Toxicity of diclofenac to Gyps vultures.

Three endemic vulture species Gyps bengalensis, Gyps indicus and Gyps tenuirostris are critically endangered following dramatic declines in South Asia resulting from exposure to diclofenac, a veterinary drug present in the livestock carcasses that they scavenge. Diclofenac is widely used globally and could present a risk to Gyps species from other regions. In this study, we test the toxicity of diclofenac to a Eurasian (Gyps fulvus) and an African (Gyps africanus) species, neither of which is threatened.

Persistent organochlorine pesticides detected in blood and tissue samples of vultures from different localities in South Africa.

Gas chromatography was used to establish the presence of quantifiable residues of 14 persistent chlorinated hydrocarbon pollutants in whole blood, clotted blood, heart, kidney, liver and muscle samples obtained from individual African whitebacked (Pseudogyps africanus), Cape griffon (Gyps coprotheres) and Lappetfaced (Torgos tracheliotos) vultures from different localities in South Africa. The levels of pesticides measured in whole blood samples of live specimens were compared between nestlings from two natural breeding colonies, adults from a wildlife area and birds held in captivity. Statistically significant (P<0.

Allozyme variation in four populations of African whitebacked vultures (Gyps africanus) and phylogenetic relationships between four vulture species from southern Africa.

Genetic variation detected by protein electrophoresis at 41 presumptive gene loci was assayed in four populations of Gyps africanus and compared to values previously obtained for Gyps coprotheres. Values calculated for percentage of polymorphic loci (P=34.15%, 0.