BHOPAL: Researchers in the jungles of Madhya Pradesh have embarked on perhaps the first of its kind project -- radio tagging of vultures in the wild. The project aims at a long term model for enhancing the survival of the birds and the consequent check on their depleting population.
The satellite-based radio tagging of the seven breeds of vultures, including five resident varieties and three migratory genres, has recently started at the Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR), which as per the 2019 count housed 629 vultures of the seven varieties.
"This is perhaps the first time in the country vultures are being radio-tagged in the wild and not in captivity. The exercise whose actual results are likely to be known within two years, is being carried out largely by expert researchers from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII-Dehradun) with cooperation of the PTR staff," PTR Field Director Uttam Sharma said.
The entire exercise of radio tagging the 25 vultures in the wild has started with the Walk into a Cage technology under which the vultures will be attracted with meat to enter a large open cage.
"Three days back, we've started keeping goat/buffalo meat outside the open cages. Once the vultures sitting on the trees start coming to have meat kept outside the cages it will lead to their familiarization with the cages.
"After this, the meat will be kept inside the cage, by when the vultures won't treat the cage as any hurdle. Once they start entering the cage for meat, they will be caught in nets and then tagged with the small radio tags on the back of their shoulders. Each radio will take up to 35 minutes and we expect to radio tag the 25 vultures by the mid of December," Sharma informed.
The study will focus on tracking A to Z of the daily life of the vultures, spanning from their travel to their way of living. It will particularly focus on vultures of the three migratory varieties, including the Eurasian Griffon, Himalayan Griffon, and Cinerous genres, which have started arriving at the PTR.
"As no major study has been so far carried out on the vultures, this study will also make startling revelations about the four resident varieties, including the Long-Billed, White Backed, Egyptian and Red Headed varieties that are resident to the PTR, ultimately helping the state's and country's wildlife planners to make long term strategies for checking the declining population through enhancement of their survival," said Sharma.
Though the standard life of the radio tags is two years, they usually continue to send signals to satellites even up to four-five years, so the study could be even extended up to four to five years, depending on the prime conclusions over the next two years.
The study which is approved by the central government assumes significance amid growing global concern over the dwindling vulture population, whose presence as the most effective natural scavenger is essential for maintaining the ecological balance.
Importantly, in July 2019 the Union environment and forest minister Prakash Javadekar had told the Parliament that the vulture population in India had declined by 99% since the 1980s.
The decline in population is primarily because of the widespread use of the veterinary drug Diclofenac, a pain relief medication injected into cattle. The drug has been found to be extremely toxic to birds that feed on carcasses.