#gyps

Himalayan vultures (Gyps himalayensis) pick at a carcass in the Tibetan plateau, China

Himalayan Griffon Vulture (Gyps himalayensis), family Accipitridae, order Accipitriformes, India

Himalayan Vulture (Gyps himalayensis) family Accipitridae, order Accipitriformes, Uttarakhand, India

There are nine species of vulture in India, however most have become endangered (The Himalayan vulture has not, though, it is only classed as “Near Threatened”.)

The Himalayan vulture is the largest of the griffon vultures, and can weigh over 12 kg (25 lbs) and have a wingspan of over 3 meters (10 ft).

The population (of vultures in general) has gone down over 99% according to some estimates; there used to be literal millions of vultures in India

The primary cause is the use of a medicine called Diclofenac, used to treat pain in cattle. When the cattle die, the vultures eat the carcass, and absorb the medicine into their bodies, which ends up killing them

The drug was eventually banned/heavily restricted, but populations are slow to recover

This is called the Indian Vulture Crisis

Vultures play a critical role in the environment by cleaning up dead bodies and limiting the spread of disease; for example, it has been suggested that they kept rabies under control by eating animals that had died of rabies and fighting off the disease (birds contrary to popular belief can get rabies, but it is very rare and they can fight it off)

Due to the severe decline in vultures, the feral dog population exploded, which led to rabies being spread