Aegypiinae

The Aegypiinae, also known as Old World vultures, are a subfamily within the Accipitridae family, which also includes hawks and eagles. These birds are carrion-eaters, predominantly found in tropical and subtropical regions.12

Key characteristics of Old World vultures include:
* Physical Traits: Many possess bare heads, which prevents feathers from becoming matted with blood when reaching into carcasses. They have a large throat pouch (crop) for storing food, an adaptation for their feast-or-famine lifestyle.1
* Distribution: They are widely distributed but absent from Australia and most oceanic islands.1
* Diet: Primarily scavengers, they consume carrion, garbage, and sometimes excrement. They rarely attack live prey, though some may take helpless animals like lambs.1
* Behavior: Vultures often soar for hours and exhibit a strict social order when feeding, with larger birds dominating smaller ones.1
* Reproduction: They build large nests and typically lay a single egg.1

Notable species include the cinereous vulture, lammergeier, Egyptian vulture, and common griffon vulture.1