instance_of old world vulture
The Accipitridae , one of the ___MASK100___ families within the ___MASK9___ 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 ___MASK8___ . 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 . Vulture is the ___MASK56___ given to ___MASK91___ 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 ___MASK57___ taxa rather than ___MASK91___ . New World vultures are found in North and South America ; Old World vultures are found in Europe , Africa , and Asia , meaning that between the ___MASK91___ groups , vultures are found on every ___MASK45___ except Australia and Antarctica . Animals are multicellular , eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia ( also called Metazoa ). The ___MASK2___ kingdom emerged as a basal ___MASK40___ within Apoikozoa as a sister of the choanoflagellates . Sponges are the most basal ___MASK40___ of animals . Animals are motile , meaning they can move spontaneously and independently at some point in their lives . Their body ___MASK44___ 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 . Africa is the world ' s second - largest and second - most - populous ___MASK45___ . 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 ___MASK45___ 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 ___MASK45___ 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 . In biogeography , a ___MASK69___ is said to have a cosmopolitan distribution if its ___MASK23___ extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats . Such a ___MASK69___ is said to exhibit cosmopolitanism or cosmopolitism . The opposite extreme is endemism . The Andean condor (" Vultur gryphus ") is a South American ___MASK76___ 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 ___MASK76___ 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 ___MASK92___ birds  the roughly maximum of the wandering albatross , southern royal albatross , great white pelican and Dalmatian pelican . Mammals are any vertebrates within the ___MASK34___ Mammalia ( from Latin " mamma " " breast "), a ___MASK40___ of endothermic amniotes distinguished from reptiles and birds by the possession of a neocortex ( a region of the ___MASK72___ ), 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 ___MASK40___ . The mammals consist of the Yinotheria including monotrema and the Theriiformes including the theria . The world is the ___MASK31___ Earth and all life upon it , including human ___MASK66___ . 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 ___MASK53___ or the profane ___MASK62___ , as opposed to the celestial , spiritual , transcendent or sacred . The " end of the world " refers to scenarios of the ___MASK97___ end of human ___MASK93___ , often in religious contexts . Carrion ( from the Latin "" caro "", meaning " ___MASK96___ ") is the decaying dead flesh of an animal . Carrion is an important ___MASK5___ 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 ___MASK22___ increasingly attract insects and breed bacteria . Not long after the animal has died , its body ___MASK22___ begin to exude a foul odor caused by the presence of bacteria and the emission of cadaverine and putrescine . Birds ( Aves ), also known as avian dinosaurs , are a ___MASK75___ of endothermic vertebrates , characterised by feathers , toothless beaked jaws , the laying of hard - shelled eggs , a high metabolic rate , a ___MASK100___ - chambered heart , and a lightweight but strong ___MASK35___ . 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 . Antarctica ( US English , UK English or ) is Earth ' s southernmost ___MASK45___ . 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 ___MASK45___ . 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 ___MASK9___ that includes most of the diurnal birds of prey : hawks , eagles , vultures , and many others , about 225 species in all . For a long ___MASK14___ , 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 . Eagle is a ___MASK84___ 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 . The New World vulture or condor ___MASK30___ Cathartidae contains ___MASK68___ species in ___MASK90___ genera , all but one of which are monotypic . It includes ___MASK90___ 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 Old World consists of Africa , Europe , and Asia , regarded collectively as the ___MASK81___ 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 ). 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 ___MASK30___ 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 ___MASK63___ . 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 ___MASK38___ , 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 . Condor is the ___MASK84___ 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 . Europe is a ___MASK45___ 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 Europe  a concept dating back to classical antiquity  are arbitrary . The primarily physiographic term " ___MASK45___ " as applied to Europe also incorporates cultural and political elements whose discontinuities are not always reflected by the ___MASK45___ ' s current overland boundaries . Insects ( from Latin ', a calque of Greek ['], " ___MASK10___ into sections ") are a class of invertebrates within the arthropod phylum that have a chitinous exoskeleton , a ___MASK57___ - part body ( ___MASK38___ , thorax and abdomen ), ___MASK57___ 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 . Asia is Earth ' s largest and most populous ___MASK45___ , located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres and sharing the continental landmass of Eurasia with the ___MASK45___ 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 ___MASK45___ , 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 ___MASK45___ of 4 . 4 billion people .