Caracara vs. Vulture

Above and Below:  The Crested Caracara, also known as the Northern Crested Caracara or Florida Caracara (Caracara cheriway).

This bird of prey -- rarely seen today in Central Florida -- is large; it has a total length of 50–65 cm (20–26 in) and a wingspan of 120-132 cm (47-52 in). Weight is 0.9-1.6 kg (2-3.5 lbs).

Below:  A rare sight in Florida, four Caracara at sunset.

A bold, opportunistic raptor, the Crested Caracara is often seen walking around on the ground looking for food. It mainly feeds on carcasses of dead animals, but will steal food from other raptors, raid bird nests, and take live prey if the possibility arises (mostly insects or other small prey, but at least up to the size of a Snowy Egret). It is dominant over the Black and Turkey Vulture at carcasses (see image below).

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Florida is home to a small population of Caracara that dates to the last glacial period which ended about 12,500 years BP.  Then, Florida and the rest of the Gulf Coast was covered in an oak savannah.  As temperatures increased, the savannah between Florida and Texas disappeared.  Some Caracaras were able to survive in the prairies of central Florida as well as in the marshes along the St. Johns River.

Where they remain in Florida, open fields and cabbage palmettos are a preferred nesting site, though they will also nest in Southern Live Oaks.  Below: A Caracara with two Black Vultures.

Loss of habitat caused the Florida Caracara population to decline, and it was listed as threatened by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 1987.

Above: A pair of Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus) or American Black Vultures. A common sight, especially in winter in Florida.

Below:  A Black Vulture in flight.

The Black Vulture is a scavenger and feeds on carrion, but will also eat eggs or kill newborn animals. In areas populated by humans, it also feeds at garbage dumps. It finds its meals either by using its keen eyesight or by following other (New World) vultures, which possess a keen sense of smell. Lacking a syrinx—the vocal organ of birds—its only vocalizations are grunts or low hisses.

In the United States, the vulture receives legal protection under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

Above and Below: The Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura), also a common winter bird in Florida. It is sometimes referred to as a Buzzard or Turkey Buzzard.

The Turkey Vulture is also a scavenger and feeds almost exclusively on carrion. It finds its meals using its keen vision and sense of smell, flying low enough to detect the gasses produced by the beginnings of the process of decay in dead animals. In flight, it uses thermals to move through the air, flapping its wings infrequently. It roosts in large community groups. Lacking a syrinx—the vocal organ of birds—its only vocalizations are grunts or low hisses.

The Turkey Vulture is also protected in the United States under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

What's Up With Tom Hopper

in Netflix's The Umbrella Academy?

Just have to get this out of the way first.  Producers of Netflix's The Umbrella Academy already changed the Luther character a lot from the comics.  Tom Hopper is already super-human.  There was no need to further enhance his physique with the ape-like appearance they bestowed on Luther.  The ape- was half of Luther's comic book formulation (minus the spacesuit).  Having discarded the spacesuit we would have preferred maybe just a hairier version of Tom Hopper. . . but since the producers did what they did.  We explain their rational here.

There were several mysteries that were introduced throughout the first season of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, but while many of them were left unanswered (damn those finale cliffhangers!), fans did get a little more insight into each of the siblings’ backstories to help further demonstrate how they ultimately became the adults they are today. This included finally learning what happened to Umbrella Academy member Luther to make his regular human body take on such an ape-like transformation. Turns out, he had dear old dad to thank for that, however, life plays out a little differently for Luther in The Umbrella Academy comics on which the series is based.

The Ape-like Appearance Explained

In the show, Hargreeves orders Number One to go on a solo mission that almost kills him. Believing it to be the only way to save his life, Hargreeves injects Luther with a special serum that cures him, but it comes at a cost. The serum morphs Luther’s genetic makeup by giving him the body of an ape, thereby making him much hairier and muscular than ever before. This also seems to help to further enhance his super-strength powers. 

#00.04 The Séance ("Klaus Hargreeves" as played by Robert Sheehan)

Perhaps the best character on Netflix today

COMICBOOK PROFILE/STORY: "Showcases a fretful, morbid temperament. His powers are levitation, telekinesis, and the ability to contact the dead, although his powers only work when he is not wearing shoes. He has the words "Hello" and "Goodbye" tattooed on his palms. It has been theorized by Mr. Pogo that he's been taking drugs since he was a teenager. In "Dallas," Klaus is seen holding a Vietnamese baby, which he later reveals to be his, to the surprise of Luther. Handing it to an elderly woman before leaving in the televator, he thanks her for taking care of the baby, to which she responds: "Where you are going is no place for kids. The baby is safer here." Before leaving in the televator, Klaus apologizes to the woman, saying: "Really sorry about what happened to its mother." The conversation was in Vietnamese, implying that he learned it during the three years he ran a strip club named "Spookies." Klaus had been killed by Hazel and Cha-Cha in "Dallas," but was rejected from both Heaven and Hell, and later noted that it did not matter when a member of the Hargreeves family was shot in the head."

Of course, it feels a little strange to think that Hargreeves just happened to have that special concoction lying around the house for safekeeping. Was it produced from Pogo’s DNA? Did he always intend to give it to Luther at some point or was it a preventative measure to make sure that what happened to Ben would never happen to any of the other children? It’s hard to say why this serum was created in the first place, but it definitely seems to be a permanent side effect that will be apart of Luther’s anatomy for the rest of his life. 

What Happened To Luther In The Comics? 

Fans of the comics may have found this storyline a little surprising, though, since it doesn’t align with what happens in the source material. In the comics, Luther’s mission takes place on Mars and instead of injecting him with a serum, Hargreeves saves his life by transplanting Luther’s head onto the actual body of a Martian gorilla. (As someone who’s watched 15 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, I'd like to think that I’ve seen a lot of wild medical procedures, but this one takes the cake.)

The Tom Hopper-Luther Workout

Luther Also Looks Very Different In The Comics

Additionally, Luther spends all of his time in a spacesuit in the graphic novel, which was something showrunner Steve Blackman wanted to avoid in the series — hence why Luther’s storyline was altered so much. “I worried that [a spacesuit] would distract from people understanding the character, and people who knew nothing about the graphic novel would say, ‘This character isn't serious,’” Blackman told The Hollywood Reporter during a recent interview. “So I put him in clothing in a way that still allowed us to tell this tragic backstory about how he became what he became, but it allowed him to function in a little bit more of a grounded way in the world.”

Hopefully the series will dive further into what exactly this serum is and how it came to be in Season 2.

See more of Tom Hopper in this shower scene (below).