Indian vulture

Description

The Indian vulture (Gyps indicus) is an Old World vulture native to India,Pakistan and Nepal.It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2002,as the population severely declined.Indian vultures died of renal failure caused by diclofenac poisoning.It breeds mainly on hilly crags in central and peninsular India.The birds in the northern part of its range once considered a subspecies are now treated as a separate species,the slender-billed vulture Gyps tenuirostris.These were lumped together under the name long-billed vulture.The Indian vulture is medium in size and bulky.Its body and covert feathers are pale,its quills are darker.Its wings are broad and its tail feathers short.Its head and neck are almost bald,and its bill is rather long. It usually is 80–103 cm (31–41 in) long and has a wing span of 1.96 to 2.38 m (6.4 to 7.8 ft).It weighs 5.5–6.3 kg (12–14 lb).It is smaller and less heavily built than the Eurasian griffon.It is distinguished from that species by its less buff body and wing coverts.It also lacks the whitish median covert bar shown by Griffon.