Vulture Vomit ice cream to be launched at Paradise Park Vulture Awareness Weekend

Paradise Park staff are supporting International Vulture Awareness Day on the 4th September by holding a weekend event running both Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th September.

One of the more unusual highlights will be the launch of a new ‘Vulture Vomit’ ice cream being made especially for the event by Roskilly’s of Helston.

Curator David Woolcock explains “ Vultures are an ecologically vital group of birds that face a range of threats in many areas that they occur. Populations of many species are under pressure and some species are facing extinction. So we really wanted to be involved and do our bit to help raise awareness. I’m sure that Vulture Vomit ice cream will go down well!”

Roskilly’s Sales and Marketing Executive Olly Godfrey said “This has to be one of the oddest requests we have ever had, but we are delighted to be able to help in raising awareness of this vital campaign. Once you hear about the plight that Vultures face and the effect they have on the environment, you really start to look at them in a new light and realise just how important they are. So although the name ‘Vulture Vomit’ ice cream may not be the most attractive, it certainly catches your attention, and the kids will love it. The ice cream will be a mix of . . . well perhaps we should keep that a secret and you will just have to come and try some at the Vulture Awareness weekend event.”

David Woolcock continues “ To give you the more gory details, vultures vomit when alarmed or threatened to make themselves lighter for swifter take off. Also they do it as a defensive or threat mechanism. Then wild dogs often feed upon this pre-digested regurgitate! Of course you may not want to think about that when your trying the ice cream!”

Why Vultures are so important

David Woolcock “These birds are of great value as scavengers, especially in hot regions. Vulture stomach acid is exceptionally corrosive, allowing them to safely digest putrid carcasses infected with Botulinum toxin, hog cholera and anthrax bacteria that would be lethal to other scavengers. Another fascinating fact is that Vultures urinate straight down their legs. The uric acid kills bacteria accumulated from walking through carcasses, and also acts as evaporative cooling. They are mother natures clean up crew, and nothing else comes close to doing the vital job that they do so well.”

Please note that Paradise Park does not have Vultures in its bird collection but wants to actively support this project.

International Vulture Awareness Day has its roots in the awareness campaigns run by the Endangered Wildlife Trust's Birds of Prey Working Group in South Africa, and the Hawk Conservancy Trust in England.

Apart from habitat loss and declining food availability, threats faced by these ecologically-important birds include secondary poisoning, power-line electrocutions and drowning in farm reservoirs.

Vultures are scavenging birds, feeding mostly on the carcasses of dead animals. Vultures are found on every continent except Antartica and Oceania.

Although feeding largely on meat (as opposed to insects and small reptiles), vultures do not generally kill their own prey, which would classify them clearly as a raptor. Because of this, historically they have alternated

between being classified as a raptor or as a non-raptor and have been the subject of extensive DNA testing to test relationships with other birds.

Vultures seldom attack healthy animals, but may kill the wounded or sick. When a carcass has too thick a hide for its beak to open, it waits for a larger scavenger to eat first. Vast numbers have been seen upon battlefields. They gorge themselves when prey is abundant, till their crop bulges, and sit, sleepy or half torpid, to digest their food. They do not carry food to their young in their claws, but disgorge it from the crop.

A particular characteristic of many vultures is a bald head, devoid of feathers. This helps to keep the head clean when feeding.

A group of vultures is called a wake, committee, or venue.