A recent study from Tel Aviv University has shed light on how vultures’ behavior changes as they age, drawing parallels to human aging patterns. Led by Marta Acácio and Orr Spiegel, the study tracked 142 Eurasian griffon vultures in Israel over a 15-year period using GPS devices.

The findings reveal that younger vultures are more exploratory, frequently moving between different roosting sites (likely in an attempt to find out whose vulture parents have the most lax policy on bedtime and candy consumption).

As they enter adolescence around age five, the vultures spend about half their nights at a permanent “home” site and half at other locations (where they probably play spin-the-vulture-bottle and watch scary vulture movies with their friends).

The most significant change occurs as vultures reach old age, around 10 years old. At this stage, they become more sedentary (read: similar to my parents), preferring to spend most of their nights at the same roosting site consistently.

Also like my parents, when old vultures do actually go out for the night, it’s to one of a few predictable locations, such as another nearby roost that they’ve designated as safe, or a neighbor’s house to play old-people games like dominoes and euchre.

“Of course, it could be argued that older vultures move less not because they are old, but because they avoid taking risks in the first place, which is how they reached the age they did. But here we are talking about the exact same individual birds: those who were adventurous at the age of five became more sedentary by age 10,” Spiegel added.

The research also uncovered that older vultures have fewer social connections compared to their younger counterparts. This information could prove valuable in conservation efforts, particularly in preventing mass poisonings that are all too common.

“The danger arises when a vulture descends on a poisoned goat carcass, not knowing that a farmer has poisoned the carcass in order to kill stray dogs,” Spiegel said. “Unfortunately, this happens frequently. Being social birds, vultures do not come down alone, leading to the risk of dozens of vultures dying at once. Understanding how wide the poisoned vulture’s social circle is will significantly help in mitigating the damage.”

The study’s findings have practical implications for vulture conservation in Israel, where only about 200 individual vultures remain.

Understanding the birds’ roosting patterns and social behaviors at different life stages can help conservationists better protect their habitats and mitigate risks.

Vultures play a crucial ecological role in disposing of carcasses, and their decline can have serious consequences for human health. The researchers cited examples from other countries where vulture extinctions have led to increased disease spread among humans.

As far as preserving my parents from extinction goes, I hear that they’re on a hot streak in euchre, so at least they’ve got that going for them.