Virtuous Vultures Week

Welcome to week three of Zebee’s Summer Zoo Camp. This week is all about vultures. People have been drawing vultures for years. Look!

Let’s look at some Basic Vulture Facts
* Did you know there are ‘Old World vultures’ and ‘New World vultures’? Did you know they come from different families?
* Old World vultures live in Africa, Asia and Europe and are part of the Accipitridae family. Who else is in this family? Eagles, hawks and buzzards.

* There are 15 different types of Old World vultures.
* New World vultures are part of the Cathartidae family the same as storks and ibises. They live throughout all the Americas.

* There are only seven types of New World vultures.
* Vultures are scavengers. They eat the leftovers after other animals have eaten or animals that have died and no one else has found them yet.

Now for some Fun Vulture Facts
* Most vultures have bald heads. Why? So that when they eat they keep their head clean.

* Vultures can sore for hours at a time. When a group of them are circling in the air they are called a kettle.
* Old World vultures cannot smell things. New World vultures can smell and use their sense of smell to find food.
* Vultures can eat anything and not get sick. Their bodies destroy bacteria and disease.

Now let’s learn about King vultures.

Meet Elvis, the king vulture from our book “Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa.”

Now it’s your turn to color him. with the rest of the campers.
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Scientific name: Sarcoramphus papa

The king vulture, or Jungle Condor as it's called in the Amazon, lives in the jungles and forests of Central and South America. The colors on their heads make them stand out. They range from yellow to red, to purple with silvery eyes, making them the prettiest of all vultures. How did they get the name 'king vulture'? It is said they were the messengers between the Mayan people and their gods.

Courtesy of our book “Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa"
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Also from our book, a fun jigsaw puzzle. See how fast you can solve it. (Click on the picture below.)

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Another type of vulture is the Egyptian vulture.
Look how smart this vulture is! What tool does he use?



The Egyptian vulture, like the king vulture, was held in high regard by the Egyptians of long ago. They made the first letter of their alphabet to look like him.

Pretty cool, huh?
Fun With Words
Want to try your hand at writing in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics? Here’s a chart of their alphabet. Try ‘spelling’ out your name and then the names of the rest of your family.

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Check out this interactive coloring page courtesy of Crayola.
Here's another coloring page from First-School.
Have fun!

Arts and Crafts for this week. First up we have a cool vulture for you to make out of an empty toilet paper roll.


Have fun with this one. Maybe you could make several of these vultures and create a mobile out of them.
Click here and print out the pattern and directions.
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Here's this week's habitat for our mural. It's Elvis's place at the V Zoo.

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