for National Geographic News
Captivity strategies aimed at protecting endangered giant vultures may not be enough to save the birds from extinction, according to a new study.
Genetic testing of captive oriental white-backed vultures suggests the diversity needed to ensure the species' future will taper within three years.
The findings highlight the immediate need to put more of the beleaguered vultures into captivity before it is too late, said Jeff Johnson, lead author of the research, published recently in the journal Biological Conservation.
Until recently the species was considered the most common raptor in the world and its habitat extended deep into South Asia.
The large scavenger birds still exist in the region, but their numbers have dropped significantly since the mid-1990s.
(Read more about threats to Asian vulture species.)
The oriental white-backed population was in the millions as recently as 15 years ago. Now there are fewer than ten thousand, said Johnson, who was an assistant research scientist at University of Michigan when the research was done and is now an assistant professor at the University of North Texas in Denton.
(Watch video about Pakistan's vultures.)
The plunge in population size is a direct result of the birds feeding off animal carcasses treated with the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac.
(Related story: "Has Mysterious Killer of India's Vultures Been Found?" [Updated May 4, 2004])
The drug is toxic to the birds, killing them within two days, Johnson said. It has killed more than 95 percent of the oriental white-backed species, which is officially known as Gyps bengalensis.
"It's really scary," he said of the species' sharp decline. "It's not common for something like this to happen."
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