Kdump from diskdumputils package

[Daniel B. Thurman]

For the first time, I noticed this thing called: kdump because
when I rebooted my system after yum updated, I noticed that
kdump was reporting a missing dump image and left the yellow
[WARNING] message before the udev appears and x windows
startup.

Question: What is kdump.  Plain language please - I read the
technical jargon but still do not know why it is in FC5-T3 and
what purpose it serves.

Question: Can I safely disable it without any adverse effects?
               Should I?

Thanks!
Dan