Until the early 1990s, there were millions of vultures in India. In the garbage dumps of our metro cities, semi-urban and rural areas, vultures were commonly seen performing their duty of foraging on carcasses of domestic and wild animals. Culturally and spiritually, in India, vultures have a prestigious stature. In the Ramayana, the legendary Jatayu gave up his life while fighting with Ravana to save Sita from abduction. Many communities, such as Parsis and Bon Buddhists, practice sky-burial for the deceased and consider vultures the spirit connecting life and the afterlife.
The long, unfeathered neck of the vulture is an adaptation to forage deep inside the body cavity. By scavenging carcasses clean, vultures render ecosystem services, keeping neighbourhoods and environments free from rotting bodies, rats, dogs, and related diseases. According to a paper published in Ecological Economics (2013), their services are worth billions of dollars annually.
Since the mid-1990s, veterinary use of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) diclofenac disrupted vulture populations, which crashed across the subcontinent due to mass mortality from visceral gout and renal failure. Populations of four out of the nine vulture species (white-rumped Gyps bengalensis, long-billed Gyps indicus, slender-billed Gyps tenuirostris, and red-headed Sarcogyps calvus) plummeted up to 99.9 per cent. While we don’t have population figures for most of the vulture species in India today, we have estimated numbers for the white-rumped (6,000), long-billed (30,000), and slender-billed vultures (1,200).
To firefight the ecological crisis, the Government of India launched a vulture captive breeding programme, established vulture-safe zones, and banned the veterinary use of diclofenac in 2006 with technical support from the Bombay Natural History Society and Central Zoo Authority. However, currently, at least 14 other veterinary NSAIDs are in use. Of these, three drugs — aceclofenac, nimesulide, and ketoprofen — are proven vulture-toxic drugs, while meloxicam and tolfenamic acid are vulture-safe drugs. The toxicity of the rest of the drugs is under assessment.
Meanwhile, the vulture population decline across the country seems to have stabilised. The stabilisation has come about only at extremely low levels. Although there are vulture conservation breeding programmes at Pinjore, Bhopal, Rajabhatkhawa, Rani (Guwahati), Junagarh, and Hyderabad, where vultures have been successfully bred in captivity, there is hardly any evidence of population recovery yet. These small populations continue to grapple with illegal veterinary use of diclofenac and vulture-toxic drugs. The vultures of India need food free from toxic veterinary drugs. Are the veterinary drug regulatory authorities listening?
White-rumped vulture
IUCN Status: Critically Endangered
White-rumped vultures are resident birds that occur across India. They are called shokun in eastern India and chamar giddh in northern and central India. Until the 1990s, they were the most widely distributed large raptor globally. Males and females look similar and share nesting responsibilities equally. Their foraging follows a “gorge-and-fast” pattern, where they can go without food for several days. White-rumped vultures nest on tall trees in loosely scattered colonies. During winter, flocks of them are seen with Himalayan griffons. Juveniles of both species look similar in colour. White-rumped vultures were the worst hit by diclofenac poisoning. Fortunately, through the vulture conservation breeding programme, a total of 382 white-rumped vultures have been successfully bred in captivity in centres across India. Photo: Dhritiman Mukherjee
Cover image: A Himalayan griffon congregation at a carcass site in Jorbeed, Rajasthan. Photo: Saurabh Sawant
Long-billed vulture
IUCN Status: Critically Endangered
Long-billed vultures are widely distributed in central, northwest, and southern India. They are also known as the Indian vulture, or desi giddh in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and gridhini and shokun in West Bengal. They are light brown, medium-sized birds, smaller than Eurasian griffons, but larger than white-rumped vultures. A long-billed vulture has a dark head with whitish feathers on the neck and a distinct collar behind the neck. Adults (1) may look a little different from juveniles (2). Males and females are morphologically similar and share nesting responsibilities equally. Long-billed vultures nest in tight colonies within ruins, on cliffs and rocky outcrops of hills and hillocks (where their sandy–brown plumage camouflages well), and occasionally in trees. Around 290 long-billed vultures have been bred in captivity through the vulture conservation breeding programme. Photos: Dhritiman Mukherjee (1), Chris Bowden (2)
Slender-billed vulture
IUCN Status: Critically Endangered
Slender-billed vultures (aka Himalayan long-billed vultures) have a limited distribution along the Himalayan foothills and Northeast India. They have elongated wings ending with broad, squarish tips. Their hairless necks are particularly long and, like their heads, lack a covering of down feathers, differentiating them from long-billed vultures. Slender-billed males and females are morphologically similar and share nesting responsibilities. Large flocks of slender-billed vultures congregate at carcass sites and vocalise intensely. They nest on tall trees in loosely scattered colonies. Slender-billed vultures have also been successfully bred (112 individuals) in India’s vulture conservation breeding centres. Photo: Shreeram MV
