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Campbell Murn - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Gyps vulture restoration project - role of captive breeding in endangered species management.
Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 2020Co-Authors: Uzma Khan, Campbell MurnAbstract:The population of the Gyps vultures has declined in South Asian region to 8095% in recent years. The primary cause of this rapid decline is attributed to the widespread use of a NSAID, Diclofenac in the livestock, however, other causes of vulture decline are habitat destruction, pesticides poisoning etc. In order to restore the population of Gyps vultures conservation centres have been established in South Asia. The primary aim of these centres is to hold safely a population of the species affected. Once the environment is safe for vultures, they can help in reintroductions or supplementations to the wild. In Pakistan such a centre has been established at Changa Manga for Gyps bengalensis. This centre is managed by WWF – Pakistan in partnership with the Punjab Wildlife and Parks Department, whilst technical and financial support of The Hawk Conservancy Trust, UK and keystone funding comes from the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, UAE. The Birds of Prey have many success stories of population restoration through captive breeding and reintroduction, some examples are California Condor GymnoGyps californianus, Mauritius Kestrel Falco punctatus, Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus and Griffon vulture Gyps fulvus. Techniques such as double clutching and hacking have been successful in increasing the breeding rate and improving reintroduction success. In Changa Manga a large communal aviary holds fifteen Gyps bengalensis. Sex determination has been done genetically and birds have been inserted microchipped and ringed for individual recognition. Within the aviary, potential breeding birds have access to artificial nest sites (shallow woven baskets, wooden baskets) and nests retrieved from the wild. A roosting/nesting ledge has also been developed for potential breeding pairs. Ungulates are kept alive for at least five days before they are slaughtered to be fed to the birds, this is done to ensure that had there been any Diclofenac injected is excreted out the system. Furthermore, breeding facility for rabbits has been developed and goats are also bred at the facility to maintain a variety in the diet and sustainability. The aviary at the Conservation Centre at Changa Manga has a capacity of approximately 30 vultures and four separate breeding aviaries have been developed already. These are arranged so that all the pairs are able to see each other that would help in synchronising breeding. The project faces the challenges of implementation of Diclofenac ban in veterinary practice, increase awareness to stop the use of human formulations in the veterinary practice and to increase the founder population of G. bengalensis in the conservation centre. Successful captive breeding and release programme has been internationally agreed as the most appropriate conservation intervention of the conservation of Asian Gyps vultures.
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interactions between pied crows corvus albus and breeding white backed vultures Gyps africanus
Ethology Ecology & Evolution, 2019Co-Authors: Thomas F Johnson, Campbell MurnAbstract:African White-backed vultures Gyps africanus are Critically Endangered, mainly due to mortality from poisoning, but the species also exhibits variable breeding productivity that may partially be ex...
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visual fields foraging and collision vulnerability in Gyps vultures
Ibis, 2012Co-Authors: Graham R Martin, Steven J Portugal, Campbell MurnAbstract:The visual fields of vultures contain a small binocular region and large blind areas above, below and behind the head. Head positions typically adopted by foraging vultures suggest that these visual fields provide comprehensive visual coverage of the ground below, prohibit the eyes from imaging the sun and provide extensive visual coverage laterally. However, vultures will often be blind in the direction of travel. We conclude that by erecting structures such as wind turbines, which extend into open airspace, humans have provided a perceptual challenge that the vision of foraging vultures cannot overcome.
