king vulture

Related to king vulture: condor

king vulture

A large vulture (Sarcoramphus papa) of Central and South America, having a white body with black wing and tail feathers, a bald head, and a prominent fleshy appendage on the beak.

[So called because it drives other vulture species away from carrion when feeding and is often the first to make a cut into a fresh carcass.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Noun

king vulture - large black-and-white vulture of South America and Central America; have colorful wattles and wartlike protuberances on head and neck

Sarcorhamphus papa

cathartid, New World vulture - large birds of prey superficially similar to Old World vultures

genus Sarcorhamphus, Sarcorhamphus - usually containing only the king vulture

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