We just love this guy’s hairdo. He’s an Egyptian vulture, also known as “the Pharaoh’s chicken” after Egypt’s long-ago kings. Aside from his crazy feather bedhead, he’s very smart. Egyptian vultures are one of the few birds that use objects as “tools.” They can hold a pebble to pound on an egg to crack it open and eat it. They also roll up wool on twigs when building their nests. Now, if we could just teach him how to use a hairbrush…
Wee ones: How many eyes does our Egyptian vulture friend have?
Little kids: An Egyptian vulture’s wings stretch 3 times as far as his body length! Lie down with your arms to the sides, and have a grown-up mark the end of each hand with a book or toy. Now turn to put your head near one marker, and your feet by the other. Which is longer, your body or your armspan? Bonus: A female Egyptian vulture lays 2 brick-red eggs each year. If she’s been laying eggs all your life, how many eggs has she laid altogether? (Don’t worry about half-years!)
Big kids: If you take 7, add 2, triple what you get, and subtract 6, you get the number of years Egyptian vultures live. How long is that? Bonus: When Egyptian vultures “migrate” (fly north or south for the season), they can fly 300 miles in 1 day. How many miles could they fly in 1 week? (Hint if needed: What if they flew just 3 miles a day…then how about 30 miles a day…)
The sky’s the limit: If an Egyptian vulture hammers an egg, then rolls up a twig, then says “ca-caw!”, then hammers, rolls a twig, ca-caws, and so on to repeat the pattern, what’s its 92nd move?
Answers:
Wee ones: 2 eyes.
Little kids: They might not be exactly the same, but they’ll be close! Bonus: Different for everyone…multiply your age by 2.
Big kids: 21 years. You get 9, then 27, then 21. Bonus: 2,100 miles.
The sky’s the limit: Rolling up a twig. 92 is 2 more than a very clear multiple of 3 (90), so it’s the 2nd move in the set.
