Slender Billed Vulture

Slender-billed Vulture

The slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris) is a recently recognized species of Old World vulture. For some time, it was categorized with its relative, the Indian vulture, under the name of “long-billed vulture”.

 At 80 to 95 cm (31 to 37 in), in length, this mid-sized vulture is about the same size as its sister species, the Indian vulture. This vulture is mostly grey with a pale rump and grey undertail coverts.

The slender-billed vulture is found in India from the Gangetic plain north, west to Himachal Pradesh, south potentially as far as northern Odisha, and east through Assam.

Wild populations remain from northern and eastern India through 

southern Nepal and Bangladesh, with a small population in Myanmar.

 The only breeding colony in Southeast Asia is in the Steung Treng province of Cambodia

Captive-breeding programs in India are aiming to conserve the species, and it is hoped that vultures can be released back in the wild when the environment is free of diclofenac.

Joint efforts between the RSPB and the Zoological Society of London resulted in the first successful captive breeding in 2009. Two slender-billed vultures hatched and are being independently cared for in Haryana and West Bengal.