--- title: Why Vultures Don't Get Sick From Eating Rotten Meat description: A new study takes a closer look at how vultures can consume meat that other animals cannot canonical: https://time.com/3606529/vulture-rotten-meat/ author: Jack Linshi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-26T02:26:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:23:43.235Z article:section: Science og:title: Why Vultures Don't Get Sick From Eating Rotten Meat og:description: New study investigates the bacteria in their stomachs og:url: https://time.com/3606529/vulture-rotten-meat/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Vultures Don't Get Sick From Eating Rotten Meat twitter:description: New study investigates the bacteria in their stomachs twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Why Vultures Don't Get Sick From Eating Rotten Meat  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Nov 26, 2014 2:26 AM UTC  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Nov 26, 2014 2:26 AM UTC The rotten flesh of a vulture’s diet would sicken, if not kill, most animals of its size — so how do vultures manage to keep down meals of decaying meat? Vultures have a digestive system that has evolved to destroy dangerous bacteria while tolerating other harmful toxins, according to a new [study](http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/141125/ncomms6498/full/ncomms6498.html) published Tuesday in _Nature Communications_. The research paints a clearer picture of how vultures’ strong stomach acid permits a diet of rotten carcasses, a fact that scientists have known for years. Researchers specifically focused their study on the DNA of bacteria found in the vulture’s stomach, discovering that of the hundreds of bacteria present on the beak, only two dominated their guts, a “remarkably conserved low diversity of gut microbial flora,” the study said. Since the vultures’ gastrointestinal tracts are “extremely selective” in which bacteria they destroy, scientists believe their findings suggest that vultures evolved alongside their food sources. “On one hand, vultures have developed an extremely tough digestive system, which simply acts to destroy the majority of the dangerous bacteria they ingest,” said University of Copenhagen microbiologist Michael Roggenbuck, one of the study’s authors, in a statement. “On the other hand, vultures also appear to have developed a tolerance toward some of the deadly bacteria — species that would kill other animals actively seem to flourish in the vulture lower intestine.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3606529/vulture-rotten-meat/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3606529/vulture-rotten-meat/"},"headline":"Why Vultures Don't Get Sick From Eating Rotten Meat","datePublished":"2014-11-26T02:26:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:23:43.235Z","description":"New study takes a closer look at how vultures can consume meat that other animals cannot","url":"https://time.com/3606529/vulture-rotten-meat/","keywords":["animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3606529/vulture-rotten-meat/","name":"Why Vultures Don't Get Sick From Eating Rotten Meat"}}]}] ```