Old world vultures live in the warmer parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia. They are found mainly in mountainous or open country and are rarely found in jungles or in areas of high rainfall. Vultures of all varieties eat flesh but the Palm Nut Vulture feeds mainly on the fruit of oil palm. Egyptian vulture is common in the old world. As the new world vultures have great similarities to true birds of prey, they are classified as close relatives of hawks and eagles.

Indian subcontinent has abundant bird life. Out of the 15 species of old world vultures, eight species are found in India.

Vultures are generally large birds and the largest of these has a wingspan of up to 2.8m and weighs up to 8.5kg. Except the palm vulture and Lammergeier all the other vultures have no feathers on their heads and part of their necks. It helps them to dip their necks deep into the dead animal on which they feed. The beak is strong but it has weak claws on its strong feet, which are used mainly to move about and not to catch a prey. Vultures prefer open spaces, grassland, thorn-bush, desert and rarely vegetated regions. They rely mainly on their eyesight to find food.

Vultures are scavengers of nature. Therefore, they are considered the most eco-friendly of all birds. Vultures feed on dead bodies. They do not attack man and livestock. Occasionally, they eat rotting fruit and other plant material.

By feeding on dead and decaying animals, the vultures do great service to the environment. This is particularly significant during natural disasters like floods, droughts, famines and epidemics.

Vultures nest on the trees or on cliff edges. They build large nests that are used year after year. Though vultures feed on dead, they do not carry diseases. The fact that how vultures can eat, dead and diseased meat, with no ill effects, still continued to be a mystery. For various reasons, the vulture population has been fast declining.