HIMALAYAN
VULTURES - ENVIRONMENT
News: Himalayan vulture bred in captivity
for the first time in India
What's
in the news?
● Researchers
have recorded the first instance of captive breeding of the Himalayan vulture
(Gyps himalayensis) in India at the Assam State Zoo, Guwahati.
Key
takeaways:
● Categorised
as ‘Near Threatened’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature
(IUCN) Red List of threatened species, the Himalayan vulture is a common winter
migrant to the Indian plains, and a resident of the high Himalayas.
● The
Himalayan vulture or Himalayan griffon vulture as it is called is an old world vulture native to the
Himalayas and the adjoining Tibetan Plateau.
Distribution:
● The
Himalayan vulture is mostly found on the Tibetan
plateau in the Himalayas (India, Bhutan, Nepal, central China and
Mongolia).
● It
can also be found in the mountains of Central
Asia (from Kazakhstan and Afghanistan in the west to western China and
Mongolia in the east).
● It
migrates to northern India on occasion, however, migration is usually only
occurring altitudinally.
Protection:
● IUCN Status
- Near threatened