New World vulture
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The New World vulture family Cathartidae contains seven species found in North and South America. It includes five vultures and two condors.
New World vultures are most probably not closely related to Old World vultures or other diurnal raptors, which themselves are often classified in different orders. They resemble Old World vultures because of convergent evolution and are usually considered to be more closely related to storks, as is reflected by their placement in the Ciconiiformes.
A related extinct family were the Teratornithidae or Teratorns, essentially an exclusively American counterpart to the New World vultures - the latter were, in prehistoric times, also present in Europe and possibly even evolved there. The Incredible Teratorn is sometimes called "Giant Condor" because it must have looked similar to the modern bird. They were, however, not very closely related but rather an example of parallel evolution.
The five species of vulture are:
- Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
- Greater Yellow-headed Vulture Cathartes melambrotus
- Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture Cathartes burrovianus
- King Vulture Sarcorhamphus papa
- American Black Vulture Coragyps atratus
- Californian Condor Gymnogyps californianus
- Andean Condor Vultur gryphus
External links
- [New World vulture videos] on the Internet Bird Collection
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