ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Munir Virani - Raptor biologist, wildlife photographer
Munir Virani is a raptor biologist and wildlife photographer, and Director of the Peregrine Fund Africa Program, devoted to conserving birds of prey.

Why you should listen

Native Nairobian Munir Virani's young passion may have been cricket, but it was during his tournament prize trips to game reserves that he found his true calling: wildlife. Specifically, the kind of wildlife people are disgusted by. More specifically, birds of prey. Munir earned a college degree in zoology and began working as a raptor biologist at the Peregrine Fund, devoted to the conservation of birds of prey worldwide, where he later became the Director of the Africa Program.

More profile about the speaker
Munir Virani | Speaker | TED.com
TED@Nairobi

Munir Virani: Why I love vultures

Filmed:
1,134,254 views

As natural garbage collectors, vultures are vital to our ecosystem -- so why all the bad press? Why are so many in danger of extinction? Raptor biologist Munir Virani says we need to pay more attention to these unique and misunderstood creatures, to change our perception and save the vultures.
- Raptor biologist, wildlife photographer
Munir Virani is a raptor biologist and wildlife photographer, and Director of the Peregrine Fund Africa Program, devoted to conserving birds of prey. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:16
I would like to talk to you about
0
506
1854
00:18
a very special group of animals.
1
2360
2632
00:20
There are 10,000 species of birds in the world.
2
4992
4001
00:24
Vultures are amongst the most threatened group of birds.
3
8993
4608
00:29
When you see a vulture like this, the first thing
4
13601
3012
00:32
that comes to your mind is, these are disgusting, ugly,
5
16613
3976
00:36
greedy creatures that are just after your flesh,
6
20589
2959
00:39
associated with politicians. (Laughter) (Applause)
7
23548
7327
00:46
I want to change that perception. I want to change
8
30875
2775
00:49
those feelings you have for these birds, because
9
33650
2710
00:52
they need our sympathy. They really do. (Laughter)
10
36360
3050
00:55
And I'll tell you why.
11
39410
1549
00:56
First of all, why do they have such a bad press?
12
40959
3592
01:00
When Charles Darwin went across the Atlantic in 1832
13
44551
3987
01:04
on the Beagle, he saw the turkey vulture,
14
48538
3192
01:07
and he said, "These are disgusting birds
15
51730
2840
01:10
with bald scarlet heads that are formed to revel in putridity." (Laughter)
16
54570
6061
01:16
You could not get a worse insult, and that from Charles Darwin. (Laughter)
17
60631
4570
01:21
You know, he changed his mind when he came back,
18
65201
2861
01:23
and I'll tell you why.
19
68062
1316
01:25
They've also be associated with Disney — (Laughter) —
20
69378
3291
01:28
personified as goofy, dumb, stupid characters.
21
72669
4792
01:33
More recently, if you've been following the Kenyan press
22
77461
3576
01:36
— (Laughter) (Applause) (Cheers) —
23
81037
7119
01:44
these are the attributes that they associated
24
88156
3352
01:47
the Kenyan MPs with. But I want to challenge that.
25
91508
3312
01:50
I want to challenge that. Do you know why?
26
94820
2552
01:53
Because MPs
27
97372
2720
01:55
do not keep the environment clean. (Laughter)
28
100092
4871
02:00
MPs do not help to prevent the spread of diseases.
29
104963
4962
02:05
They are hardly monogamous. (Laughter) (Applause)
30
109925
6349
02:12
They are far from being extinct. (Laughter)
31
116274
3763
02:15
And, my favorite is, vultures are better looking. (Applause) (Laughter)
32
120037
6901
02:22
So there's two types of vultures in this planet.
33
126938
3951
02:26
There are the New World vultures that are mainly found
34
130889
2273
02:29
in the Americas, like the condors and the caracaras,
35
133162
2941
02:32
and then the Old World vultures, where we have
36
136103
2299
02:34
16 species. From these 16, 11 of them are facing
37
138402
3488
02:37
a high risk of extinction.
38
141890
3087
02:40
So why are vultures important? First of all,
39
144977
3417
02:44
they provide vital ecological services. They clean up.
40
148394
3481
02:47
They're our natural garbage collectors.
41
151875
2294
02:50
They clean up carcasses right to the bone.
42
154169
2633
02:52
They help to kill all the bacteria. They help absorb anthrax
43
156802
3638
02:56
that would otherwise spread and cause
44
160440
2673
02:59
huge livestock losses and diseases in other animals.
45
163113
4084
03:03
Recent studies have shown that in areas where there are
46
167197
2739
03:05
no vultures, carcasses take up to three to four times
47
169936
3003
03:08
to decompose, and this has huge ramifications
48
172939
2569
03:11
for the spread of diseases.
49
175508
2895
03:14
Vultures also have tremendous historical significance.
50
178403
3416
03:17
They have been associated in ancient Egyptian culture.
51
181819
3244
03:20
Nekhbet was the symbol of the protector
52
185063
3100
03:24
and the motherhood, and together with the cobra,
53
188163
3088
03:27
symbolized the unity between Upper and Lower Egypt.
