Red Crowned Vulture

A large vulture native to Isolde's Frosted Fields, it gained its name from the red 'crown' that the vulture is given from consuming its meals, carcasses of large animals. While the vulture does prefer its food dead, it will not say no to any meal it can get, happily eating birds smaller than it or any small mammals it can find. There is no time to be picky when you live in a resource barren place like the Frost Fields.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The red crowned vulture is a white-feathered bird, with a pale bald head free of feathers. They have a large hooked beak, and large talons. It has large wings that use to soar from wind vents while searching for carrion, spanning 1.8 metres from wingtip to wingtip.

There is little difference between male and female red crowned vultures, and it is unlikely one could tell the difference from a distance.

Genetics and Reproduction

Red crowned Vultures build their nests in the various cliffs found around and in the Frosted Fields. They are monogamous, and mate with the same partner every year, unless their partner is deceased. For courtship, they start by circling each other in the air, before landing and continuing the same circling with large awkward hops. Usually, 1–3 eggs are laid. Both the male and the female share incubation and feeding duties, which generally involves hunting small mammals and birds to feed to their young.

Red crowned Vultures feed their young for months after they fledge, and the family generally stays together for six months.

Dietary Needs and Habits

The Red Crowned Vulture requires a large amount of carrion, which makes up the majority of their diet. They spot their target from above, before following it down. One vulture is quickly followed by others, who take the sight of a vulture on the ground as an easy sign that food is available. Given that the majority of dead creatures will be mostly frozen, the vulture uses its sharp talon and its hooked beak to break apart the ice into easier to swallow chunks. They have a strong stomach acid to kill off the majority of bacteria, for everything else they have a strong immune system. And given that they prefer their target food to be mammalian, their status as a bird means they are immune to many of the diseases that killed the food they now consume.

The one danger to the vulture from its food is poisons, which no acid or immune system does much about. This means that it would quickly accumulate through the population if a large amount of animals were to die to do a chemical substance.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

These vultures lack a developed sense of smell, instead relying on their amazing eyesight to spot the dead on the ground. This is largely due to an environment that encourages this, as in the Frosted Fields the decomposition process of dead organisms takes significantly longer than in warmer places. They generally spot the red snow that surrounds a prey animal.

Lifespan

10-20 years