Most impressively, Egyptian vultures have learned to crack open ostrich eggs — which are the largest eggs in the world and have a very thick shell — by picking up stones in their beak and hurling them at the egg until it breaks. This is one of the clearest examples of tool use ever seen in a bird. Scientists were amazed when they first observed it.
Egyptian vultures are scavengers, which means they eat animals that have already died. This might not sound glamorous, but it is an extremely important job. By clearing away dead animals, vultures help keep the environment clean and stop diseases from spreading. Every healthy ecosystem needs scavengers.
These vultures migrate long distances. Birds that spend the summer in Europe fly south over the Middle East — including Yemen — on their way to spend winter in Africa. Yemen sits right on this migration route, so large numbers of Egyptian vultures can be spotted in the skies above the country at certain times of year.
The Egyptian vulture gets the yellow colour on its face from the pigments in the food it eats. The brighter the yellow, the healthier the bird — so a vivid yellow face is actually a signal to other vultures that this is a strong, healthy individual. It is a bit like wearing a badge.