You would not want a vulture or condor as a pet! Their red heads, often covered with warts or loose-hanging skin, cruel beaks and bare snake-like necks make them rather ugly. Among the many kinds the largest is the South American Andean condor which is about four feet long with a multi-colored head, topped with a crown of loose skin called a carbuncle. The California condor is almost as large.
Although clumsy on the ground, the condor is a picture of grace when flying hundreds or even thousands of feet in the air. Rising on thermals (air currents) they make an impressive display of skillful soaring, wheeling and circling. Often they will soar for hours and never flap their great wings. Do you think they do this for fun? No, it is a serious matter with them. Provided with the keenest eyesight of any creature, they can spot a dead animal, a sick one ready to die, or keep a lion or tiger in sight so that when a kill is made they can drop down and claim part of it. An amazing thing happens when they find a dead animal. Although only one or two of these birds may have been seen in the sky, the minute one drops down after a dead animal large numbers somehow always appear in the sky, dropping down to squabble over the dead animal.
Reaching the food, it is seen why the Creator made them as He did. Their heads and long necks are bare so they can easily reach into the dead animal’s body. Feathers would get so filthy they could never get them clean. A sharp hook on the end of their beaks helps tear off pieces of flesh. Their tongues, lined with “teeth” that point inward, move the food into their gullets. When several of them are present, a carcass is stripped to its skeleton in minutes. Frequently they eat so much they have difficulty getting airborne again.
Although so unattractive, vultures and condors are an important part of God’s creation, and He has provided them with the features so necessary in their lives. Their great service is to dispose of dead creatures that would pollute the air and spread disease. They are sometimes called “undertaker birds,” performing their duty that the Creator has determined for them.
While vultures are properly occupied in their way of life, they bring to mind foolish people whose appetites are for the “dead things” of the world and have not obeyed the important Bible verse, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” 1 John 2:1515Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15).
God’s Word, the Bible, points to the right things to occupy us. One who happily proved this said, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart.” Jeremiah 15:1616Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15:16). Can you say this?
ML-07/15/1984