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Short communications, notes and reports: Recent developments in Gyps vulture conservation in Pakistan
Vulture News, 2012Co-Authors: Campbell Murn, Uzma Khan, F FaridAbstract:No Abstract Keywords: Gyps bengalensis, Pakistan, Punjab, Sindh, Changa Manga, Captive breeding
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Vulture populations in Pakistan and the Gyps Vulture Restoration Project
2008Co-Authors: Campbell Murn, Uzma Khan, Faisal FaridAbstract:Populations of three critically endangered Gyps vultures continue to decline in South Asia, due primarily to veterinary diclofenac. In the Punjab Province of Pakistan, annual rates of decline for breeding populations of Oriental White-backed Vultures Gyps bengalensis have ranged between 11% and 61% per year since 2001. Conservation initiatives to address the vulture declines have included the establishment and development of conservation breeding centres. Apart from two such centres currently operating in India, a third regional centre opened in Pakistan in 2007. Herein we describe the Gyps Vulture Restoration Project, launched by WWF-Pakistan in 2004, and the conservation breeding centre at Changa Manga, near Lahore in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. Vulture News Vol. 58 2008: pp. 35-43
Vibhu Prakash - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Short communication Diclofenac is toxic to the Himalayan Vulture Gyps himalayensis
2020Co-Authors: Richard J Cuthbert, Ram D. Jakati, Vibhu PrakashAbstract:Veterinary use of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) diclofenac has been shownto be the major cause of the collapse of populations of three Gyps vulture species endemic toSouth Asia. The White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis, Indian Vulture G. indicus andSlender-billed Vulture G. tenuirostris, have declined by more than 98% in the Indiansubcontinent since the early 1990s, and are now all listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ (IUCN2004). Gyps vultures are exposed to diclofenac through consuming the contaminated carcasses oflivestock that have been treated with the drug shortly before death and die from kidney failure,with clinical signs of extensive visceral gout and renal damage. These clinical signs and diclofenacresidues have been found in carcasses of wild G. bengalensis and G. indicus, and in G.bengalensis either dosed with diclofenac orally or given tissues from diclofenac treated livestock.Research on White-backed Vultures G. africanus, Eurasian Griffons G. fulvus and Cape VulturesG. coprotheres has established that these three species are about as sensitive to diclofenac as G.bengalensis, with birds dying with the same clinical signs of visceral gout and characteristic renaldamage. This experimental testing has established that diclofenac is toxic to four species ofvultures in the genus Gyps, but information on the toxicity of diclofenac to other members ofthe genus is lacking.
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Aerobic Culturable Bacterial Microflora in Resident Gyps vulture species of India
Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 2014Co-Authors: Rohan Shringarpure, Toby H Galligan, Mandar Kulkarni, Chhaya Sawant, Ashok Bhagwat, Vibhu PrakashAbstract:Microflora of three Critically Endangered, resident Gyps species of Indian vultures was studied at the Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre, Pinjore, Panchkula district, Haryana. Cloacal and choanal swabs from 32 adult Gyps vultures (10 White-rumped Gyps bengalensis , 11 Long-billed G. indicus and 11 Slender-billed G. tenuirostris ) held in captivity at the centre were collected in October 2011 and analyzed to determine the presence of aerobic culturable bacteria. A total of 23 bacterial species were isolated from the 64 cloacal and choanal samples collected and analyzed. The commonly encountered bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract were Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis , and Enterococcus avium , while Staphylococcus epidermidis , S. saprophyticus , and Streptococcus pneumoniae were prevalent in the respiratory tract. The rest of the bacterial species were of low prevalence, and no specific pattern of colonization was seen. In spite of their exposure to a variety of microorganisms due to the scavenging nature of the vultures, only a few organisms were observed to colonize successfully and form the normal flora. The bacterial species richness and diversity among the three vulture species was similar.
