Paragliding with vultures [vid]

Vultures don’t have the best reputation — they are carrion birds, and as such, are mostly known for eating dead or dying things, and also for puking on things as a defense mechanism. These obviously aren’t the most appealing traits from a human’s perspective, but that doesn’t mean vultures are any less important to their ecosystem.

Kerri Wolter is a conservationist who works with Cape vultures in South Africa, and in order to understand them better, she paraglides with them. The views in the video above are absolutely spectacular, and you can start to get a sense of vultures aside from the whole puking and eating corpses thing.

Check out the Vulture Conservation Project to learn more.