Wouldn’t a Fan Work Better?
On a blazing hot day, there’s nothing quite as refreshing as peeing all over your legs. At least, that’s what you do if you’re a vulture. Turkey vultures and black vultures, the two types that live in Copper’s hometown, are known for using this kind of gross technique called urohidrosis to chill the legs down a few degrees.
When it's hot, they pee.
If you want to see this particular turkey vulture behavior . . . wait, why would you want to see that? Okay, it probably would be kind of funny. You don’t have to be a whiz kid to figure out how to see this one. You’ll just have to spend some time watching a group of vultures on a warm day and then just hope that you’re lucky. Would that really be lucky, though? Would you feel relieved if you got to see it?
Stay cool with some of this cool stuff about keeping cool.
Vultures are really cool (
see what I did there?) creatures and not nearly as creepy as people think they are. They are very important for helping clean up dead things that might otherwise lead to more disease for the rest of us. It’s a good thing that vultures are willing to do their duty and answer the call of nature for all of us.
Kids, remember to ask a parent, teacher, or librarian for help whenever you are looking for books or using the Internet. I always try to make sure to share kid-friendly books and resources, but websites are changing all the time, so always check with an adult first.
- Did you know that part of the reason vultures may pee and poop on their legs is to . . . clean themselves? Get some of the disgusting details in this episode of Gross Science from PBS: https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/nvgs-sci-vultures/wgbh-nova-gross-science-why-dont-vultures-get-food-poisoning/
- Unfortunately (fortunately?) this video from the National Park Service won’t show you turkey vultures cooling off, but you will see one of the ways they warm up on a cool day. Whenever you see vultures standing with their wings spread wide, they may be warming themselves up or perhaps drying out their feathers. This pose is referred to as the “horaltic pose.”
https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=6395FF65-F3C0-4D44-BB28-59E0CF55730A - If you want to be sure you’re watching a turkey vulture, this NatureNote from South Carolina’s famous naturalist, Rudy Mancke, breaks down some of the differences between turkey vultures and black vultures. Fortunately (unfortunately?) black vultures use the same peculiar way of cooling off that turkey vultures use, so no matter which one you watch, you might just see the pee. https://www.southcarolinapublicradio.org/show/naturenotes/2023-08-28/black-vulture-vs-turkey-vulture