Do Vultures normally take turns to eat a carcass?

Vultures lack feathers on their heads so that they can more easily keep themselves clean when eating. Vultures will often insert their head completely inside the carcass they are cleaning up. The legs of vultures are usually coated white, due to the dried uric acid of their excrement. read more

No, they’re not taking turns. Rather, there is a social pecking order, and the birds that are higher on the pecking order get to eat first, while the other birds have to wait. read more

Vultures can eat any disease that shows up on a carcass. Many of those diseases are deadly to various other vertebrates. But since the vultures get there first and consume the disease-ridden flesh or eat it before a disease takes hold, or before some insect infects it, they have just prevented the spreading of any number or diseases. read more

Although New World vultures are unable to make more than hissing and grunting sounds, Old World vultures can be quite vocal when feeding at a carcass, making lots of grunts, screeches, croaks, and chatter. Old World vultures have relatively strong feet, but New World Vultures have flat, weak feet that are poorly adapted for grasping. read more