Episode 139 - Vultures

Scavenging isn’t easy. There’s a reason most scavengers are only part-time carrion-eaters. But vultures are exquisitely adapted for a dedicated lifestyle of finding and feasting on carcasses, and as a result, they’ve made themselves invaluable members of ecosystems all over the globe. In this episode, we explore vulture evolution, their ancient history, and the adaptations that make them the world’s most famous scavengers.

In the news: insect wings, trilobite mating, a “small” sauropod, and post-Cretaceous plants.

Time markers: Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00 News: 00:04:00 Main discussion, Part 1: 00:36:00 Main discussion, Part 2: 01:16:00 Patron question: 01:44:30

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The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org.

Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/