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molecular sexing of threatened Gyps vultures an important strategy for conservation breeding and ecological studies
SpringerPlus, 2012Co-Authors: Prabhakar B Ghorpade, Richard J Cuthbert, Vibhu Prakash, Mandar Kulkarni, Nikita Prakash, Praveen K Gupta, Anil Kumar Sharma, Mohini SainiAbstract:During the last two decades populations of three resident species of Gyps vulture have declined dramatically and are now threatened with extinction in South Asia. Sex identification of vultures is of key importance for the purpose of conservation breeding as it is desirable to have an equal sex ratio in these monogamous species which are housed together in large colony aviaries. Because vultures are monomorphic, with no differences in external morphology or plumage colour between the sexes, other methods are required for sex identification. Molecular methods for sex identification in birds rely on allelic length or nucleotide sequence discrimination of the chromohelicase-DNA binding (CHD) gene located on male and female chromosomes ZZ and ZW, respectively. We characterized the partial sequences of CHD alleles from Gyps indicus, Gyps bengalensis, Gyps himalayensis and Aegypius monachus and analysed the applicability of five molecular methods of sex identification of 46 individual vultures including 26 known-sex G. bengalensis and G. indicus. The results revealed that W-specific PCR in combination with ZW-common PCR is a quick, accurate and simple method, and is ideal for sex identification of vultures. The method is also suitable to augment ecological studies for identifying sex of these endangered birds during necropsy examinations especially when gonads are not apparent, possibly due to regression during non-breeding seasons.
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the population decline of Gyps vultures in india and nepal has slowed since veterinary use of diclofenac was banned
PLOS ONE, 2012Co-Authors: Vibhu Prakash, Richard J Cuthbert, Mohan Chandra Bishwakarma, Anand Chaudhary, Ruchi Dave, Mandar Kulkarni, Sashi Kumar, Khadananda Paudel, Sachin P Ranade, Rohan ShringarpureAbstract:Populations of oriental white-backed vulture (Gyps bengalensis), long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus) and slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris) crashed during the mid-1990s throughout the Indian subcontinent. Surveys in India, initially conducted in 1991–1993 and repeated in 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2007, revealed that the population of Gyps bengalensis had fallen by 2007 to 0.1% of its numbers in the early 1990s, with the population of Gyps indicus and G. tenuirostris combined having fallen to 3.2% of its earlier level. A survey of G. bengalensis in western Nepal indicated that the size of the population in 2009 was 25% of that in 2002. In this paper, repeat surveys conducted in 2011 were analysed to estimate recent population trends. Populations of all three species of vulture remained at a low level, but the decline had slowed and may even have reversed for G. bengalensis, both in India and Nepal. However, estimates of the most recent population trends are imprecise, so it is possible that declines may be continuing, though at a significantly slower rate. The degree to which the decline of G. bengalensis in India has slowed is consistent with the expected effects on population trend of a measured change in the level of contamination of ungulate carcasses with the drug diclofenac, which is toxic to vultures, following a ban on its veterinary use in 2006. The most recent available information indicates that the elimination of diclofenac from the vultures’ food supply is incomplete, so further efforts are required to fully implement the ban.
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diclofenac is toxic to the himalayan vulture Gyps himalayensis
Bird Conservation International, 2011Co-Authors: Richard J Cuthbert, Ram D. Jakati, Vibhu PrakashAbstract:Veterinary use of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) diclofenac has been shown to be the major cause of the collapse of populations of three Gyps vulture species endemic to South Asia. The White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis, Indian Vulture G. indicus and Slender-billed Vulture G. tenuirostris, have declined by more than 98% in the Indian subcontinent since the early 1990s, and are now all listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ (IUCN 2004). Gyps vultures are exposed to diclofenac through consuming the contaminated carcasses of livestock that have been treated with the drug shortly before death and die from kidney failure, with clinical signs of extensive visceral gout and renal damage. These clinical signs and diclofenac residues have been found in carcasses of wild G. bengalensis and G. indicus, and in G. bengalensis either dosed with diclofenac orally or given tissues from diclofenac treated livestock. Research on White-backed Vultures G. africanus, Eurasian Griffons G. fulvus and Cape Vultures G. coprotheres has established that these three species are about as sensitive to diclofenac as G. bengalensis, with birds dying with the same clinical signs of visceral gout and characteristic renal damage. This experimental testing has established that diclofenac is toxic to four species of vultures in the genus Gyps, but information on the toxicity of diclofenac to other members of the genus is lacking.
