White Rumped Vultures

Vultures are in trouble across the world. Of the 21 species included in this category, 8 are threatened with extinction and 3 more are considered “near threatened” by the IUCN’s Red List. But few have declined as dramatically as the Asian white-rumped vulture. Once among the more abundant large birds of prey, numbering in the tens of millions, white-rumped vultures are now down to fewer than 10,000 birds.

On wings spanning almost seven feet and characterized by white undersides, white-rumped vultures can soar to 9,000 feet. Like all vultures, the birds are scavengers that dispose of animal carcasses that would otherwise contaminate land and water and pose a risk of disease.

Asian white-rumped vultures range from Pakistan to Vietnam and have been reported in Afghanistan and Iran. They are considered extinct in southern China and Malaysia, and one of the most viable populations lives in the northern and eastern plains of Cambodia. WCS leads the Cambodia Vulture Conservation Project, a collaboration between various NGOs and governmental agencies, to help preserve this stronghold for three critically endangered species: the white-rumped, slender-billed, and red-headed vultures.

Fast Facts

Scientific Name

Gyps bengalensis

Asian white-rumped vultures socialize in flocks and nest in tall trees or cliffs, often near urbanized areas. Usually, the male gathers the twigs and the female arranges them to build the nest. Asian vultures were once ubiquitous in South Asian cities. Their decline has dealt a blow to India's small Parsi ethnic minority, who are prohibited by their religion from burying or burning their dead, and depend on carrion-eating birds to help dispose of corpses.

Challenges

Asian white-rumped vultures have dramatically declined since the 1990s, in part due to loss of habitat and nesting grounds, primarily a result of urbanization. As populations of large ungulates and herds of free-ranging cattle have declined, vultures have also lost their food supply. But the greatest threat comes from South Asian farmers’ use of the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac to treat their livestock, which causes renal failure in vultures that feed on cattle carcasses. Though the Indian government now prohibits manufacture of diclofenac, remaining stocks are still in use as enforcement of its ban is lax and alternative drugs are more expensive. Conservationists are concerned that the birds’ declines will be difficult to reverse and that some species may be extinct within a decade. The white-rumped vulture is one of the hardest-hit species; its populations have plummeted 99.9 percent within a decade. Further challenging conservation efforts: White-rumped vultures lay only one egg at a time.

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