King Vultures aka American King Vultures
Birds of Prey
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The King Vulture, Sarcoramphus papa, is the most strikingly colored of the New World vultures.
It is native to tropical lowland forests; its range extends from southern Mexico to southern Argentina, and it can be found at heights up to up to 1200 m.
The King Vulture has a yellow fleshy crest (wattle) on its bill, and the bare skin of its head is yellow and red. Its plumage is black and grey, but it has pink and yellow tinges. The eyes are straw-coloured in the adult. It is about 80 cm long. There is little sexual dimorphism: males and females have no difference in plumage and little in size. Usually only one egg is laid, and both parents incubate. Chicks have brown plumage, and do not acquire adult coloration until about 18 months of age.
In the hieroglyphics of the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization, the King Vulture stands for K'ib' (Cib), the 16th day of the 20-day "month" in the Maya calendar.
Behavior
In terms of behavior, King Vultures are typical vultures. They feed on dead animals, and soar looking for prey, but may also use olfaction (sense of smell) to help locate it; however some authors claim that they rely on Turkey Vultures and Condors to sniff out prey, and simply follow them to carcasses. Large groups may gather at a suitable carcass. At a carcass, the King Vulture is dominant over other species, but its greater strength means that it will often open carcasses that others are then able to exploit.
Systematics
Apparently, the genus Sarcorhamphus, which today contains only this species, had a wider distribution in the past. The Kern Vulture (Sarcoramphus kernense) from the Middle Pliocene of SW North America is not well documented and the single fossil humerus known is all but indistinguishable from the King Vulture save by their "greater size and robustness" (Miller, 1931); the large difference in time suggests it might be distinct though and as the fossil is somewhat damaged and rather non-diagnostic, even assignment to genus is not completely certain (Fisher, 1944). During the Late Pleistocene, a species probably assignable to the genus occurred in Peru (Sarcoramphus fisheri), but the supposed King Vulture from Cuba has turned out to be remains of the giant eagle Titanohierax borrasi (Suárez, 2001).
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