Researchers uncovered how vultures adapted to be able to eat carrion that would give any other creature deadly food poisoning.
These birds feast on dead animals containing feces and bacteria such as Clostridia, Fuso- and Anthrax, the Faculty of Science - University of Copenhagen reported.
To investigate how vultures can eat such a putrid meal without becoming sick, researchers generated DNA profiles from the community of bacteria living on the faces and in the guts of 50 vultures from the U.S. They found both similarities and differences between the turkey vulture's bacteria and those found in black vultures. The facial skin of vultures contained DNA from 528 different types of micro-organisms on average, and the gut contained about 76.
The findings identified a strong adaptation in vultures in terms of handling the ingestion of toxic bacteria. Vultures have an extremely strong digestive system that destroys most of these deadly bacteria once they enter the body, and the birds have developed a tolerance for those that slip through the cracks. Some bacteria that would kill other animals are plentiful in vultures' lower intestine.
The findings raise the question of whether or not Clostridia and Fusobacteria in the gut actually have benefits for the vulture's digestive system or if they simply out-compete other bacteria and have no effect. The study's results suggest it is probably a bit of both, while some microorganisms are out-competed by the surviving bacteria, the vultures also receive and influx of nutrients when the bacteria break down the carrion.
"The avian microbiome is terra incognita but it is not unreasonable to suppose that the relationship between birds and their microbes has been as important in avian evolution as the development of powered flight and song," the researchers stated.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Nature Communications.
