- Slender-billed Vulture
Taxobox
name = Slender-billed Vulture
status = CR | status_system = IUCN3.1
trend = down
image_caption = Head of "Gyps tenuirostris"
regnum =Animal ia
phylum =Chordata
classis =Aves
ordo =Falconiformes
familia =Accipitridae
genus = "Gyps "
species = "G. tenuirostris"
binomial = "Gyps tenuirostris"
binomial_authority =
synonyms ="Gyps indicus tenuirostris"The Slender-billed Vulture ("Gyps tenuirostris") is a recently recognized
species ofOld World vulture . For some time, it was lumped with its relative theIndian Vulture under the name of "Long-billed Vulture". However, these two species haveparapatric orallopatric ranges and can be immediately told apart by trained observers, even at considerable distances.This species has suffered a marked decline in its numbers in recent years. Wild populations remain from northern and eastern
India through southernNepal andBangladesh , with a small population inBurma . The only breeding colony inSoutheast Asia is in the Steung Treng province ofCambodia . This colony is thought to number about 50–100 birds. The survival of the vultures in Cambodia may have been partly becausediclofenac , which is poisonous to vultures, is not available there.Conservation
The Slender-billed Vulture is a protected species listed on the appendix II list of
CITES , because its numbers have declined rapidly. Its decline is largely due to the use of thenon-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)diclofenac in working farm animals, especially inIndia . Diclofenac is poisonous to vultures, causingkidney failure, and is being replaced bymeloxicam (another NSAID), which is not toxic to Vultures.Captive-breeding programs in
India are aiming to conserve the species, and it is hoped that vultures can be released back in the wild when the environment is free of diclofenac.References
* [http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/28144.html Colony of Endangered Vultures Discovered in Cambodia]
* [http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2006/02/slender-billed_vulture.html birdlife.org]
*BirdLife International 2004. " [http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/40810/all Gyps tenuirostris] ". In: IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 29 January 2008.External links
* [http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=30234&m=0 BirdLife Species Factsheet.]
* [http://ibc.hbw.com/ibc/phtml/especie.phtml?idEspecie=618 Slender-billed Vulture videos]
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