria and toxins in carcasses that would kill other animals and remove deadly threats from the environment. Just this week, more than 50 hippos died of suspected spleen fire poisoning in a reserve in the Congo.
Vultures is Nature’s “best sanitary services,” Matsvimbo said. Conservationists have raised the case of the drastic loss of vulture in India for the past 30 years and how it led to a health crisis. A study published last year said half a million people died in India due to the spread of bacteria and infections in the absence of vultures.
Matsvimbo said that vulture in Africa is also used as “Sentinels” by Game Rangers because they are often the first to spot a dead animal and can lead ranks to where poachers can be active. They have even proved useful to help farmers find dead or wounded livestock.
The vultures are unique among soil vertebrates in that they only live on the CARRION – dead animals. It makes them especially susceptible to poisoning of people, either on purpose of poachers and others who want to get rid of them, or by mistake when pests are the target. Hundreds of vultures can die of a single poisoned body.
Vultures are also killed regularly or dampened in collisions with power lines in Africa. And they are increasingly killed by faith-based reasons, said Kerri Wolter, CEO of VulPro Vulture Rehabilitation Center in South Africa, which treats sick and wounded vultures to be released back into the wild.
She said, because Vulture has such an excellent sight and instincts when it comes to finding a dead animal, they are considered by some to be clear and able to predict death. Their body parts, and especially their head, are used in potions or as charm to predict the future.
“Our work is to change the mindset of people,” Wolter said. “For them to see vultures and think, wow that’s great.”
Matsvimbo and Wolter both said that Vultures has been given a raw deal by Moviemakers in Hollywood, where they almost always appear as evil and creepy. Movies have done for vultures what “jaws” did for sharks, Wolter said.
“I love to see ‘The Lion King’, but every time they do the vulture part, my heart breaks,” Matsvimbo said. “The vultures are never made in a positive way. I have a bone to chew with these movies. Or should it be bones to choose?”
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Ap Africa News: https://apnews.com/hub/africa