Vultures - Photographing the Antiheroes of Our Ecosystems | Exposure

they are disgustingly ugly they are the ultimate antihero and something about that and draws me to them in some sort of weird morbid fascination and as she as I got to know them and start researching them start to understand them more I discovered that they are of all the animals in the world the ones that possibly in the most trouble you get this sort of frenzied moment of the voters when they start feeding what I wanted to do was actually get into the car as some seabird Birds interact with each other inside of cars boxes they're too smart they didn't they could see my camera mile then I discovered okay if I get it right inside the carcass they didn't really notice the camera anymore the image we got from it took three weeks and we only really got one out of probably 50,000 we look at vultures without a whole set of preconceptions what I had to do is is think of ways of presenting vultures to the world they're the fastest declining birds in history they're the fastest declining family of species in the world at the month Africa is now in freefall decline but this is all direct poisoning in Africa when you think the ecosystem South Africa you know elephants lions hyenas leopards vultures are actually more key to that the most they consume more meat than only other scavengers and predators put together imagine you took that out of the equation you're going to throw that whole ecosystem completely out of balance what really saddens me is that even with us creating the biggest exposure of the vulture crisis ever done I still don't actually think anything will happen fast enough to stop you know the decline they are wonderful creatures and we are killing them at such an extraordinary rate they're probably going to be extinct within 5-10 years to cover the story properly I had to get shots in there in the bush meat market vulture brains and vulture parts are wanted in the witchdoctor trade because they believe it gives them the ability to see into the future and it was staggering the amount of dead wildlife that we were leopards lions bits of elephant black mambas honey badgers pangolins most trafficked animal the world at the moment you could just walk in off the street and buy any in it so I just you know I had to shoot I want people see them at their best which is when they're fighting they're covered in blood and they're heartily repulsive because that's how they are they're wonderful for it but also want people to see them when they're at their worst which is their head sliced open you know my brain so people got to see that otherwise they're not going to get it

Channel: National Geographic

Views: 3,380,734

Rating: 4.889658 out of 5

Keywords: Exposure, national geographic, nat geo, natgeo, animals, wildlife, science, explore, discover, survival, nature, culture, documentary, nat geo photographers, explorers, photographs, story, wildlife photographers, stories, vultures, africa, gopro, ecosystem, anti-hero, clean up, garbage, digest, vital, circle of life, death

Id: kbLE1-nOlSs

Length: 3min 23sec (203 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 12 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/StraightEdgeAtheist]

The Tibetians have this concept of a sky-burial. It is going out of fashion since it doesn't really appeal to our current tastes, but it essentially involves throwing the carcass of dead humans to the vultures. Think about it though, barring donating the organs for harvesting or the body to the medical/scientific community, this is probably not a bad idea after all.

NSFLNSFLNSFLNSFLNSFLNSFLNSFLNSFLNSFL

NSFL: http://gfycat.com/DarkAliveBonobo NSFL

NSFLNSFLNSFLNSFLNSFLNSFLNSFLNSFLNSFL

(I have signed up for organ donation and I would urge all of you to as well, but this was probably the most eco-friendly thing that the older societies came up with)

[u/preasefr]

All I could think was how beautiful this video clip was after I watched it. The man truly has passion.

[u/Fenixstorm1]

Vultures I think are some of the most beautiful and diverse bird in the entire world.

Their entire body structure has evolved to eat the dead and be the worlds greatest clean-up crew.

-Turkey vultures have been known to smell food from over a mile away. They are also believed to piss on their own legs as a means of reducing bacteria and sterilising their legs (same reasons they have bald heads).

-They have been recorded flying higher than any other bird on the planet

-Bearded vultures are known to have a diet comprising of 80-95% bone marrow

-LOOK HOW COOL THEY LOOK!: http://imgur.com/a/1zM0W

[u/j_phillips]

I wish the consequences of declining vulture populations was elaborated on. The video didn't go very far beyond "Vultures are dying, feel something"

[u/[deleted]]

We're fucking disgusting.

[u/TheCosmicPanda]

That shot at 1:06 is amazing! It looks like a straight up dinosaur!

[u/[deleted]]

That last little part got me when he sounded like he was going to cry trying to get out that last bit about them being dead.

[u/Mannix58]

"Look into the Future"?? You wonder who came up with this crap? You could pretty much dream up anything over there for cures, and witchcraft...small minded people are easily fooled.

[u/rattleandhum]

I've been to bush-markets in Gabon before. The amount of exotic meat I saw there was staggering. I spent some time talking to a witchdoctor (I was there to meet some Bwiti tribesmen and accompanied them to buy some supplies at the market) and she spent a good half hour showing me the many animal parts and what they're used for. Eagle's claws, ground horn, all sorts of things. I took a short walk away from my guides while they were talking to the stallowner to another part of the market, full of bushmeat. Baboons, smaller monkies, birds of prey, small deer. It was horrifying. I saw some of the worst aspects of humanity in that market, and a blatant disregard for animal wellbeing. Even dogs were treated with contempt.

I come from South Africa and have spent some time talking to local sangomas and traditional healers - some of whom are of European ancestry. These remedies and beliefs will probably never leave the culture completely - not at least until the species are gone or it's too late. Young Zulu men will often wear leopard skins as part of their traditional dress - it's a matter of pride for them, and no imitation leopard skin will ever be good enough to replace the real thing. It pretty much spells doom for the future of the leopard in the state of KwaZulu-Natal, unless people can be convinced to change.

Furthermore, it's hard to sell the vulture in the same way as a panda bear to most people. The sad fact is that most of us find these birds repulsive, and are less likely to support their rehabilitation or support.