The Indian Vulture (Gyps indicus) is an Old World vulture and is closely related to the Griffon Vulture, G. fulvus. It breeds mainly on hilly crags in central and peninsular India. The birds in the northern part of its range once considered a subspecies are now considered a separate species, the Slender-billed Vulture Gyps tenuirostris. These were lumped together under the name Long-billed Vulture.
The species breeds mainly on cliffs, but is known to use trees to nest in Rajasthan. Like other vultures it is a scavenger, feeding mostly from carcasses of dead animals which it finds by soaring over savannah and around human habitation. They often move in flocks.
The Long-billed Vulture is a typical vulture, with a bald head, very broad wings and short tail feathers. It is smaller and less heavily-built than the Eurasian Griffon, usually weighing between 5.5 and 6.3 kg (12–13.9 lbs) and measuring 80–103 cm (31–41 in) long and 1.96 to 2.38 m (6.4 to 7.8 ft) across the wings. It is distinguished from that species by its less buff body and wing coverts. It also lacks the whitish median covert bar shown by Griffon.
Read more about Indian Vulture: Population Declines, Captive-breeding Programmes
Famous quotes containing the words indian and/or vulture:
“This Indian camp was a slight, patched-up affair, which had stood there several weeks, built shed-fashion, open to the fire on the west.... Altogether it was about as savage a sight as was ever witnessed, and I was carried back at once three hundred years.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It disturbs me no more to find men base, unjust, or selfish than to see apes mischievous, wolves savage, or the vulture ravenous for its prey.”
—Molière [Jean Baptiste Poquelin] (1622–1673)