Richard J Cuthbert - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Short communication Diclofenac is toxic to the Himalayan Vulture Gyps himalayensis
2020Co-Authors: Richard J Cuthbert, Ram D. Jakati, Vibhu PrakashAbstract:Veterinary use of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) diclofenac has been shownto be the major cause of the collapse of populations of three Gyps vulture species endemic toSouth Asia. The White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis, Indian Vulture G. indicus andSlender-billed Vulture G. tenuirostris, have declined by more than 98% in the Indiansubcontinent since the early 1990s, and are now all listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ (IUCN2004). Gyps vultures are exposed to diclofenac through consuming the contaminated carcasses oflivestock that have been treated with the drug shortly before death and die from kidney failure,with clinical signs of extensive visceral gout and renal damage. These clinical signs and diclofenacresidues have been found in carcasses of wild G. bengalensis and G. indicus, and in G.bengalensis either dosed with diclofenac orally or given tissues from diclofenac treated livestock.Research on White-backed Vultures G. africanus, Eurasian Griffons G. fulvus and Cape VulturesG. coprotheres has established that these three species are about as sensitive to diclofenac as G.bengalensis, with birds dying with the same clinical signs of visceral gout and characteristic renaldamage. This experimental testing has established that diclofenac is toxic to four species ofvultures in the genus Gyps, but information on the toxicity of diclofenac to other members ofthe genus is lacking.
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molecular sexing of threatened Gyps vultures an important strategy for conservation breeding and ecological studies
SpringerPlus, 2012Co-Authors: Prabhakar B Ghorpade, Richard J Cuthbert, Vibhu Prakash, Mandar Kulkarni, Nikita Prakash, Praveen K Gupta, Anil Kumar Sharma, Mohini SainiAbstract:During the last two decades populations of three resident species of Gyps vulture have declined dramatically and are now threatened with extinction in South Asia. Sex identification of vultures is of key importance for the purpose of conservation breeding as it is desirable to have an equal sex ratio in these monogamous species which are housed together in large colony aviaries. Because vultures are monomorphic, with no differences in external morphology or plumage colour between the sexes, other methods are required for sex identification. Molecular methods for sex identification in birds rely on allelic length or nucleotide sequence discrimination of the chromohelicase-DNA binding (CHD) gene located on male and female chromosomes ZZ and ZW, respectively. We characterized the partial sequences of CHD alleles from Gyps indicus, Gyps bengalensis, Gyps himalayensis and Aegypius monachus and analysed the applicability of five molecular methods of sex identification of 46 individual vultures including 26 known-sex G. bengalensis and G. indicus. The results revealed that W-specific PCR in combination with ZW-common PCR is a quick, accurate and simple method, and is ideal for sex identification of vultures. The method is also suitable to augment ecological studies for identifying sex of these endangered birds during necropsy examinations especially when gonads are not apparent, possibly due to regression during non-breeding seasons.
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the population decline of Gyps vultures in india and nepal has slowed since veterinary use of diclofenac was banned
PLOS ONE, 2012Co-Authors: Vibhu Prakash, Richard J Cuthbert, Mohan Chandra Bishwakarma, Anand Chaudhary, Ruchi Dave, Mandar Kulkarni, Sashi Kumar, Khadananda Paudel, Sachin P Ranade, Rohan ShringarpureAbstract:Populations of oriental white-backed vulture (Gyps bengalensis), long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus) and slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris) crashed during the mid-1990s throughout the Indian subcontinent. Surveys in India, initially conducted in 1991–1993 and repeated in 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2007, revealed that the population of Gyps bengalensis had fallen by 2007 to 0.1% of its numbers in the early 1990s, with the population of Gyps indicus and G. tenuirostris combined having fallen to 3.2% of its earlier level. A survey of G. bengalensis in western Nepal indicated that the size of the population in 2009 was 25% of that in 2002. In this paper, repeat surveys conducted in 2011 were analysed to estimate recent population trends. Populations of all three species of vulture remained at a low level, but the decline had slowed and may even have reversed for G. bengalensis, both in India and Nepal. However, estimates of the most recent population trends are imprecise, so it is possible that declines may be continuing, though at a significantly slower rate. The degree to which the decline of G. bengalensis in India has slowed is consistent with the expected effects on population trend of a measured change in the level of contamination of ungulate carcasses with the drug diclofenac, which is toxic to vultures, following a ban on its veterinary use in 2006. The most recent available information indicates that the elimination of diclofenac from the vultures’ food supply is incomplete, so further efforts are required to fully implement the ban.
