Published in the science journal PLoS ONE, researchers have reported the results of long-term monitoring of vultures across India and Nepal.
The survey shows that the population of the three critically endangered vulture species of long-billed, slender-billed and white-backed ones have remained stable in the last couple of years.
The surveys for vultures were undertaken across more than 15,000 km roads in western, central and eastern states of India by Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN) in the lowland regions of Nepal.
The study, however, warned that while the stabilisation in vulture numbers is encouraging, only a small number of the birds remain and they are still extremely vulnerable.
Vultures, which feed on carcasses of animals to survive, die because of the banned diclofenac drug which is still administered to livestock illegally.
Classified as critically-endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the population of vultures has been declined by an alarming rate of over 99 per cent during the last two decades.
Commenting on the positive development, Dr Vibhu Prakash, the lead author of the study and Deputy Director, BNHS said,
