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DK Find Out! | Fun Facts for Kids on Animals, Earth, History and more!

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Visit DK Find Out! to learn about dinosaurs, space, animals, nature & more. Fun learning activities for kids with videos, quizzes & galleries at DKFindOut.com

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Wonderopolis...DO Vultures Get Belly Aches?

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Wonderopolis...DO Vultures Get Belly Aches?

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Hey! What's that...up ...there in the of the road? As you're riding down the highway, you several large black objects in the of the road. Those aren't supposed to be there!

As you get closer, you see them moving. They're animals! What's going on here? When your vehicle gets even closer, you recognize that they're large birds. You also see that there's something else lying in the road that has attracted these birds to a spot in the of the highway.

When you're nearly upon them, the birds fly up into the air out of the way. You pass by the of a dead animal. It's roadkill! And that means those large birds of must be vultures! The sight of the dead, rotting animal makes your stomach turn.

How can vultures eat roadkill? The sight of the turns your stomach, so how can eating that not give vultures a belly ?

Vultures are indeed scavengers that upon the carcasses of dead animals, also known as . While this may seem disgusting to humans, we should actually be thanking vultures for the important job they do for our environment .

Vultures are like nature's cleaning crew. Animals get hit by automobiles. They also die from predator attacks, diseases, and even natural causes in the wild. Our world would be a whole lot messier if all these animal carcasses were left to .

By eating , vultures clean up the environment and help to prevent the spread of diseases. When a group of vultures eats a freshly-killed animal, they prevent bacteria and other microbes from spreading through the environment .

How can vultures stand to eat , though? If we humans were to eat , we would get severely ill. We might even die if the was infected with deadly pathogens, such as anthrax, cholera, botulism, or salmonella.

Vultures don't get sick, though. In fact, they thrive on their steady diet of . Their first secret is that they, too, try to avoid rotting meat. Vultures prefer that has only recently been killed. As gets older and turns especially rotten, vultures will avoid it and look for fresher meat.

Even freshly-killed meat can contain plenty of diseases, though. Vultures fortunately possess a very strong immune system and a stomach like iron. In fact, a vulture's stomach acid has a pH level near zero, which is similar to that of battery acid!

The vulture's extremely acidic stomach kills most bacteria and parasites before they ever reach the bird's intestines. Recent studies of vultures' intestinal microbes found that two types of microbes tend to thrive: Clostridia, which can produce toxins like botulism, and Fusobacteria, which can be flesh-eating. Researchers believe the presence of these microbes in vultures reveals that they have become immune to many pathogens and toxins, which allows them to thrive on .

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Hey! What's that...up ...there in the of the road? As you're riding down the highway, you several large black objects in the of the road. Those aren't supposed to be there! As you get closer, you see them moving. They're animals! What's going on here?

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Today's Wonder of the Day was inspired by Andrew from AL. Andrew Wonders, " What was the kraken? " Thanks for WONDERing with us, Andrew!

Ask any group of pirates and they'll tell you bone-chilling tales of terror on the open seas. From hurricanes to tsunamis, sailing the oceans can be a business. But weather isn't the only danger to contend with. There's always the fear of being attacked by sea creatures!

Or at least that's what most pirates will tell you. But can you really believe them? After all, pirates can be a shifty bunch.

Pirates certainly have many legends to fuel their fear of giant sea monsters. One such legendary is called the Kraken. It supposedly lived in the depths of the sea off the coasts of Norway and Iceland.

"Kraken" comes from the German word for " octopus." This has likely influenced the way artists have painted the Kraken. It often appears as a large with many arms. In many cases, the arms reach as high as the top of a ship's main mast.

Legends hold that no ship could stand up to the Kraken. The could easily sink ships by wrapping its many arms around them. The ship's crew would either drown or be eaten by the monster.

These are certainly tales. But the Kraken legends may have been based on a real : the giant squid. Giant squid have long and can grow up to 40-50 feet in length. They usually live deep in the sea. But they've been known to and attack ships from time to time.

The Kraken gained fame in 1830 when Alfred Tennyson published his called "The Kraken." In it, he described a huge sea that lived in the depths of the ocean and rose only to attack ships.

Today, the Kraken is alive and well in popular culture, including video games and theme park rides. Many modern movies also scenes in which the Kraken attacks from the depths of the sea!

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You simply won't believe today's monster-sized Wonder of the Day!

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DK Find Out! | Fun Facts for Kids on Animals, Earth, History and more!

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Visit DK Find Out! to learn about dinosaurs, space, animals, nature & more. Fun learning activities for kids with videos, quizzes & galleries at DKFindOut.com

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Vultures are nature's garbage men. They might not have the cleanest job, but without them, earth would get pretty stinky.

Vultures eat animals that have died in the wild. Without them, these animals would rot and smell.