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population trends of critically endangered Gyps vultures in the lowlands of nepal
Bird Conservation International, 2012Co-Authors: Anand Chaudhary, Khadananda Paudel, Jeet Bahadur Giri, Hem Sagar Baral, Tulsi R Subedi, Basu Bidari, Hem Subedi, Badri Chaudhary, Ishwori Chaudhary, Richard J CuthbertAbstract:Three species of resident Gyps vulture are threatened with extinction in South Asia due to the contamination of domestic ungulate carcasses with the drug diclofenac. Observed rates of population decrease are among the highest recorded for any bird species, leading to total declines in excess of 99.9% for the Oriental White-backed Vulture Gyps bengalensis in India between 1992 and 2007. Vultures have declined in Nepal, but quantitative information on the rate and scale of decreases is unavailable. Road transect surveys for vultures, following the same route, methodology and timing, were undertaken in lowland areas of Nepal for seven years from 2002 to 2011. The seven survey transects followed Nepal’s East-West highway and covered 1,010 km in three years of the survey, and 638 km in the remaining four years. Slender-billed Vultures G. tenuirostris were very scarce, with a maximum of five individuals in 2002 and none recorded in 2010 and 2011. Oriental White-backed Vultures were most commonly recorded, but decreased from 205 to 68 birds over the survey period, with an estimated annual rate of decline of 14% a year. If population decreases commenced in Nepal in the same year as in India, then White-backed Vultures in Nepal have declined by 91% since the mid-1990s. Few resident Gyps vultures remained in Eastern and Central regions of Nepal, with just one, nine and six birds recorded in the three surveys that covered these regions. The majority of threatened Gyps vultures in lowland Nepal are now found in Western and Mid Western regions, where conservation efforts have been focused in the last six years. Removing veterinary diclofenac from across the country and continuing to manage effective “vulture safe zones” are essential to conserve Nepal’s remaining vulture populations.
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diclofenac is toxic to the himalayan vulture Gyps himalayensis
Bird Conservation International, 2011Co-Authors: Richard J Cuthbert, Ram D. Jakati, Vibhu PrakashAbstract:Veterinary use of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) diclofenac has been shown to be the major cause of the collapse of populations of three Gyps vulture species endemic to South Asia. The White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis, Indian Vulture G. indicus and Slender-billed Vulture G. tenuirostris, have declined by more than 98% in the Indian subcontinent since the early 1990s, and are now all listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ (IUCN 2004). Gyps vultures are exposed to diclofenac through consuming the contaminated carcasses of livestock that have been treated with the drug shortly before death and die from kidney failure, with clinical signs of extensive visceral gout and renal damage. These clinical signs and diclofenac residues have been found in carcasses of wild G. bengalensis and G. indicus, and in G. bengalensis either dosed with diclofenac orally or given tissues from diclofenac treated livestock. Research on White-backed Vultures G. africanus, Eurasian Griffons G. fulvus and Cape Vultures G. coprotheres has established that these three species are about as sensitive to diclofenac as G. bengalensis, with birds dying with the same clinical signs of visceral gout and characteristic renal damage. This experimental testing has established that diclofenac is toxic to four species of vultures in the genus Gyps, but information on the toxicity of diclofenac to other members of the genus is lacking.
