Association of Egyptian Vultures with Bone Mill Factory in Gonda District of Uttar Pradesh,India
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Association of Egyptian Vultures with Bone Mill Factory in Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh,India Shivangi Mishra,Adesh Kumar and Amita Kanaujia* Biodiversity & Wildlife Conservation Lab, Department of Zoology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow-226007 Uttar Pradesh, India E-mail: [email protected] Research Note Food has a very strong influence on the survival of every species. Social vultures like Egyptian vultures naturally search for the food resources and they may face a risk of extinction if the places like Bone mill factories and slaughterhouses get terminated or modernized in the present changing conditions. Food availability is a very important factor and it occupies a prominent place for determining the life strategy of any animal species. For foraging, the behavior of bird may vary depending upon the external conditions and internal state of a bird. This variation leads to the difference in the number of individuals present at the foraging site. Diet and food intake are basic factors of animal ecology, directing most ecological aspects of whole biology, and so knowledge of diet and food is critical in understanding regression patterns, productivity, density and habitat selection of different species (Donázar & Ceballos 1988, Litvaitis 2000, Sonerud et al. 2001, Sonerud et al. 2002, Zuberogoitia et al. 2001, Margalida & Boudet 2003, Navarro et al. 2003, Sará & Di Vittorio 2003, Zabala& Zuberogoitia 2003, Zduniak & Kuczynski 2003a,b). Egyptian vultures are small old world vultures that are opportunistic scavengers (Boyan Milchev et al.2012). It is capable to exploit different food resources like bones, carrion, eggs etc. It also feeds upon livestock excrement, human faeces and sometimes hunts for invertebrates and small vertebrates (Cramp & Simmons 1980, del Hoyo et al. 1994, Baumgart 2001, Mebs & Schmidt 2006). Studies in Bulgaria and neighbouring Greece showed the importance of livestock carrion in its diet (Michev 1968, Yankov 1977, Baumgart 1991, Miltschew & Georgiewa 1994, Vlachos et al. 1998). The observations were taken from a Bone-mill factory in Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh. It lies on the co-ordinates N 270 06’56.6” E 081050’49.7”, Elevation 83m.Gonda has a tropical monsoon climate with population density of 857 inhabitants per square kilometer (2,220/sq mi).The continuous monitoring and surveys from 2013-2016 suggest that the Egyptian vultures are fond of crushed and grinded bones and actually present in large numbers at the bone mill factory in Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh, India with the maximum population of around 250-300 individuals and the minimum 50-70 individuals of Egyptian vulture (Fig.1a & b ). When the Bone mill factory was open and in working condition, the Egyptian vultures tend to come there for foraging and used to feed upon the heaps of crushed bones present there but the objection of the people nearby, regarding the malodorous condition of factory from past few years led to the termination of the factory which ultimately resulted in the reduced number of individuals of Egyptian vultures (Fig. 2a & b). Thus the changes in food availability have proved to be the decisive factor for the disappearance of a large number of Egyptian vultures at the study area. Vultures were forced to turn to less favorable food sources such as dumping areas and garbage heaps near the area but the individuals found there were very few as compared to the bone factory where they had ample of their preferred food. 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