The King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa) is also known as the condor of the jungle, royal condor, king vulture.
It is a carnivorous animal; it is a scavenger bird of the cathartidae family, which feeds on dead animals, which it perceives with its highly developed sight and smell.
Where does the Zopilote or king vulture live?
It inhabits tropical forests and is widely distributed from southern Mexico to Argentina, passing through the entire Amazon basin.
Renato Augusto Martins / CC BY-SA
It lives near bodies of water, as it needs to consume a lot of water to survive. His body is picturesque and even elegant. Its body plumage is mostly white, with soft shades of pink and yellow.
King vulture characteristics
It has a size of 67 to 81 cm, and weighs about 3, 4 kg. It is the third largest bird in the Americas. It can live in captivity for about 30 years.
Wing and tail feathers are almost black. Its head and neck lack feathers. The skin has shades of purple and red on the head, orange on the neck and yellow on the throat.
George Miquilena (public domain)
It has a very noticeable crest on top of its beak.
Behavior and reproduction of the King Vulture
It is not a migratory bird. Lives solitary or in small family groups.
It nests in tree hollows, where the female lays a single egg at a time. It has almost no predators, except for certain animals such as the jaguar and the snake.
Dr. Rafael Cartay is a Venezuelan economist, historian, and writer best known for his extensive work in gastronomy, and has received the National Nutrition Award, Gourmand World Cookbook Award, Best Kitchen Dictionary, and The Great Gold Fork. He began his research on the Amazon in 2014 and lived in Iquitos during 2015, where he wrote The Peruvian Amazon Table (2016), the Dictionary of Food and Cuisine of the Amazon Basin (2020), and the online portal delAmazonas.com, of which he is co-founder and main writer. Books by Rafael Cartay can be found on Amazon.com
This post is also available in:
Español (Spanish)
