An unusual source of essential carotenoids | Zendy

Juan J. Negro | Zendy; Juan Manuel Grande | Zendy; José L. Tella | Zendy; J. Aparicio Garrido | Zendy; D. Hornero | Zendy; José A. Donázar | Zendy; José A. SánchezZapata | Zendy; José Ramón Benítez | Zendy; Manuel Barcell | Zendy

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An unusual source of essential carotenoids

Author(s) -

Juan J. Negro,

Juan Manuel Grande,

José L. Tella,

J. Aparicio Garrido,

D. Hornero,

José A. Donázar,

José A. SánchezZapata,

José Ramón Benítez,

Manuel Barcell

Publication year - 2002

Publication title -

nature

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 15.993

H-Index - 1226

eISSN - 1476-4687

pISSN - 0028-0836

DOI - 10.1038/416807a

Subject(s) - carotenoid , feces , accipitridae , pigment , zoology , vulture , biology , botany , ecology , chemistry , predation , organic chemistry

The rare Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) stands out among the Old World vultures (Family Accipitridae) because of its brightly ornamented head, which is coloured yellow by carotenoid pigments, and its practice of feeding on faeces. Here we show that Egyptian vultures obtain these pigments from the excrement of ungulates. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that faeces can be used as a source of carotenoids by a vertebrate.

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