White-Rumped Vulture

White-Rumped Vulture Latest News

Forest officials recently rescued a critically endangered White-rumped vulture found weak and grounded at Mampad near Nilambur, Kerala.

About White-Rumped Vulture

• It is a small Old World vulture native to South and Southeast Asia.
• Scientific name: Gyps bengalensis
• It is also known as Indian White-backed Vulture or Oriental White-backed Vulture.
• Like other vultures, it feeds mostly on carcasses, which it finds by soaring high in thermals and spotting other scavengers. 
• Distribution: Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and southern Vietnam.
• Habitat: 
  • Found mostly in plains and less frequently in hilly regions. 
  • It can also be seen in villages and cities near to cultivation.

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White-Rumped Vulture Population

• In the 1980s, the global population was estimated at several million individuals, and it was thought to be “the most abundant large bird of prey in the world”.
• As of 2021, the global population was estimated at less than 6,000 mature individuals.
• The main reason for this big decline is a medicine called diclofenac. 
• This medicine, used for farm animals, poisons the vultures when they eat dead animals.
• It causes their kidneys to fail.

White-Rumped Vulture Features

• It has an unfeathered head and neck, very broad wings, and short tail feathers.
• Adults are 75 to 85 cm tall, their wing span is 180 to 210 cm, and their weight ranges from 3.5 to 7.5 kg.
• The sexes are approximately equal in size.
• Adults are darker than juveniles, with blackish plumage, a white neck-ruff, and a white patch of feathers on the lower back and upper tail, from which their common name is derived.
• There is a pale grey patch on the upper surface of the wings, visible when the wings are folded. The undersides of the wings are a dark slate to brownish color.

White-Rumped Vulture Conservation Status

It is classified as ‘Critically Endangered‘ under the IUCN Red List.

Source: TH