Information about Vultures

VULTURE
Faceless leader of VULTURE, art by Joe Certa
DC Comics First appearance House of Mystery #160 July (1966) Jack Miller (writer) Joe Certa (artist)
Roster Faceless Marco Xavier ''See: ''

VULTURE is the name of a fictional international crime cartel in the DC Comics universe. It first appeared in House of Mystery #160 July (1966), created by Jack Miller and Joe Certa.

History

The organization known as VULTURE (not an acronym) was a vast international crime cartel that was infiltrated, thwarted and eventually completely destroyed by J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter. Their secretive leader had a number of aliases: Mister Vulture, Mister V, and Faceless (a.k.a. Marco Xavier).

Shortly after retiring his John Jones persona, J'onn came into conflict with cartel operatives when he travels to the French Riviera. While in the Riviera he investigates Marco Xavier, an international playboy with supposed links to organized crime. He uses his shape-shifting powers to follow Xavier as he leaves his villa in a high powered sports car. But then Xavier loses control of his vehicle and it plunges off a mountain road, and apparently killed, his body quickly consumed by the blazing crash. J'onn takes advantage of this accident by quickly transforming himself into a Xavier lookalike, and then dangles himself from the branch of a cliffside tree before the police arrive. The disguised "Marco Xavier" is taken to his villa to recover.[1]

Slowly but surely using his disguise as Marco Xavier the Martian Manhunter worked his way up through the cartel, while maintaining the original Marco's role as an outside contractor uninterested in joining VULTURE, he is eventually able to smash the group from the inside.

If I ever hope to smash VULTURE, I’m afraid I’ll have to go on masquerading as Marco Xavier for some time to come! J'onn J'onzz

J'onn took over the Xavier identity in order to infiltrate VULTURE and they became his main adversaries for the thirteen issues spanning House of Mystery #160 through 173. After a string of adventures it was revealed that Faceless, the head of Vulture was actually the real Marco Xavier.[2]

Members of Note

• Marco Xavier - Secretly "Faceless" leader of the VULTURE cartel.
• Marco Xavier II - The Martian Manhunter in disguise.

Other DCU Criminal Organizations

See also:

External links

• DCU Guide entry on VULTURE
• CBR review of House of Mystery #160

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Vultures
Griffon vulture, Gyps fulvus Griffon vulture, Gyps fulvus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves
Orders
Falconiformes (Fam. Accipitridae (part)) Ciconiiformes (Fam. Cathartidae)

Vultures are scavenging birds, feeding mostly on the carcasses of dead animals. Vultures are found in every continent except Antarctica and Oceania.

A particular characteristic of many vultures is a bald head, devoid of feathers. This is likely because a feathered head would become spattered with blood and other fluids, and thus be difficult to keep clean.

A group of vultures is occasionally called a venue in literature. When circling in the air, a group of vultures is called a kettle. The German word Geier does not have a precise meaning in ornithology, and is sometimes used to refer to a vulture in English, as in some poetry.

Classification

Vultures are classified into two groups: Old World vultures and New World vultures. The similarities between the two different groups are due to convergent evolution.

Old World vultures

Main article: Old World vulture

The Old World vultures found in Africa, Asia and Europe belong to the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks. Old World vultures find carcasses exclusively by sight.

New World vultures

Main article: New World vulture

The New World vultures and condors found in warm and temperate areas of the Americas are not closely related to the superficially similar Accipitridae, but belong in the family Cathartidae, which is quite close to the storks. Several species have a good sense of smell, unusual for raptors.

Feeding

Vultures seldom attack healthy animals, but may kill the wounded or sick. Vast numbers have been seen upon battlefields. They gorge themselves when prey is abundant, till their crop bulges, and sit, sleepy or half torpid, to digest their food. They do not carry food to their young in their claws, but disgorge it from the crop. These birds are of great value as scavengers, especially in hot regions. They can eat rotten flesh containing anthrax, botulism, and cholera bacteria, which are destroyed in the stomach [3].

Threat due to diclofenac poisoning

The vulture population in India and Pakistan has declined by up to 95% recently in the past decade, and two or three of the species of vulture in South Asia are nearing extinction. This has been caused by the practice of giving working farm animals diclofenac, which is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) with anti-inflammatory and pain killing actions. Diclofenac administration keeps animals that are ill or in pain working on the land for longer, but, if the ill animals die, their carcasses contain diclofenac. Farmers leave the dead animals out in the open, relying on vultures to tidy up. Diclofenac present in carcass flesh is eaten by the vultures, which are sensitive to diclofenac, suffering kidney failure, visceral gout, and death as a result of diclofenac poisoning.

The decline in vultures has led to hygiene problems in India as carcasses of dead animals now tend to rot, or be eaten by rats or wild dogs, rather than be tidied up by vultures. Rabies among these scavengers is a major health threat. India has the world's highest rate of rabies.

The decline in vultures causes particular problems for certain communities, such as the Parsi, who practice sky burials, where the human dead are put on the top of Towers of Silence and are eaten by vultures, leaving only dry bones.

Meloxicam (another NSAID) has been found to be harmless to vultures and should prove an acceptable alternative to diclofenac. The Government of India banned diclofenac, but it continues to be sold over a year later and is still a problem in other parts of the world.[4]

Vultures in culture

Ancient Egypt

In Southern Africa, the name for a Nubian vulture is synonymous with the term applied to lovers, because these vultures are always seen in pairs, mother and child remaining closely bonded together. Pairing, bonding, protecting, and loving are essential attributes associated with the vulture's size and its ability to soar high up in the sky. The Egyptians considered the vulture an excellent mother, and its wide wingspan was seen as all-encompassing and providing a protective cover to its infants. The vulture hieroglyph <hiero>A</hiero> was the uniliteral sign used for the glottal sound (3) including words such as mother, prosperous, grandmother, and ruler

In the Western world, the image of the vulture is far more negative, with 'vulture' used as a metaphor for those who prey on the weak or dying, with associated negative connotations of cowardice and selfishness (although the vulture plays an important natural role).

References

• Ferguson-Lees, Christie, Franklin, Mead and Burton Raptors of the World ISBN 0713680261
• Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, Birds of India ISBN 0-691-04910-6
• Hilty, Birds of Venezuela, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
• Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey and Warwick Tarboton, SASOL Birds of Southern Africa (Struik 2002) ISBN 1-86872-721-1
• NSAID effects on vultures (BBC website)
• "India's Vultures Fall Prey to a Drug in the Cattle They Feed On", New York Times, Amelia Gentleman, March 28, 2006.

External links

• Vulture videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• www.wildsaurashtra.com, videos, photographs and resources on Indian birdsIndian bird resources