If you don’t want to be disgusted, STOP READING NOW. But, if you enjoy getting a little grossed out, keep going! One of the turkey vulture’s favorite meals is the dead animals you see on the side of the road. The turkey vulture is a pretty peaceful bird, so it doesn’t like to hunt or to fight with other animals. Because of this, the vulture eats things that are already dead. If another animal threatens the vulture, instead of fighting it throws up its last meal. As you can imagine, the smell alone is enough to make most other animals back off.

One other gross adaptation of the vulture is its own special form of air conditioning. Since a vulture can’t sweat, it will pee and poop down its legs to keep itself cool. Surprisingly this keeps the vulture healthy. The pee and poop contain acids that kill bacteria the vulture might pick up from dead animals. The turkey vulture’s bald head helps with the dangers of bacteria too. If the vulture had feathers on its head, food would become stuck in them. Very little food sticks to the vulture’s bald head and what does bakes off easily in the sun.

Though it sounds like the turkey vulture isn’t the most pleasant bird to have around, it has a very important purpose in the natural world. Without the turkey vulture, there would be a lot of dead animals lying around that would not only look gross, but that could also carry bacteria that make us and other animals sick. It’s a dirty job, so luckily the vulture is there to do it!