When Vultures Nearly Disappeared in India, Half a Million People Died

August 14, 2024 11:33 PM

When Vultures Nearly Disappeared in India, Half a Million People Died, Too, Study Finds. By being nature’s clean-up crew, the often maligned birds help prevent the spread of diseases, according to a new study [Smithsonian magazine].
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (7 comments total)

Looks like a couple of previously (2011) and previously-er (2002) posts on this. Sad to see the decline continues. The impact on Parsi funeral practises (aka 'Sky Burial' mentioned in one of the earlier posts) is fascinating.
posted by phigmov at 12:25 AM on August 15

Also relevant: hargila, adjutant storks Leptoptilos dubius have been knocked off their perches by urbanisation and . . . people. Dr. Purnima Devi Barman is saving a few in Assam [30m YT in and around The Dump]. Pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and tigers (Panthera tigris) attract a disproportionate amount of the limited conservation dollars . . . because you can market a soft-toy out of those species. Vultures, not so much?
posted by BobTheScientist at 3:17 AM on August 15

Pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and tigers (Panthera tigris) attract a disproportionate amount of the limited conservation dollars . . . because you can market a soft-toy out of those species. Vultures, not so much?

And yet, vultures can neutralise anthrax carcases, which can otherwise harm other animals a year after death. (Animals grazing near where an anthrax carcass fell a year ago can still get sick from soil bacteria.)
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 3:22 AM on August 15

For whatever it’s worth, there are dozens of different vulture plushes available on eBay. It’s not actually that hard to make them cuddly and cute.
posted by Slinga at 4:30 AM on August 15

It's 100k people per year, not just 500k once. It's possible human hygine improved to partially compensate, so not sure if this really means like 24 million people this century.

Yet even if so, the extra hygine represents wasted human work, not unlike how manual pollination takes over when farmers kill all the pollinators.
posted by jeffburdges at 4:49 AM on August 15 [1 favorite]

Maybe vultures just need to be taken as a symbol by a famous band, like the dung beetle was.
posted by TedW at 7:08 AM on August 15

The 99% Invisible podcast did an episode on this in April called Towers of Silence. Highly recommended!
posted by Preserver at 8:29 AM on August 15 [3 favorites]