Stink Week Mascot Nominee: The Turkey Vulture

Huggably cute Turkey Vulture

Whew, the turkey vulture is one ugly bird.  You probably know that like all vultures it likes to eat dead things.  It's primary defense is to vomit a foul-smelling lump of meat.  The idea, apparently, is that grosses out any would be predator which then allows the turkey vulture to fly away.  Disgusting.  But wait, it gets better.  The turkey vulture pees on it's own legs.  It does so to cool off using a process called urohydrosis.  We don't care what it's called, it's nasty.  It's also thought that peeing on it's legs helps kill any bacteria that may have crawled on it when it was stomping around on some bloated carcass it was dining on.  Blech.  Dead things, barf, and pee.  The turkey vulture smells awful which is why it's a nominee for Stink Week Mascot.