Xu Ying deftly secured the desert lizards' travel crates onto the back seat of the sand motorcycle, and the roar of the engine pierced through the desert's silence.
She looked up at the two tall wooden stakes by the rescue station entrance—two vultures stood there in their iconic posture, like gatekeepers.
Vulture Brother and Vulture Sister were reluctant to go to the Raptor Protection Center because their two chicks were not yet in stable health, so they stayed to be Xu Ying's aerial bodyguards.
Vultures like to sleep in high places, such as cliff edges and power lines, and when they sleep, they don't lie down but prefer the "single-legged stance."
Vulture Brother stood on one leg, the other tucked under his belly feathers, resembling a monk in meditation; Vulture Sister twisted her head 180 degrees, her beak buried in her back feathers, with only half of her sleepy eyes visible.
Both sleeping postures help reduce heat loss.
