Justification This species qualifies as Critically Endangered because it has suffered an extremely rapid population decline primarily as a result of feeding on carcasses of animals treated with the veterinary drug diclofenac.

Family/Sub-family Accipitridae

Species name author (Gmelin, 1788)

Taxonomic source(s) Cramp and Simmons (1977-1994), Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)

Identification 75-85 cm. Medium-sized, dark vulture. Adult has blackish plumage, white neck-ruff, rump and underwing-coverts, silvery panel on upper surface of secondaries, dark head and neck, and rather short, heavy, mostly silver bill. Juvenile dark brown with prominent white shaft-streaks, especially below. White down on head and neck and usually a brownish nape- patch. Subadult drabber brown. Similar spp. Long-billed Vulture G. indicus has pale brown lesser and median coverts, dark brown remiges and pale brown, almost unstreaked, underparts. Voice Croaks, grunts, hisses and squeals at nest colonies, roosts and carcasses.

Population estimate

Population trend

Range estimate (breeding/resident)

Country endemic?

2,500-9,999

decreasing

4,920,000 km²

No

Range & population Gyps bengalensis occurs in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and southern Vietnam, and may be extinct in southern China and Malaysia. It has been recorded from south-east Afganistan and Iran where its status is currently unknown. As recently as 1985 the species was described as "possibly the most abundant large bird of prey in the world"⁵. However, it disappeared from most of South-East Asia in the early 20th century and the only viable populations in the region are found in Cambodia and Myanmar (both probably in the low hundreds of individuals)^6,7,8. Given the lack of intensive agriculture and associated chemical use in South-East Asia and the continued presence of large areas of suitable habitat for the species, the primary reason behind its decline in the region is thought to be the demise of large ungulate populations and improvements in animal husbandry resulting in a lack of available carcasses for vultures^7,8. Since the mid-1990s, it has suffered a catastrophic decline (over 99%) across the Indian Subcontinent (the majority of its historic range), first noticed in Keoladeo National Park, India², but mirrored in Pakistan¹⁴ and Nepal¹⁹, to the point that the species is highly threatened with extinction. Extensive research has identified the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), diclofenac, to be the cause behind this rapid population collapse^9,10,11,12. This drug, used to treat domestic livestock, is ingested by vultures feeding on their carcasses leading to renal failure causing visceral gout^10,12,14,15. Declines in India between 2000-2007 averaged 43.9% per year²², and ranged between 11%-61% in Punjab province, Pakistan over the same period²³, while surveys of 23 known colonies in Punjab province in 2006 found a total of only 37 breeding pairs²³. Diclofenac is apparently entirely absent in Cambodia, adding greater emphasis to that remaining small population (171 counted at vulture restaurants in 2008)²⁸.

Important Bird Areas Click here to view map showing IBAs where species is recorded and triggers any of the IBA criteria.

Ecology: It occurs mostly in plains and less frequently in hilly regions where it utilises light woodland, villages, cities, and open areas. It feeds on carrion, both putrid and fresh. While feeding considerable aggregations can form, and regular communal roost sites are used. It is social and usually found in conspecific flocks. It breeds in colonies in tall trees, often near human habitation. Movements are poorly known, although satellite-tagged birds have shown that they will forage over a vast range. The degree of connectivity of apparently separate populations is not known. Vultures also play a key role in the wider landscape as providers of ecosystem services, and were previously heavily relied upon to help dispose of animal and human remains in India.

Threats By mid-2000, Gyps vultures were being found dead and dying in Nepal, Pakistan, and throughout India, and major declines and local extirpations were being reported. The anti-inflammatory veterinary drug diclofenac, used to treat domestic livestock, has been identified as the cause of mortality from renal failure resulting from visceral gout in the vast majority of examined vultures^10,11,12,14. Modelling has shown that to cause the observed rate of decline in Gyps vultures, just one in 760 livestock carcasses need contain diclofenac residues⁹. Other likely contributory factors are changes in human consumption and processing of dead livestock, and poison and pesticide use, but these are probably of minor significance. In South-East Asia, the near-total disappearance of the species pre-dated the present crisis, and probably resulted from the collapse of large wild ungulate populations and improved management of deceased livestock⁷.

