Indian vulture crisis

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/indian-vulture-crisis

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How long is Indian vulture crisis?Gyps indicus
2. What is the scientific name of white-rumped vulture?Gyps bengalensis
3. What is the scientific name of slender-billed vulture?Gyps tenuirostris
4. Why did the vultures in India disappear so fast?Vultures disappeared quickly because a medicine called diclofenac was used on cattle. When vultures ate the treated carcasses, the drug caused kidney failure and death.
5. What is diclofenac and why is it bad for vultures?Diclofenac is a pain medicine for livestock. It is poisonous to vultures when they eat carcasses that still have the drug, leading to kidney failure.

Anthropogenic Pressures: Environmental changes and impacts caused by human activities.
Zoonotic Diseases: Infectious diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans.
Ecological Vacuum: The absence of a species or group of species that plays a crucial role in an ecosystem.