Those Voracious Vultures

by Marta Magellan, Steve Weaver (Illustrator), James Gersing (Photographer)

Vultures are voracious! They eat a lot of yucky stuff—and that's good because it keeps things tidy. Here are 20 questions and answers about these clean-up birds so you'll know all about them. You'll learn why vultures' heads are bald, why vultures vomit, why vultures don't get sick when they eat rotten meat, why they circle in the sky, what baby vultures look like (cute fuzzballs), and whether turkey vultures gobble (no!). Make a turkey vulture mobile, a vulture collage, and connect the dots to reveal a Eurasian vulture. > See all of the books in this series

55 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Marta Magellan was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and has lived in Miami, Florida since the age of seven. She taught Composition, Creative Writing, and Survey of Children’s Literature at Miami Dade College, where she was a full professor and award-winning adviser to Miambiance, the campus literary arts magazine. She has written travel articles for magazines and newspapers but her love for children and profound interest in nature has produced several award-winning children’s books about wild animals, many in collaboration with her brother, Mauro Magellan, an illustrator who has produced work for Albert Whitman, Pelican Press, Scholastic, among others. She has also written children's books for the educational market and a few travel articles on exotic places. She has traveled abroad extensively, and now lives in Miami with her husband and not too far from her beloved son and daughter and grandchildren.

Reviews

[Cheryl]

Very appealing, with plenty of back matter. However, I'm surprised to see so many photos of different kinds of vultures on the same carcass... is that accurate? And it didn't mention (at least that I saw as I skimmed) that New World and Old World vultures are not closely related, but rather an example of convergent evolution.

My favorite photo is of the turkey vultures on a roof in Miami....

Oct. 2021

[Kenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who would’ve thought I could fall in love with vultures?

Those Voracious Vultures is an enjoyable book for children and adults alike. It answers every question I have ever had about vultures, and I've had quite a few! I recall my short stint living in Florida and watching the turkey vultures eating up dead animals on the road. We referred to them as the “cleanup crew.” But that was the extent of my vulture knowledge prior to reading Those Voracious Vultures.

Who knew that vulture vomit is a protective defense mechanism or that vultures have so much stomach bacteria – 100 times more than humans – they can eat practically anything, especially if it’s very dead? All of your vulture questions get answered in this one, fun, easy-to-digest read.

The photographs are truly striking, and the illustrations add a charming flare to this well-researched and well-written book. Marta Magellan’s books are both educational and entertaining giving true form to the word “edutainment.”