Cathartidae

    The Cathartidae family includes seven kinds of vultures.  These vultures are called “New World Vultures” because they live in North and South America.  Some New World Vultures are:

	Andean Condor
	California Condor
	Turkey Vulture
	Black Vulture

    If you compare New World vultures with Old World vultures, you will see that they are alike in some ways.  New and Old World vultures:

	Eat animals that are already dead.
	Have heads without feathers.
	Have strong beaks.

Even though they are the same in those ways, they have characteristics that are different.  New World Vultures:

	Don’t have a voice box so they don’t make much noise.
	Don’t build nests.  They lay twigs and branches right on the ground or on platforms.
	Smell their prey where Old World vultures have to see their prey.
	Have a stiff tail and a wide wingspan so that they can fly strongly.

Right now, New World vultures are in the Cathartidae family but scientists have been studying them to see if they really belong there.  They think that they are part of the stork and heron family and belong with those birds because they are like them in some ways.  Check out our scientific classification page to see how a bird’s family is decided.

Works Cited: 

“New World Vulture.”  18 Oct. 2007.  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathartidae>.

“New World Vultures Cathartidae.”  18 Oct. 2007.  <http://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?search=Cathartidae>.