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Bird

Eurasian griffon

Gyps fulvus

IUCN: Least Concern
A Eurasian griffon with a pale head and brown wings perched on dry desert shrubs against a grey sky

Image: Devendra Bhardwaj · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0 · Desert National Park, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan · Resized

A Eurasian griffon seen from behind on dry desert scrub, looking over its shoulder

Image: Devendra Bhardwaj · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0 · Desert National Park, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan · Resized

Scientific name
Gyps fulvus
Family
Accipitridae, order Accipitriformes
Group
Bird
Conservation status
Least Concern

A soaring clean-up crew from afar.

  • Spot it Buff body, dark flight feathers and a pale neck ruff.
  • Home Open hills and deserts; a winter visitor to north-west India.
  • Food web Eats carcasses and returns their nutrients to the land.
  • Why it matters Clears carcasses from open land, stopping disease and recycling nutrients.

Read more: Eurasian griffon vulture on Wikipedia

Sources and credits

Records and field notes

  • RajasthanDevendra Bhardwaj photographed Eurasian griffons in Desert National Park, Jaisalmer, on 13 December 2014. His account holds 25 verified photographs from that day.[20]
  • IndiaIn his note he calls it mainly a winter migrant to north-western India, arriving from Central Asia and the Himalayas between October and March.[20]
  • RajasthanHe writes that Desert National Park gives it open desert and scrub with little disturbance, rising air for soaring, and carcasses from wild hoofed animals and from livestock.[20]
  • IndiaHe writes that vultures dispose of carcasses quickly, which helps stop the spread of diseases such as anthrax and rabies, and names these threats: veterinary drug residues such as diclofenac, electrocution on power lines, and habitat loss.[20]

Sources

  1. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (species pages linked on each entry) (database). Global conservation status. Every species page was opened.
  2. Devendra Bhardwaj. iNaturalist observations and notes, with place and date (inaturalist.org/people/devendrabhardwaj) (field record). The observer's own dated records and notes, with places. Statements in his notes are his own and were not independently checked by KJVF.
  3. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF species data (family, order, Hindi names, IUCN category) (database). Open biodiversity data. Used for classification, Hindi common names and the IUCN category where one is given.
  4. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (opening lines of each species article, CC BY-SA 4.0). The link on each entry goes to the article (reference). Not peer reviewed. Only the opening description is used, and statements about origin or medicinal use are left out.
  5. Short introductions and key points written with AI help (Google Gemini and Claude) and checked against GBIF where possible (reference). AI-assisted text for general readers. Please check important details before relying on them.

The tag before each record shows the place it was checked for.

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