Indian vulture crisis
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Nine species of vulture can be found living in India, but most are now endangered after a rapid and major population collapse exceeding 99.5% in recent decades. In the early 1980s, three species of Gy
The white-rumped vulture, one of the species devastated in the crisis
A flock of endangered white-rumped and Indian vultures
Diclofenac available in 2009
Tower of Silence
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A dakhma, also known as a Tower of Silence, is a circular, raised structure built by Zoroastrians for excarnation, in order to avoid contamination of the soil and other natural elements by the dead bo
Indian vulture crisis
…4% were destined for consumption by humans as meat. Due to their Zoroastrian beliefs, India's Parsis relied mainly on vultures to eat corpses left in Towers of Silence. Vultures constituted the natural animal disposal system, processing carcasses, and nearly 15,000 vultures have been observed at the carcass depositories…
Early 20th century drawing of the dakhma on Malabar Hill, Bombay (now Mumbai)
Interior view of dakhma
Yazd Tower of Silence, Iran. The building is no longer in use.
An early 20th century photograph of an Iranian tower of silence