Red-headed Vulture(Sarcogyps calvus)
It is also known as the Asian king vulture, Indian black vulture or Pondicherry vulture. It is a medium-sized vulture of 76-86 cm in length, weighing 3.5–6.3 kg and having a wingspan of about 1.99–2.6 m. It has a prominent naked head: deep-red to orange in the adult, paler red in the juvenile. It has a black body with pale grey band at the base of the flight feathers. The sexes differ in colour of the iris: males have a paler, whitish iris, whilst in females it is dark brown.
Habitat
This vulture was historically abundant, range widely across the Indian subcontinent, and also eastwards to south-central and south-eastern Asia, extending from India to Singapore. Today the range is localized primarily to northern India. It is usually in open country and cultivated and semi-desert areas. It is also found in deciduous forests and foothills and river valleys. It is usually found up to an altitude of 3000m from sea level.
Diet
The Red-headed Vulture feeds mainly on carrion at carcasses of large ungulates, birds, turtles and fish. It also pirates food from other raptors.
Breeding
The breeding season occurs between December and April. Both mates build a large nest in tall tree, at 9-12 metres above the ground, often at treetop. In more desert areas, they nest on top of bushes, at 2-3 metres height. The flat nest is made with sticks, and lined with green leaves and dry grass. The female lays a single egg. Both parents incubate during 45 days. At hatching, the chick is covered in greyish-white down. Fledging and dependency periods are unknown.
Population
According to the IUCN Red List, they are classed as Critically Endangered(CR). Given its rarity in South-East Asia it is unlikely that more than a few hundred individuals remain there, while the total population seems unlikely to exceed 10,000 mature individuals given the patchiness of its distribution across India and the apparently catastrophic very recent declines. In light of this it is placed in the band 2,500-9,999 mature individuals. This equates to 3,750-14,999 individuals in total, here rounded to 3,500-15,000 individuals.
Threats
The disappearance of vultures from Asia is linked to a suite of factors: notably the demise of wild ungulates, the intensification of agriculture, increased sophistication of waste disposal techniques, direct persecution and disease. However, rapid declines since the turn of the 21st century are believed to have been driven by the pharmaceutical NSAID diclofenac used to treat livestock, which has proven highly toxic to vultures, causing mortality from renal failure that results in visceral gout. A recent study found that Red-headed Vulture population declines in India had slowed and were possibly increasing following a ban on diclofenac, which suggests that the species is also adversely affected by the drug. It seems plausible that this species previously had less exposure to the toxin owing to competitive exclusion from carcasses by other vultures. Surveys in Myanmar in late 2006 and early 2007 found no evidence that diclofenac was being used in livestock and it is not in use in Cambodia. A range of other NSAIDs (aclofenac [a pro-drug of diclofenac], ketoprofen, nimesulide and flunixin) have also now been found to be toxic to vultures. In Cambodia at least it experiences some incidental mortality through the widespread use of poisons to catch fish or waterbirds at trapeangs (waterholes). The logging of nesting trees may also be a potential threat.
Conservation
Conservation Actions Underway
CITES Appendix II. CMS Appendix II. It has been reported from many protected areas across its range. The governments of India, Nepal and Pakistan passed legislation in 2006 banning the manufacture and importation of diclofenac as a veterinary drug, with India passing further legislation in 2008 banning the manufacture, sale, distribution or use of veterinary diclofenac. A letter from the Drug Controller General of India in 2008 warned more than 70 drugs firms not to sell the veterinary form of diclofenac, and to mark human diclofenac containers not for veterinary use. In October 2010, the government of Bangladesh banned the production of diclofenac for use in cattle, and the distribution and sale of the drug were due to be outlawed during the first half of 2011. While these bans have been introduced and have led to a reduction of diclofenac within ungulate carcasses (the principal food source for vultures in South Asia) levels of diclofenac contamination still remain high and human forms of the drug are still sold for veterinary use. Efforts to replace diclofenac with a suitable alternative are on-going and are showing signs of success with evidence for a decrease in diclofenac and an increase in the safe alternative. An alternative drug, meloxicam, which is out of patent and manufactured in Asia has been tested on other vultures with no ill-effects. Awareness-raising work has been carried out in Nepal to highlight the use of alternatives to diclofenac.
Searches for breeding sites in Nepal have proved successful, and these have been combined with outreach activities. Monitoring of vultures has been conducted in a number of protected areas in India, and monitoring of vulture populations combined with supplementary feeding is underway in the northern and eastern plains of Cambodia. There are currently seven vulture restaurants in Cambodia, which are run by The Cambodia Vulture Conservation Project, a partnership between the Royal Cambodian Government and national and international NGOs. Advocacy to reduce the use of poisons and poisoned bait to catch fish and waterfowl has succeeded in reducing the number of vultures being poisoned accidentally. A five-year captive breeding and reintroduction scheme to be run by the Zoological Park Association and Kasetsart University was due to begin in 2007 in Uthai Thani, Thailand, but captive breeding efforts are not as advanced as they are for other Critically Endangered vultures and these are urgently needed. Surveys utilising vulture restaurants were carried out in Myanmar in late 2006 and early 2007, accompanied by research into the locations of nesting colonies, causes of vulture deaths and potential that diclofenac was being used in livestock. Further research on the causes of decline in this species was being proposed in 2011.
SAVE (Saving Asia's Vultures from Extinction) has developed the concept of Vulture Safe Zones; areas (with a minimum of 100 km radius, equating to 30,000 km2) around important vulture breeding colonies, where education and advocacy efforts are focussed on eliminating the use of diclofenac and other vulture-toxic drugs, such as ketoprofen. There are currently multiple Vulture Safe Zones being established in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh. An action plan for vulture conservation in India was written in 2006, but has not been updated. Cambodia and Nepal have updated their 10-year (2016-2025) and 6-year (2014-2019) action plans, and in 2016 an action plan was produced for Bangladesh. A multi-species action plan for African-Eurasian Vultures is under development and is due to be considered by CMS at COP12 in October 2017.
Conservation Actions Proposed
Identify the location and number of remaining individuals and identify action required to prevent extinction. Measure the frequency of diclofenac treated carcasses available to vultures. Support the ban on the veterinary use of diclofenac and other vulture-toxic drugs, and support species management or restoration, as needed. Continue to carry out public awareness and public support programmes. Monitor remaining populations, in particular replicate conservation and research activities that have been implemented in Cambodia in Myanmar. Provide supplementary food sources, with appropriately-sized carcasses, where necessary for food-limited populations. Support captive breeding efforts at a number of separate centres. Promote the immediate adoption of meloxicam as an alternatives to diclofenac. Test other NSAIDs to identify additional safe alternative drugs to diclofenac and also other toxic ones. Attempt to fully implement a restriction in the size of diclofenac vials sold for human use to make them less practical to use for veterinary purposes and take action against companies that fail to comply with the diclofenac ban. Continue the operation of Vulture Safe Zones and expand the network of these sites.