Head and neck usually naked, and the former frequently more or less
carunculated, or with the skin wrinkled; bill, strong, rather lengthened
and strongly hooked; claws, usually moderate, and but slightly curved;
wings, usually long and powerful. Size, generally large; body, heavy.
General structure adapted to the destruction of dead animals
exclusively, but a few species do not hesitate to attack young or feeble
animals when living.
Inhabit the temperate and the warm regions of the earth, but are much
more numerous in the latter. There are about twenty known species of
Vultures.