Conservation measures underway CITES Appendix II. CMS Appendix II. It has been reported from many protected areas across its range. There has been a proposal to add the species to the protected species list of the 1973 National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act in Nepal. The Indian government has now passed a bill banning the manufacture of the veterinary drug diclofenac that has caused the rapid population decline across the Indian Subcontinent; their aim was to phase out its use by late 2005^13,17, although its sale has not been banned and it is likely to remain in widespread use for several years. Similar laws banning import and manufacture of diclofenac are now in place in Nepal and Pakistan. Efforts to replace diclofenac with a suitable alternative are ongoing; drug companies have now developed meloxicam, an alternative to diclofenac which has been tested on a number of species including Gyps vultures with no apparent ill-effects²⁵. In 2008 the Indian government ordered a crackdown on companies selling diclofenac. A letter from the Drug Controller General of India warned more than 70 drugs firms not to sell the veterinary form of diclofenac, and to mark human diclofenac containers 'not for veterinary use'²⁷. A study of 11 administrative districts in Nepal found diclofenac use dropped by 90% since 2006 following the introduction of measures to reduce its use²⁴. Vulture restaurants are increasingly used as ecotourism attractions in parts of the species's range, particularly Cambodia, to raise awareness and fund supplementary feeding programmes and research. The exchange of diclofenac with meloxican near breeding colonies is taking place in Nepal in combination with diversionary feeding with diclofenac-free carcasses. Diversionary feeding has been shown to reduce but not eliminate vulture mortality from diclofenac poisoning, and uncertainty over the movements of Asian Gyps vultures makes the effectiveness of measures such as these uncertain²⁵. Birds have been satellite tagged in various parts of their range to improve understanding of their movements, foraging range, site fidelity etc., to aid development of suitable conservation strategies for the species⁴. Socioeconomic surveys in Nepal have shown that local people are strongly in favour of vulture conservation because of the associated ecological services that vultures provide¹⁶. The Report of the International South Asian Vulture Recovery Plan Workshop in 2004 gave a comprehensive list of recommendations including establishing a minimum of three captive breeding centres each capable of holding 25 pairs²⁰. Captive breeding efforts are ongoing and met with success when two chicks hatched in early 2007 at a breeding centre in Pinjore, Haryana²¹. The centre is part of a captive breeding programme established by the RSPB and Bombay Natural History Society. A website has been set up to allow researchers to contribute data on known colonies to identify founder individuals for captive flocks that will ensure the full geographical spread of the species is represented in captive breeding efforts¹⁸. By April 2008 there were 88 in captivity at three breeding centres in India, as well as 11 at a centre established by WWF-Pakistan and 14 in captivity in Nepal²⁵.

Conservation measures proposed Identify the location and number of remaining individuals and identify action required to prevent extinction. Continue to measure the frequency of diclofenac-treated carcasses available to vultures. Support the ban on the veterinary use of diclofenac, and support species management or restoration, as needed. Initiate public awareness and public support programmes. Monitor remaining populations, in particular replicate conservation and research activities that have been implemented in Cambodia in Myanmar and survey southern India where it is hoped vulture populations may not have crashed to the same extent that they have in the rest of the Subcontinent. Provide supplementary food sources where necessary for food-limited populations in South-East Asia. Support captive breeding efforts at a number of separate centres with the aim of holding at least 150 pairs of each species in captivity^25,26. Promote the immediate adoption of meloxicam as an alternatives to diclofenac. Test other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to identify additional safe alternative drugs to diclofenac and also other toxic ones.

References BirdLife International (2001). 1. R. Riseborough in litt. (2003). 2. Prakash et al. (2003). 3. T. Htin Hla in litt. (2003). 4. Ellis (2004). 5. Houston (1985). 6. Htin Hla (2003). 7. Anon (2003). 8. Anon (2005). 9. Green et al. (2004). 10. Oaks et al. (2004a). 11. Shultz et al. (2004). 12. Swan et al. (2005). 13. Swan et al. (2006). 14. Gilbert et al. (2006). 15. Oaks et al. (2004b). 16. Gautam and Baral (2003). 17. Islam (2005). 18. M. Gilbert in litt. (2004). 19. Baral et al. (2005). 20. Bombay Natural History Society (2004). 21. V. Prakash in litt. (2007). 22. Prakash et al. (2007). 23. Murn et al.(2008). 24. Anon (2008). 25. Pain et al. (2008). 26. Johnson et al. (2008). 27. BirdLife International (2008). 28. H. Rainey in litt. (2008).

Further web sources of information

Cambodia Vulture Conservation Action Plan

Fully detailed species accounts from the Threatened birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book (BirdLife International 2001), together with new information collated since the publication of the Red Data Book

The Peregrine Fund - Asian Vulture Population Project

Text account compilers Phil Benstead (BirdLife International), Jeremy Bird (BirdLife International), Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Nic Peet (BirdLife International), Jan F. Rasmussen, Pamela Rasmussen (National Museum of Natural History, Washington), Andy Symes (BirdLife International)

Contributors Tom Clements (Wildlife Conservation Society), Richard Cuthbert (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), Martin Gilbert (Wildlife Conservation Society), T. Htin Hla (Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association), Vibhu Prakash (Bombay Natural History Society), Hugo Rainey (Wildlife Conservation Society), R. Riseborough

IUCN Red List evaluators Jeremy Bird (BirdLife International), Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Andy Symes (BirdLife International)

Recommended citation BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: Gyps bengalensis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 9/2/2010

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

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