Lost Population of Indian Vultures
Pratha Sah and Felix Francis
India has nine species of vultures in the wild including the Oriental White-backed Vulture (Gyps bengalensis), Long-Billed Vulture (Gyps indicus), Slender-Billed Vulture (Gyps tenuirostris), Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus), Red-Headed Vulture (Sarcogyps calvus), Indian Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus), Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis), Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus), and Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus). Among them, the white-backed, long-billed, and slender-billed vultures are recognized by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the World Conservation Union, as critically endangered.