The Vultures Story

Vultures are Scavengers, bold and large wading birds. They pee on their feet to cool their feet in hot, their pee also kills pathogens which could get there from the carcasses they walk through. Their smelling and flight is too great, when they get a sense of blood or decaying body they immediately reach there before any other animal could. They eject vomit when in danger, and so lighten their body weight and fly and also this create a diversion for predator. They eat other animals' carcasses but don't of their own species by their own choice. They eat dead animal so people see them as inauspicious but they do their job and keep our environment clean and disease free. Their leg and bill (beak) are weak and for this reason they can not take their food away. Their bill is not too strong to tear animal, and therefore they wait for other scavengers to come and open the meat such as Hyena and jackal.


 Photograph from : 2-griffon-vulture-flying-nicolas-reusens

 

Vultures belongs to...

Ahh...Vultures' classification is little bit dramatic. They are divided into two worlds; The New World and The Old Word.

The New World : 

    It includes 7 vulture species and found in American continent and Caribbean countries. They are vocal less because their syrinx in non developed. But their smelling power is amazing. The list of species is -

  • Black vulture Coragyps atratus in South America and north to the US
  • Turkey vulture Cathartes aura throughout the Americas to southern Canada
  • Lesser yellow-headed vulture Cathartes burrovianus in South America and north to Mexico
  • Greater yellow-headed vulture Cathartes melambrotus in the Amazon Basin of tropical South America
  • California condor Gymnogyps californianus in California, formerly widespread in the mountains of western North America
  • Andean condor Vultur gryphus in the Andes
  • King vulture Sarcoramphus papa from southern Mexico to northern Argentina

 The Old World :

    It include 16 species and are found in Asia, Europe and Africa. They find their prey mainly by sight. The list of species is -

  • Cinereous vulture, Aegypius monachus
  • Griffon vulture, Gyps fulvus
  • White-rumped vulture, Gyps bengalensis
  • Rüppell's vulture, Gyps rueppelli
  • Indian vulture, Gyps indicus
  • Slender-billed vulture, Gyps tenuirostris
  • Himalayan vulture, Gyps himalayensis
  • White-backed vulture, Gyps africanus
  • Cape vulture, Gyps coprotheres
  • Hooded vulture, Necrosyrtes monachus
  • Red-headed vulture, Sarcogyps calvus
  • Lappet-faced vulture, Torgos tracheliotos
  • White-headed vulture, Trigonoceps occipitalis
  • Bearded vulture (Lammergeier), Gypaetus barbatus
  • Egyptian vulture, Neophron percnopterus
  • Palm-nut vulture, Gypohierax angolensis

 Importance

Are they important? Well I see them too important but for you Lets see this in check box...

1. Does they clean environment?                                                    Yes

2. Does they stop disease being spread?                                        Yes

3. Does they Remove bad smell from road side of died animals?   Yes

4. Does they hurt living beings?                                                      No

5. Does they bring bad news?                                                          No

6. Does they look dangerous?                                                          Yes 

7. Does they attack humans?                                                           Naah Never

8. Are they Cool?                                                                              So Cool!!


    10 years ago in Chaibasa there was abundance of these creatures but for many years now they have vanished. Not just Chaibasa the whole country is facing the same situation. 

Photograph from : istockphoto.com

 

Now in absence of vultures, we encounter many animals' dead bodies rotting with bad smell, spreading disease in roads, in our house's backside and fields and in play grounds. Disease are spreading more frequently. Earth is covered with carrion. And now here is no vultures left to help us. 


Why do all Vultures vanished from Chaibasa?

When I was a kid and first come to Chaibasa to live, I remember Vultures eating carrion of dead dog died from road accidents on the Roro bridge. I was eight, and if an eight year boy with multiple distraction had noticed them, then surely they were in large number at that time period in Chaibasa. 

Last year in May or June I had seen a Vulture flying so high in the sky from my house roof. Other then this I didn't see any Vulture for years. SO the question is where do they gone??

 

In India 9 species were spoted, these are

1. White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus)

2. Long-billed Vulture  (Gyps indicus)

3. Slender-billed Vulture (Gyps tenuirostris) 

4. Himalayan Vulture  (Gyps himalayensis)

5. Eurasian Griffon (Gyps fulvus)

6. Red-headed Vulture (Sarcogyps calvus)

7. Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus)

8. Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus)

9. Cinereous Vulture (Aegypsius monachus)

 

 

Cause of Death

The Indian vulture and the white-rumped vulture have suffered a 99%–97% population decrease in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. Between 2000-2007 annual decline rates of this species and the slender-billed vulture averaged over 16%. 

The cause of this has been identified as poisoning caused by the veterinary drug diclofenac. Diclofenac is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and when given to working animals it can reduce joint pain and so keep them working for longer. The drug is believed to be swallowed by vultures with the flesh of dead cattle who were given diclofenac in their last days of life.

Diclofenac causes kidney failure in several species of vultures. In March 2006 the Indian Government announced its support for a ban on the veterinary use of diclofenac. Another NSAID, meloxicam, has been found to be harmless to vultures and should prove to be an acceptable substitute for diclofenac. A rise in the production of meloxicam can bring its cost down to diclofenac's own levels, and make it more suitable for use. As of August 2011, banning diclofenac for veterinary use for approximately a year did not prevent diclofenac's use across India. Small numbers of birds have bred across peninsular India, in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, especially in villages around Bangalore. The decline in Indian vulture populations has drastically affected the conservation of the environment. By removing all carrion, vultures had helped decrease pollution, spread of diseases, and suppressed undesirable mammalian scavengers.In their absence, the population of feral dogs and rats, along with their zoonotic diseases, has increased greatly.

This whole statement is taken from Wikipedia : Indian Vulture . You can and should check it. 


Other main causes of Vulture's declining population are Loss of Habitat, Unavailability of Food, Cutting of Trees, Environmental Contamination, Traffic Accidents, Infaction from carrions etc. 

 

 At the end of story I hope that Vultures' population again recover and we could see them fasting on carrions.