Red-headed vulture
IUCN Status: Critically Endangered
Commonly known as the king vulture and locally called raj giddh in central and northern India, these birds are found over much of the Indian subcontinent (except the central-south, eastern and southeastern parts of the peninsula). A bare red head atop a dark, grey-black medium-sized body makes this bird stand out from other vulture species. Adults (1) and juveniles (2) may look slightly different. Males have yellowish eyes, and the females’ eyes are reddish-brown. Red-headed vultures are generally seen alone or in pairs and are shy and solitary compared to other subcontinental vultures. They are also solitary nesters, nesting on tall trees in inaccessible locations. Their strong bills are adapted to tear open tough hides. A dedicated conservation breeding centre for red-headed vultures is coming up at Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. Photos: Shreeram MV
Egyptian vulture Neophron percnopterus
IUCN Status: Endangered
The Egyptian vulture is often called pharaoh’s chicken and locally called gobar giddh and safed cheel in central and northern India. Egyptian vultures are a widely distributed resident species of the Indian subcontinent, not found east of West Bengal. They are the smallest vulture in the country and have a white body, black flight feathers, bright yellow face and wedge-shaped tails in flight. Their short bill with a black tip is an adaptation to help them feed on small bits of muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Juveniles are brown with bare grey faces. Egyptian vultures nest on trees and cliffs and may use cement bags, gunny sacks, etc., for nesting. Photo: Shreeram MV
Bearded vulture Gypaetus barbatus
IUCN Status: Near Threatened
Bearded vultures are called kyaklak in Spiti and skyaklak in Ladakh. These Himalayan residents migrate to the Himalayan foothills in winter. They have a tuft of feathers at the base of the bill for which they are named. During flight, their wide wingspan and elongated diamond-shaped tail feature prominently. Bearded vultures carry the bones of large herbivores to a height and drop them on rocks to split them so they can feed on the marrow. They build large nests on cliffs and caves. Photos: Soumabrata Moulick (1), Dhritiman Mukherjee (2)
Himalayan griffon Gyps himalayensis
IUCN Status: Near Threatened
Himalayan griffons are also known as Himalayan vultures and are the largest vultures of the subcontinent. Widely distributed across the Himalayas, these griffons travel long distances, often up to southern India during winter. They congregate in large numbers at carcass and dump sites and at waterbodies. Adults have sandy-brown feathers and a pale, featherless head. During flight, they can be identified by their small heads, black primaries, and squarish wings. Juvenile Himalayan griffons are often confused with juvenile white-rumped vultures. Himalayan griffons are the main scavengers at sky-burials sites at high altitudes. Due to their relatively higher abundance and safer conservation status, safety testing of veterinary drugs is often carried out on them. Photo: Shreeram MV
Cinereous vulture Aegypius monachus
IUCN Status: Near Threatened
Called kala giddh in northern and central India, cinereous vultures are winter visitors to the Indian subcontinent. Cinereous adults are massive and majestic, dark, sooty-brown to black. Juveniles are predominantly blackish with pinkish bare skin. While soaring, they display flat wings, often slightly bending downwards, with distinct wing fingers. During flight, the tail portion has a saw-toothed appearance. Cinereous vultures have noticeably shorter necks than the Gyps vultures but have equally powerful bills. They are imposing and usually dominate other vultures at a carcass site. Photo: Shreeram MV
Eurasian griffon Gyps fulvus
IUCN Status: Least Concern
Eurasion griffons (also called griffon vulture) are a migratory species that visit the Indian subcontinent in winter. In size, they are almost as large as Himalayan griffons. Their dark cere (nose area), blackish legs, and rufous plumage separate them from the Himalayan griffon. Eurasian griffons travel long distances, often up to eastern India during winter. They congregate in large numbers at carcass dumps, waterbodies and nesting colonies. Juvenile Eurasian griffons may be easily confused with juvenile long-billed vultures. Photo: Saurabh Sawant
With inputs from Mr Sachin Ranade, Centre Manager, Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre (VCBC)-Rani & Assistant Director, BNHS; Mr Soumya Chakravorty, Centre Manager, VCBC-Rajabhatkhawa, BNHS; and Dr Rohan Shringarpure, Centre Manager, VCBC-Bhopal, BNHS.
About the contributor
Abhishek Ghoshal
is a wildlife biologist. He heads the Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation Division at Wildlife Trust of India (WTI).
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