White-Rumped Vulture:
Forest officials recently rescued a critically endangered White-rumped vulture found weak and grounded at Mampad near Nilambur, Kerala.
- It is a small Old World vulture native to South and Southeast Asia.
- Scientific name: Gyps bengalensis
- It is also known as Indian White-backed Vulture or Oriental White-backed Vulture.
- Like other vultures, it feeds mostly on carcasses, which it finds by soaring high in thermals and spotting other scavengers.
- Distribution: Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and southern Vietnam.
- Found mostly in plains.
- The main reason for the big decline in its population is a medicine called diclofenac.
- This medicine, used for farm animals, poisons the vultures when they eat dead animals.
- It causes their kidneys to fail.
- Conservation Status: IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered.
