A wealth of vultures

Eight species of vultures are found in India. They are:

1. King vulture (Sarcogyps calvus): Resident (breeds) in India. Size 84 cm. Found in open country and in cultivated and semi-desert areas. Found up to a height of 2,000 metres;

2. Cinereous vulture (Aegypius manachus): Resident/migratory in India. Size 100-110 cm. Found in semi-desert areas, in the dry temperate zone along the Himalayas, vagrant in Kutch, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Kerala (winter);

3. Griffin vulture (Gyps fulvus): Resident/migratory. Size 110-122 cm. Found in semi-desert country and bare mountains. Winters in northwest India and Nepal, up to 3,000 metres, in West Bengal and Assam and in some areas in South India;

4. Himalayan Griffin vulture (Gyps himalayensis): Resident (breeds) in India. Size 122 cm. Found in bare high mountains and in the Himalayas from 600 to 2,500 metres;

5. Longbilled vulture (Gyps indicus): Resident (breeds) in India. Size 90 cm. Found in open countryside all over India up to a height of 2,500 metres;

6. Whitebacked vulture (Gyps bengalensis): Resident (breeds) in India. Size 90 cm. Was found in open countryside all over India, up to a height of 2,500 metres;

7. Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus): Resident/migratory in India. Size 64 cm. Found near towns and villages all over India up to a height of 3,600 metres; and

8. Bearded vulture (Lammergeir) (Gypaetus barbatus): Resident (breeds) in India. Size 122 cm. Found in the Himalayas and associated northern mountains in Kashmir, Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh. Normally at 1,200 to 4,200 metres and soars to over 7,000 met res.