Rhys E Green - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the use of toxicokinetics and exposure studies to show that carprofen in cattle tissue could lead to secondary toxicity and death in wild vultures
Chemosphere, 2018Co-Authors: Vinny Naidoo, Mark A Taggart, Neil Duncan, Kerri Wolter, John K Chipangura, Rhys E Green, Toby H GalliganAbstract:Abstract Veterinary medicines can be extremely damaging to the environment, as seen with the catastrophic declines in Gyps vulture in South Asia due to their secondary exposure to diclofenac in their primary food source. Not surprisingly, concern has been raised over other similar drugs. In this study, we evaluate the toxicity of carprofen to the Gyps vulture clade through plasma pharmacokinetics evaluations in Bos taurus cattle (their food source) and Gyps africanus (a validated model species); tissue residues in cattle; and the effect of carprofen as a secondary toxicant as both tissue-bound residue or pure drug at levels expected in cattle tissues. Carprofen residues were highest in cattle kidney (7.72 ± 2.38 mg/kg) and injection site muscle (289.05 ± 98.96 mg/kg of dimension of 5 × 5 × 5 cm). Vultures exposed to carprofen as residues in the kidney tissue or pure drug equivalents showed no toxic signs. When exposed to average injection site concentrations (64 mg/kg) one of two birds died with evidence of severe renal and liver damage. Toxicokinetic analysis revealed a prolonged drug half-life of 37.75 h in the dead bird as opposed to 13.99 ± 5.61 h from healthy birds dosed intravenously at 5 mg/kg. While carprofen may generally be harmless to Gyps vultures, its high levels at the injection site in treated cattle can result in lethal exposure in foraging vultures, due to relative small area of tissue it is found therein. We thus suggest that carprofen not be used in domesticated ungulates in areas where carcasses are accessible or provided to vultures at supplementary feeding sites.
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immature cape vulture Gyps coprotheres breaks species range record
Biodiversity Observations, 2017Co-Authors: Margaret T Hirschauer, Kerri Wolter, Rhys E Green, Toby H GalliganAbstract:Over the 20-month observation period, the Cape Vulture considered in this paper visited seven countries. We calculated its total foraging range to be 2,066,350 km2 The foraging range of this Cape Vulture is the largest recorded for the species; indeed, it is more than four times larger than that the previous record holder.
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toxicity of diclofenac to Gyps vultures
Biology Letters, 2006Co-Authors: G E Swan, Neil Duncan, Rhys E Green, Richard J Cuthbert, Miguel Quevedo, Deborah J Pain, Paul Bartels, Andrew A Cunningham, Andrew A Meharg, Lindsay J OaksAbstract:Three endemic vulture species Gyps bengalensis, Gyps indicus and Gyps tenuirostris are critically endangered following dramatic declines in South Asia resulting from exposure to diclofenac, a veter...
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Toxicity of diclofenac to Gyps vultures.
Biology Letters, 2006Co-Authors: G E Swan, Neil Duncan, Rhys E Green, Richard J Cuthbert, Miguel Quevedo, Deborah J Pain, Paul Bartels, Andrew A Cunningham, Andrew A Meharg, J. Lindsay OaksAbstract:Three endemic vulture species Gyps bengalensis, Gyps indicus and Gyps tenuirostris are critically endangered following dramatic declines in South Asia resulting from exposure to diclofenac, a veterinary drug present in the livestock carcasses that they scavenge. Diclofenac is widely used globally and could present a risk to Gyps species from other regions. In this study, we test the toxicity of diclofenac to a Eurasian (Gyps fulvus) and an African (Gyps africanus) species, neither of which is threatened. A dose of 0.8 mg kg(-1) of diclofenac was highly toxic to both species, indicating that they are at least as sensitive to diclofenac as G. bengalensis, for which we estimate an LD50 of 0.1-0.2 mg kg(-1). We suggest that diclofenac is likely to be toxic to all eight Gyps species, and that G. africanus, which is phylogenetically close to G. bengalensis, would be a suitable surrogate for the safety testing of alternative drugs to diclofenac.