54
191251
4114
03:31
In Hindu mythology, Jatayu was the vulture god,
55
195365
3808
03:35
and he risked his life in order to save the goddess Sita
56
199173
5272
03:40
from the 10-headed demon Ravana.
57
204445
2657
03:43
In Tibetan culture, they are performing very important
58
207102
3431
03:46
sky burials. In places like Tibet, there are no places
59
210533
2712
03:49
to bury the dead, or wood to cremate them,
60
213245
3064
03:52
so these vultures provide a natural disposal system.
61
216309
4188
03:56
So what is the problem with vultures?
62
220497
2467
03:58
We have eight species of vultures that occur in Kenya,
63
222964
2871
04:01
of which six are highly threatened with extinction.
64
225835
3987
04:05
The reason is that they're getting poisoned, and the reason
65
229822
2619
04:08
that they're getting poisoned is because there's
66
232441
2592
04:10
human-wildlife conflicts. The pastoral communities
67
235033
2688
04:13
are using this poison to target predators,
68
237721
3352
04:16
and in return, the vultures are falling victim to this.
69
241073
3635
04:20
In South Asia, in countries like India and Pakistan,
70
244708
2664
04:23
four species of vultures are listed as critically endangered,
71
247372
3481
04:26
which means they have less than 10 or 15 years to go extinct,
72
250853
3351
04:30
and the reason is because they are falling prey
73
254204
3310
04:33
by consuming livestock that has been treated
74
257514
2448
04:35
with a painkilling drug like Diclofenac.
75
259962
2672
04:38
This drug has now been banned for veterinary use in India,
76
262634
3097
04:41
and they have taken a stand.
77
265731
2519
04:44
Because there are no vultures, there's been a spread
78
268250
2320
04:46
in the numbers of feral dogs at carcass dump sites,
79
270570
2801
04:49
and when you have feral dogs, you have a huge time bomb
80
273371
3181
04:52
of rabies. The number of cases of rabies
81
276552
2642
04:55
has increased tremendously in India.
82
279194
2728
04:57
Kenya is going to have one of the largest wind farms in Africa:
83
281922
3445
05:01
353 wind turbines are going to be up at Lake Turkana.
84
285367
3236
05:04
I am not against wind energy, but we need to work
85
288603
2280
05:06
with the governments, because wind turbines
86
290883
3209
05:09
do this to birds. They slice them in half.
87
294092
2600
05:12
They are bird-blending machines.
88
296692
2834
05:15
In West Africa, there's a horrific trade
89
299526
2678
05:18
of dead vultures to serve the witchcraft and the fetish market.
90
302204
5371
05:23
So what's being done? Well, we're conducting research
91
307575
2832
05:26
on these birds. We're putting transmitters on them.
92
310407
3280
05:29
We're trying to determine their basic ecology,
93
313687
2376
05:31
and see where they go.
94
316063
2439
05:34
We can see that they travel different countries, so
95
318502
2041
05:36
if you focus on a problem locally, it's not going to help you.
96
320543
3296
05:39
We need to work with governments in regional levels.
97
323839
2707
05:42
We're working with local communities.
98
326546
2936
05:45
We're talking to them about appreciating vultures,
99
329482
3142
05:48
about the need from within to appreciate these
100
332624
2555
05:51
wonderful creatures and the services that they provide.
101
335179
3037
05:54
How can you help? You can become active,
102
338216
3013
05:57
make noise. You can write a letter to your government
103
341229
2723
05:59
and tell them that we need to focus on these very
104
343952
2310
06:02
misunderstood creatures. Volunteer your time
105
346262
3178
06:05
to spread the word. Spread the word.
106
349440
2616
06:07
When you walk out of this room, you will be informed
107
352056
2344
06:10
about vultures, but speak to your families, to your children,
108
354400
2800
06:13
to your neighbors about vultures.
109
357200
2161
06:15
They are very graceful. Charles Darwin said
110
359361
3063
06:18
he changed his mind because he watched them fly
111
362424
3029
06:21
effortlessly without energy in the skies.
112
365453
3265
06:24
Kenya, this world, will be much poorer
113
368718
2879
06:27
without these wonderful species.
114
371597
2585
06:30
Thank you very much. (Applause)
115
374182
4000
Translated by Morton Bast
Reviewed by Thu-Huong Ha

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Munir Virani - Raptor biologist, wildlife photographer
Munir Virani is a raptor biologist and wildlife photographer, and Director of the Peregrine Fund Africa Program, devoted to conserving birds of prey.

Why you should listen

Native Nairobian Munir Virani's young passion may have been cricket, but it was during his tournament prize trips to game reserves that he found his true calling: wildlife. Specifically, the kind of wildlife people are disgusted by. More specifically, birds of prey. Munir earned a college degree in zoology and began working as a raptor biologist at the Peregrine Fund, devoted to the conservation of birds of prey worldwide, where he later became the Director of the Africa Program.

More profile about the speaker
Munir Virani | Speaker | TED.com