King Vulture

• comportamientoIts head and neck are vividly coloured, and it is usually first onto a large carcass because it can tear through hide that smaller vultures cannot.
• Its name comes from its rule over the carcass: the smaller vultures wait for it to arrive and open the hide, because its bill is the only one able to break it, and then withdraw while it eats.
• Unlike the turkey vulture, which locates carrion by smell, this bird has almost no sense of smell: studies suggest it follows the turkey vultures to the carcass and then displaces them.
• In the Maya codices it is depicted with its colourful head and is linked to a god who acted as a messenger between humans and the deities.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat and environment

Lowland rainforest, wooded savannah and gallery forest of tropical America

Sexual maturity

4 years

Gestation / incubation

57 days

Litter / clutch size

1 egg

Sources consulted: https://www.iucnredlist.org/ | https://animaldiversity.org/ | https://es.wikipedia.org/

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.