Mumbai: SGNP officials end 2020 on 'high' note with sighting of rare Himalayan vulture

The Himalayan vulture is at great risk due to rampant use of painkiller diclofenac on livestock. Pic: Jayesh Vishwakarma

Two officials of Sanjay Gandhi National Park recently spotted a Himalayan vulture inside the protected forest in what is being called a rare sighting of the scavenger bird. The species is native to the Himalayas and the adjoining Tibetan Plateau and is one of the two largest vultures and true raptors.

Chaitral Dharadhar, an artist at the Taxidermy Center, and Jayesh Vishwakarma, an education officer, at SGNP ended 2020 on a jubilant note when they spotted the bird, also called Gyps himalayensis, on December 31.

"This vulture was spotted by Chaitral Dharadhar and me and was also observed by all the senior officers of the park," said Vishwakarma.

According to www.animalia.org, the Himalayan vulture, also called Himalayan griffon, belongs to the same family as eagles, kites, hawks and buzzards. Its lifespan is unknown, but vultures live for 20-35 years. The bird is mostly found in India, Nepal and Bhutan, central China and Mongolia and some parts of Kazakhstan and Afghanistan.

The vulture is at risk due to use of diclofenac, a pain killer, on livestock. The residues of the drug in carcasses cause visceral gout in these vultures.

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No. of SGNP staffers who spotted the vulture on Dec 31