science

New World vulture

New World vulture is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand New World vulture rather than just read about it. In short: Cathartidae, commonly known as New World vultures and condors, are a family of birds of prey consisting of seven extant species in five genera. It includes five extant vultures and two extant condors found in the Americas.

Key takeaways

New World vulture belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect New World vulture to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of New World vulture from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Cathartidae, commonly known as New World vultures and condors, are a family of birds of prey consisting of seven extant species in five genera. It includes five extant vultures and two extant condors found in the Americas. They are known as "New World" vultures to distinguish them from Old World vultures, with which the Cathartidae does not form a single clade despite the two being similar in appearance and behavior as a result of convergent evolution. Like other vultures, New World vultures are scavengers, having evolved to feed off of the carcasses of dead animals without any notable ill effects. Some species of New World vulture (Cathartes sp.) have a good sense of smell, whereas Old World vultures find carcasses exclusively by sight. Other adaptations shared by both Old and New World vultures include a bald head, devoid of feathers which helps prevent rotting matter from accumulating while feeding, and an extremely disease-resistant digestive system to protect against dangerous pathogens found in decaying meat.

Taxonomy and systematics

The family Cathartidae was introduced (as the subfamily Cathartinae) by the French ornithologist Frédéric de Lafresnaye in 1839. The New World vultures comprise seven species in five genera, being Coragyps, Cathartes, Gymnogyps, Sarcoramphus, and Vultur. Of these, only Cathartes is not monotypic. The family's scientific name, Cathartidae, comes from cathartes, Greek for "purifier". Although New World vultures and Old World vultures are not very closely related, they share many resemblances because of convergent evolution. Phylogenetic analyses including all Cathartidae species found two primary clades. The first consists of black vultures (Coragyps atratus) together with the three Cathartes species (lesser yellow-headed vultures (C. burrovianus), greater yellow-headed vultures (C. melambrotus), and turkey vultures (C. aura)), while the second consists of king vultures (Sarcoramphus papa), California condors (Gymnogyps californianus) and Andean condors (Vultur gryphus). New World vultures were traditionally placed in a family of their own in the Falconiformes. However, in the late 20th century some ornithologists argued that they are more closely related to storks on the basis of karyotype. Thus some authorities placed them in the Ciconiiformes with storks and herons; Sibley and Monroe (1990) even considered them a subfamily of the storks. This was criticized and an early DNA sequence study was based on erroneous data and subsequently retracted. However, a 2021 analysis of mitochondrial genes suggested a stronger phylogenetic relationship between Cathartiformes and Accipitriformes, New World vultures were previously placed in the order Cathartiformes. However, a 2021 analysis of mitochondrial genes suggested a stronger phylogenetic relationship between Cathartiformes and Accipitriformes and they are now placed in the same order as Old World vultures. Recent multi-locus DNA studies on the evolutionary relationships between bird groups indicate that New World vultures are related to the other birds of prey, excluding the Falconidae. This analysis argues that New World vultures should either be a part of the new order Accipitriformes or part of the order Cathartiformes closely related to, but distinct from, other birds of prey. Many taxonomists, including the IOC, now agree that New World vultures are part of Accipitriformes, along with families Accipitridae (buzzards, eagles, harriers, hawks, kites, and Old World vultures), Pandionidae (osprey), and Sagittariidae (secretarybird). However, the American Ornithological Society, Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) taxonomy, and eBird/Clements taxonomy maintain Cathartidae as the only family within order Cathartiformes. These families are basal members of the recently recognized clade Afroaves.

Extinct species and fossils The fossil history of the Cathartidae is complex, and many taxa that may possibly have been New World vultures have at some stage been treated as early representatives of the family. There is no unequivocal European record from the Neogene.

It is clear that the Cathartidae had a much higher diversity in the Plio-Pleistocene, rivalling the current diversity of Old World vultures and their relatives in shapes, sizes, and ecological niches. Extinct taxa include:

Gobicathartes Late Eocene of Mongolia Diatropornis Late Eocene/Early Oligocene – ?Middle Oligocene of France Phasmagyps Chadronian of Colorado Brasilogyps Late Oligocene/Early Miocene of Brazil Hadrogyps Middle Miocene of SW North America Cathartidae gen. et sp. indet. Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Lee Creek Mine, US Pliogyps Late Miocene – Late Pliocene of S North America Perugyps Pisco Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of SC Peru Dryornis Early – Late? Pliocene of Argentina; may belong to modern genus Vultur Cathartidae gen. et sp. indet. Middle Pliocene of Argentina Aizenogyps Late Pliocene of SE North America Breagyps Late Pleistocene of SW North America Geronogyps Late Pleistocene of Argentina and Peru Gymnogyps varonai Late Quaternary of Cuba Wingegyps Late Pleistocene of Brazil Pleistovultur Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene of Brazil Cathartidae gen. et sp. indet. Cuba Gymnogyps amplus Late Pleistocene – Holocene of W North America Kuntur cardenasi (Stucchi et al. 2015)

Description

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Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with New World vulture

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what New World vulture claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to New World vulture before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about New World vulture ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of New World vulture

In research: New World vulture appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses New World vulture in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: New World vulture is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Birds of prey of the Americas, Cathartidae, Eocene birds, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for New World vulture outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study New World vulture in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what New World vulture means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain New World vulture out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is New World vulture in simple terms?

Why does New World vulture matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study New World vulture?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on New World vulture.