Vultures have bodies made for this job. Their heads and necks are almost bare so they stay clean while feasting on rotten meat. Vultures also have strong immune systems so they don't get sick. If you ate rotten meat, you'd probably get pretty sick, but vultures do just fine.

Fun Facts about Vultures for Kids

Vultures have wide, strong wings. They can glide in the air for hours looking for a meal.

Vultures eat as much as they can at one meal. They never know when the next meal will come.

These big birds sometimes attack sick or dying animals.

Vultures live in every part of the world except Australia and the Antarctica.

Some vultures are endangered.

Vulture Vocabulary

Learn More All About Vultures

Check out this amazing video about the King Vulture, the most beautiful vulture:

Most vultures aren't really what you would call attractive, except for one. This is a video documentary about the King Vulture, the most beautiful vulture.

Vulture Q&A

Question: How do vultures eat their prey?

Answer: Vultures have sharp hooked beaks and talons. They can also use tools. Vultures sometimes drop eggs to break them or hit them against rocks.

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Question: Why are vultures a symbol of death?

Answer: Vultures often appear when an animal is dying or dead. Egyptians and Native Americans used vultures in burial ceremonies.

Enjoyed the Easy Science for Kids Website all about Vultures info? Take the FREE & fun Vultures quiz and download FREE Vultures worksheet for kids. For lengthy info click here.

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Vultures are nature's garbage men. They might not have the cleanest job, but without them, earth would get pretty stinky. Vultures eat animals that have died in the wild. Without them, these animals would rot and smell. Vultures have bodies made for this job.

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Vampire Squid Facts - Vampyroteuthis infernalis

Author of the illustration: Carl Chun

Description

The name of this particular squid is very different, as is the overall appearance of it. The black color is distinct enough in itself. The fact that the long arms flow like a black cape remind many people of a vampire wearing one. The arms have suckers that are hard to see unless you look up close at one.

This is a small squid, approximately one foot in length. The eyes are very often seen as red. They can also appear to be blue though depending on how much light is available when you see one.

Distribution

The tend to be living in the tropical waters that are warmer for them to move around in. They also live in the depths of the water where their dark color helps to serve as camouflage for them to avoid predators. Generally they will live in water that is no more than 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

Behavior

One of the most unique behaviors of the Vampire Squid is that they seem to be flying through the water. Such movements are the result of how they flap their fins to move around. They have the ability to slow down their metabolism to a very low rate. This is how they are able to live in the very cold waters.

It doesn't have ink to shoot out when it feels it is being threatened. Instead this type of squid offers a type of mucus that shoots out. The mucus is sticky and it can continue to come out for up to ten minutes. It allows the squid to hide from predators as they aren't very fast swimmers.

Diet /Feeding

The jaws of the Vampire Squid are extremely powerful. However, researchers aren't fully sure of what all this type of squid consumes. Some theories include a variety of small invertebrates. They don't need to eat very much though due to their low metabolism. It is believed that it only has to feed a few times per week. This is key to their survival too since it can be difficult at times to find enough food.

Reproduction

It is believed that the Vampire Squid reproduce by the males depositing sperm into the sac of the female. She will deposit fewer eggs than other species and they are also larger in size. The females may store the sperm though for several weeks before they allow it to fertilize the eggs. She will stay in the general area of these deposited eggs until they are ready to hatch. This can take about 13 months.

The females will die soon after their offspring are born. They don't need to feed for the first few weeks of life. Instead they have an internal type of yolk that they are able to get nutritional value from.

Conservation

Many people are interested in protecting the Vampire Squid due to the unique design of it. They also know too many people have a false conception of it due to the look of it. Those that know better try to educate others so that the false information is less likely to continue spreading.

Human interaction

The Vampire Squid was first identified in 1903. However, it was misclassified as an octopus at that time. Contrary to popular myths this type of squid doesn't pose any threat at all to humans. Those stories likely developed based on the appearance of this species.

Due to the fact that they live more than 3,000 feet below the surface of cold water areas, not much is known about human interactions with them. Most of the time it is either calculated research or a fishermen accidentally captures one.

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Author of the illustration: Carl Chun The name of this particular squid is very different, as is the overall appearance of it. The black color is distinct enough in itself. The fact that the long arms flow like a black cape remind many people of a vampire wearing one.

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Vampire squid is a type of small cephalopod. This animal can be found in temperate and tropical oceans around the world. It lives on a depth of 2000 to 3000 feet at the temperature of 2 to 3 degrees of Celsius. Vampire squid was discovered at the beginning of the 20th century.

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Giant squid size, particularly total length, has often been exaggerated. Reports of specimens reaching and even exceeding 20 m (66 ft) are widespread, but no animals approaching this size have been scientifically documented. According to giant squid expert Steve O'Shea, such lengths were likely achieved by greatly stretching the two tentacles like elastic bands.