Vultures Decline

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They are a bird that often doesn’t bring much favor into people’s minds. Ugly birds that eat off road-kill and scavenge around for carcasses. Often depicted in the media as the villain in the show. No one notices as they soar above on endless thermals, spiraling around in endless circles. Nor do people notice when they start to disappear either. Vultures are vanishing from the world, and with them, the vital service they provide. What is causing this rapid decline? Second-hand poisoning from drugs injected into other animals, spent lead, and illegal wildlife trade are just some of the many possible answers. Vultures are forgotten about, they don’t have the looks or the appeal of other endangered animals like lions, cheetahs, or rhinos, and they are in serious trouble. Vultures are nature’s clean-up crew. They feast upon dead, rotting flesh in a wild frenzy. Elizabeth Royte (2015) with the National Geographic magazine, wrote an article about the rapid decline of many vulture species in some of the world’s biggest countries explains the topic further. With bald heads to help with thermoregulation and cleanliness and a gut that packs some highly corrosive …show more content…

A letter published in the Conservation Letters: A Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology, Ogada et al. (2016) explains that Africa has had significant vulture population loss. Though the trend has not been well documented (p. 90). Ogada et al. (2016) are quoted saying, “Populations of eight species we assessed had declined by an average of 62%; seven had declined at a rate of 80% or more over three generations” (p. 89). The threats to these vultures are also inflicted by humans. While India’s vultures were affected unintentionally, and the same happens in Africa too, but many are specifically targeted as well. According to Ogada et al. (2016), 61% of all vulture deaths are of poisoning. They can be directly and indirectly as

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