Cathartes or Turkey Vulture Skull Replica measures 3.7 inches. Turkey Vulture Skull Replica is Museum quality cast in polyurethane resins. Made in the USA. 2-part skull (separate cranium and jaw).
The Cathartes or turkey vulture is gregarious and roosts in large community groups, breaking away to forage independently during the day. Several hundred vultures may roost communally in groups, which sometimes even include black vultures.
It roosts often on dead, leafless trees as well as low-density conifers, and will also roost on man-made structures such as water or microwave towers. Though it nests in caves, it does not enter them except during the breeding season.
Cathartes or turkey vultures are often seen standing in a spread-winged or horaltic stance. The stance is believed to serve multiple functions: drying the wings, warming the body, and baking off bacteria. It is practiced more often following damp or rainy nights.
This same behavior is displayed by other New World vultures, by Old World vultures, and by storks. Like storks, the turkey vulture often defecates on its own legs, using the evaporation of the water in the feces or urine to cool itself, a process known as urohidrosis. It cools the blood vessels in the unfeathered tarsi and feet, and causes white uric acid to streak the legs.
Cathartes or turkey vultures have few natural predators and the few recorded predators appear to take them quite infrequently.
Fledging, immature and adult vultures, in descending likelihood of predation, may fall prey to great horned owls, golden eagles, bald eagles and potentially red-tailed hawks, while eggs and nestlings may be preyed on by mammals such as raccoons and opossums.
Foxes can occasionally ambush an adult but species that can climb are more likely to breach and predate nests than adults.
Cathartes or turkey vultures primary form of defense is regurgitating semi-digested meat, a foul-smelling substance, which deters most creatures intent on raiding a vulture nest. It will also sting if the predator is close enough to get the vomit in its face or eyes.
In some cases, the vulture must rid its crop of a heavy, undigested meal to take flight to flee from a potential predator.
Its life expectancy in the wild ranges upward of 16 years, with a captive life span of over 45 years being possible.