Toby H Galligan - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the use of toxicokinetics and exposure studies to show that carprofen in cattle tissue could lead to secondary toxicity and death in wild vultures
Chemosphere, 2018Co-Authors: Vinny Naidoo, Mark A Taggart, Neil Duncan, Kerri Wolter, John K Chipangura, Rhys E Green, Toby H GalliganAbstract:Abstract Veterinary medicines can be extremely damaging to the environment, as seen with the catastrophic declines in Gyps vulture in South Asia due to their secondary exposure to diclofenac in their primary food source. Not surprisingly, concern has been raised over other similar drugs. In this study, we evaluate the toxicity of carprofen to the Gyps vulture clade through plasma pharmacokinetics evaluations in Bos taurus cattle (their food source) and Gyps africanus (a validated model species); tissue residues in cattle; and the effect of carprofen as a secondary toxicant as both tissue-bound residue or pure drug at levels expected in cattle tissues. Carprofen residues were highest in cattle kidney (7.72 ± 2.38 mg/kg) and injection site muscle (289.05 ± 98.96 mg/kg of dimension of 5 × 5 × 5 cm). Vultures exposed to carprofen as residues in the kidney tissue or pure drug equivalents showed no toxic signs. When exposed to average injection site concentrations (64 mg/kg) one of two birds died with evidence of severe renal and liver damage. Toxicokinetic analysis revealed a prolonged drug half-life of 37.75 h in the dead bird as opposed to 13.99 ± 5.61 h from healthy birds dosed intravenously at 5 mg/kg. While carprofen may generally be harmless to Gyps vultures, its high levels at the injection site in treated cattle can result in lethal exposure in foraging vultures, due to relative small area of tissue it is found therein. We thus suggest that carprofen not be used in domesticated ungulates in areas where carcasses are accessible or provided to vultures at supplementary feeding sites.
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immature cape vulture Gyps coprotheres breaks species range record
Biodiversity Observations, 2017Co-Authors: Margaret T Hirschauer, Kerri Wolter, Rhys E Green, Toby H GalliganAbstract:Over the 20-month observation period, the Cape Vulture considered in this paper visited seven countries. We calculated its total foraging range to be 2,066,350 km2 The foraging range of this Cape Vulture is the largest recorded for the species; indeed, it is more than four times larger than that the previous record holder.
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Aerobic Culturable Bacterial Microflora in Resident Gyps vulture species of India
Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 2014Co-Authors: Rohan Shringarpure, Toby H Galligan, Mandar Kulkarni, Chhaya Sawant, Ashok Bhagwat, Vibhu PrakashAbstract:Microflora of three Critically Endangered, resident Gyps species of Indian vultures was studied at the Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre, Pinjore, Panchkula district, Haryana. Cloacal and choanal swabs from 32 adult Gyps vultures (10 White-rumped Gyps bengalensis , 11 Long-billed G. indicus and 11 Slender-billed G. tenuirostris ) held in captivity at the centre were collected in October 2011 and analyzed to determine the presence of aerobic culturable bacteria. A total of 23 bacterial species were isolated from the 64 cloacal and choanal samples collected and analyzed. The commonly encountered bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract were Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis , and Enterococcus avium , while Staphylococcus epidermidis , S. saprophyticus , and Streptococcus pneumoniae were prevalent in the respiratory tract. The rest of the bacterial species were of low prevalence, and no specific pattern of colonization was seen. In spite of their exposure to a variety of microorganisms due to the scavenging nature of the vultures, only a few organisms were observed to colonize successfully and form the normal flora. The bacterial species richness and diversity among the three vulture species was similar.