Cinereous Vulture
Aegypius monachus

Cinereous vultures get a bad rap (that tends to be the case when you devour rotting animals). Contrary to their image as scary scavengers of the desert, the massive birds are actually cleaner than some of their winged cousins. You could even say fastidious.

“They spend a good part of their day preening, and they regularly bathe in their pool,” explains Chris Fuehrmeyer, lead keeper at Regenstein Birds of Prey Exhibit. “Ask any keeper here, and they’ll tell you these birds are beautiful.”

The massive brown birds, native to parts of Europe and Asia, are perfectly designed for their grisly eating habits. One of the most predatory vultures, the cinereous vulture has short head-feathers that collect less blood than long feathers would when the bird is burying its beak into, say, a yak’s stomach. And a third lid keeps blood and gristle from entering the eyes.

Of course, dinnertime doesn’t look particularly clean. The cinereous vulture’s tough talons and brawny beak can tear tough pieces of flesh that other birds can’t access. As such, smaller birds defer to cinereous vultures when they arrive at a carcass—the big birds get first pickings.

The pair at the zoo, male Bruno and the delicately named female, Lurch, shares their exhibit with a couple of European white storks. The graceful white birds generally avoid their larger roommates, which pose little threat, as these vultures are fed a healthy diet of rats, carnivore feed and beef bones.

During your next zoo visit, once you get past the instinctual shiver that occurs upon spotting them, pause a moment to appreciate the cinereous vultures—one of nature’s most misunderstood marvels. But don’t stand still too long…you don’t want to give them any ideas.