Cleanup Crew

How do vultures prevent diseases from spreading?

Vultures won’t win any beauty contests, and we think of them as opportunistic beasts who feed on dead bodies. But they play an important part in the natural world—as the sanitation workers of the animal kingdom. Vultures are efficient scavengers who can eat anything. Their stomach acid is extremely potent, able to neutralize all the deadly bacteria found in decaying meat, preventing the spread of diseases. Those ugly bald heads are less likely to get infections tangled in them.

Vultures are social creatures who communicate with each other to find food as a team. Hashem has given them an often overlooked but very important role: as the sanitation department of the world.