query: instance_of old world vulture
supports: Vulture is the name given to two groups of scavenging birds of prey: the New World vultures, including the Californian and Andean condors, and the Old World vultures, including the birds that are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains. Some traditional Old World vultures (including the bearded vulture) are not closely related to the others, which is why the vultures are to be subdivided into three taxa rather than two. New World vultures are found in North and South America; Old World vultures are found in Europe, Africa, and Asia, meaning that between the two groups, vultures are found on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. Antarctica (US English , UK English or ) is Earth's southernmost continent. It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At , it is the fifth-largest continent. For comparison, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages in thickness, which extends to all but the northernmost reaches of the Antarctic Peninsula. The Accipitriformes are an order that includes most of the diurnal birds of prey: hawks, eagles, vultures, and many others, about 225 species in all. For a long time, the majority view has been to include them with the falcons in the Falconiformes, but many authorities have recognized a separate Accipitriformes. , a recent DNA study indicated that falcons are not closely related to the Accipitriformes, being instead related to parrots and passerines. The New World vulture or condor family Cathartidae contains seven species in five genera, all but one of which are monotypic. It includes five vultures and two condors found in warm and temperate areas of the Americas. The "New World" vultures were widespread in both the Old World and North America during the Neogene. The Accipitridae, one of the four families within the order Accipitriformes (the others being Cathartidae, Pandionidae and Sagittariidae), are a family of small to large birds with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects to medium-sized mammals, with a number feeding on carrion and a few feeding on fruit. The Accipitridae have a cosmopolitan distribution, being found on all the world's continents (except Antarctica) and a number of oceanic island groups. Some species are migratory. Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua "kuntur". They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. Eagle is a common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae; it belongs to several groups of genera that are not necessarily closely related to each other. Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. To the east and southeast, Europe is generally considered as separated from Asia by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways of the Turkish Straits. Yet the non-oceanic borders of Europea concept dating back to classical antiquityare arbitrary. The primarily physiographic term "continent" as applied to Europe also incorporates cultural and political elements whose discontinuities are not always reflected by the continent's current overland boundaries. The Old World consists of Africa, Europe, and Asia, regarded collectively as the part of the world known to Europeans before contact with the Americas. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the New World (Americas). Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km² (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area and 20.4 % of its total land area. With 1.1 billion people as of 2013, it accounts for about 15% of the world's human population. The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, both the Suez Canal and the Red Sea along the Sinai Peninsula to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos. It contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states (countries), nine territories and two "de facto" independent states with limited or no recognition. Mammals are any vertebrates within the class Mammalia (from Latin "mamma" "breast"), a clade of endothermic amniotes distinguished from reptiles and birds by the possession of a neocortex (a region of the brain), hair, three middle ear bones and mammary glands. The sister group of mammals may be the extinct "Haldanodon." The mammals represent the only living Synapsida, which together with the Sauropsida form the Amniota clade. The mammals consist of the Yinotheria including monotrema and the Theriiformes including the theria. The Andean condor ("Vultur gryphus") is a South American bird in the New World vulture family Cathartidae and is the only member of the genus Vultur. Found in the Andes mountains and adjacent Pacific coasts of western South America, the Andean condor is the largest flying bird in the world by combined measurement of weight and wingspan. It has a maximum wingspan of exceeded only by the wingspans of four seabirds and water birdsthe roughly maximum of the wandering albatross, southern royal albatross, great white pelican and Dalmatian pelican. Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia (also called Metazoa). The animal kingdom emerged as a basal clade within Apoikozoa as a sister of the choanoflagellates. Sponges are the most basal clade of animals. Animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently at some point in their lives. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later in their lives. All animals are heterotrophs: they must ingest other organisms or their products for sustenance. The world is the planet Earth and all life upon it, including human civilization. In a philosophical context, the world is the whole of the physical Universe, or an ontological world. In a theological context, the "world" is the material or the profane sphere, as opposed to the celestial, spiritual, transcendent or sacred. The "end of the world" refers to scenarios of the final end of human history, often in religious contexts. Insects (from Latin ', a calque of Greek ['], "cut into sections") are a class of invertebrates within the arthropod phylum that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes and one pair of antennae. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet, including more than a million described species and representing more than half of all known living organisms. The number of extant species is estimated at between six and ten million, and potentially represent over 90% of the differing animal life forms on Earth. Insects may be found in nearly all environments, although only a small number of species reside in the oceans, a habitat dominated by another arthropod group, crustaceans. Carrion (from the Latin ""caro"", meaning "meat") is the decaying dead flesh of an animal.
  Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters (or scavengers) include vultures, hawks, eagles, hyenas, Virginia opossum, Tasmanian devils, coyotes, and Komodo dragons. Many invertebrates such as the carrion and burying beetles, as well as maggots of calliphorid flies and flesh-flies also eat carrion, playing an important role in recycling nitrogen and carbon in animal remains.
  Carrion begins to decay the moment of the animal's death, and it will increasingly attract insects and breed bacteria. Not long after the animal has died, its body will begin to exude a foul odor caused by the presence of bacteria and the emission of cadaverine and putrescine. Old World vultures are vultures which are found in the Old World , i.e. the continents of Europe , Asia and Africa , and which belong to the family Accipitridae , which also includes eagles , buzzards , kites , and hawks . Old World vultures are not closely related to the superficially similar New World vultures and condors , and do not share that group 's good sense of smell . The similarities between the two groups of vultures are due to convergent evolution rather than a close relationship . They were widespread in both the Old World and North America , during the Neogene . Old World vultures are probably a polyphyletic group within Accipitridae , with palm - nut vulture , Egyptian vulture and lammergeier separate from the others . Most authorities refer to two major clades : Gypaetinae ( the aforementioned species , complemented with the Madagascan serpent eagle ) and Aegypiinae ( Aegypius , Gyps , Sarcogyps , Torgos , Trigonoceps and possibly Necrosyrtes ) . The former seem to be nested with Perninae hawks , while the latter are closely related and possibly even synonymous with Aquilinae . Within Aegypiinae , Torgos , Aegypius , Sarcogyps and Trigonoceps are particularly closely related and possibly within the same genus . Both Old World and New World vultures are scavenging birds , feeding mostly from carcasses of dead animals . Old World vultures find carcasses exclusively by sight . A particular characteristic of many vultures is a semi-bald head , sometimes without feathers or with simple down . Historically , it was thought that this was due to feeding habits , as feathers would be glued with decaying flesh and blood . However , more recent studies have shown that it is actually a thermoregulatory adaptation to avoid facial overheating ; the presence or absence of complex feathers seems to matter little in feeding habits , as some vultures are quite raptorial . Asia is Earth's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres and sharing the continental landmass of Eurasia with the continent of Europe. Asia covers an area of , about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the human population, was the site of many of the first civilizations. Asia is notable for not only its overall large size and population, but also dense and large settlements as well as vast barely populated regions within the continent of 4.4 billion people. Birds (Aves), also known as avian dinosaurs, are a group of endothermic vertebrates, characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a lightweight but strong skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the ostrich. They rank as the class of tetrapods with the most living species, at approximately ten thousand, with more than half of these being passerines, sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds. In biogeography, a taxon is said to have a cosmopolitan distribution if its range extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. Such a taxon is said to exhibit cosmopolitanism or cosmopolitism. The opposite extreme is endemism.
candidates: animal area bacteria bee bird brain canal civilization class common name concept continent cut diet dna extinct family final five food four fruit genus group human island landmass limited meat mediterranean sea moment name nine ocean order part people planet point population process range region river role seven sharing species square surface taxon ten three time virginia opossum will
answer: common name