Indian vulture
Gyps indicus (Scopoli, 1786)
CRCritically Endangeredbirds of prey
The Indian vulture (Gyps indicus) is a species in the family Accipitridae, order Accipitriformes. Recorded adults weigh 5.52 kg to 5.71 kg. Its IUCN Red List status is Critically Endangered.
Quick facts about the Indian vulture
- Weight
- 5.52 kg – 5.71 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 2.29 msrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Scavengersrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- grasslandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 50 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 5 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Critically Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the Indian vulture?
Photos of the Indian vulture
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the Indian vulture live?
Not recorded
What is the Indian vulture?
The Indian vulture or long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus) is a bird of prey native to the Indian subcontinent. It is an Old World vulture belonging to the family of Accipitridae. It is a medium-sized vulture with a small, semi-bald head with little feathers, long beak, and wide dark colored wings. It breeds mainly on small cliffs and hilly crags in central India and south India.
The Indian vulture is a keystone species that has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2002, as the population has severely declined during the Indian vulture crisis. It is estimated that there are 5,000-15,000 mature individuals in the wild. The main cause of the decline was identified as kidney failure caused by the drug diclofenac, which was commonly given to cattle to reduce joint pain. It is thought that diclofenac poisoned vultures that ate the flesh of dead cattle. Diclofenac bans were enacted in India, Pakistan and Nepal in 2006.
The bird shares its habitat with other vulture species in the same genus (particularly the slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris) and white-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis)) in some parts of its range.
From the Wikipedia article “Indian vulture” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Indian_vulture&oldid=1376742177), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the Indian vulture endangered?
The Indian vulture is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Critically Endangered species. What the categories mean.
How is the Indian vulture classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderAccipitriformes
- familyAccipitridae
- genusGyps
- SpeciesGyps indicus (Scopoli, 1786)
Synonyms Gyps indicus indicus, Vultur indicus
Other names and names in other languages (63)
- Indian griffonEnglish
- Long-billed griffonEnglish
- Long-billed vultureEnglish
- Painted vultureEnglish
- نسر هنديArabic
- Индийски лешоядBulgarian
- ভারতীয় শকুনBangla
- Gup IndiaBreton
- voltor de l'ÍndiaCatalan
- sup indickýCzech
- griffon gylfinhirWelsh
- Indisk GribDanish
- IndiengeierGerman
- DünnschnabelgeierGerman
- Indischer GeierGerman
- Ινδικός γύπαςGreek
- Hindia gipoEsperanto
- hindia vulturoEsperanto
- Buitre hindúSpanish
- Buitre indioSpanish
- sale-kaeluskotkasEstonian
- کرکس هندیPersian
- intiankorppikotkaFinnish
- Vautour indienFrench
- נשר הודיHebrew
- भारतीय गिद्धHindi
- hosszúcsőrű keselyűHungarian
- Grifone indianoItalian
- Avvoltoio beccolungoItalian
- インドハゲワシJapanese
- ರಣ ಹದ್ದುKannada
- indinis grifasLithuanian
- Indijas grifsLatvian
- തവിട്ടു കഴുകൻMalayalam
- തവിട്ട് കഴുകൻMalayalam
- भारतीय गिधाडMarathi
- लांब चोचीचे गिधाडMarathi
- Burung Hereng Paruh PanjangMalay
- Biʼééʼ Łigaii Bikéyahdę́ę́ʼ jeeshóóʼNavajo
- लामो ठुँडे गिद्धNepali
- Indische GierDutch
- indiagribbNorwegian
- sęp indyjskiPolish
- ھندستانی گدھWestern Panjabi
- grifo-indianoPortuguese
- Abutre-de-bico-longoPortuguese
- grifo-de-bico-compridoPortuguese
- Индийский сипRussian
- sup dlhozobýSlovak
- indijski jastrebSlovenian
- Indijski supSerbian
- indisk gamSwedish
- கருங்கழுத்துப் பாறுTamil
- Һиндстан комаеTatar
- แร้งสีน้ำตาลThai
- Hint AkbabasıTurkish
- Hint Grifon AkbabasıTurkish
- сип індійськийUkrainian
- Kền kền Ấn ĐộVietnamese
- 印度兀鹫Chinese
- 長喙兀鷲Chinese
- 長嘴兀鷲Chinese
- 长嘴兀鹫Chinese
Relatives of the Indian vulture
Other species in the same genus Gyps.
Eurasian griffon vulture
Gyps fulvus
Himalayan vulture
Gyps himalayensis
White-rumped vulture
Gyps bengalensis
Rüppell's vulture
Gyps rueppelli
White-backed vulture
Gyps africanus
Cape vulture
Gyps coprotheres
CompareIndian vulture vs Eurasian griffon vultureIndian vulture vs Himalayan vultureIndian vulture vs White-rumped vultureIndian vulture vs Rüppell's vulture
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the Indian vulture?
An adult Indian vulture weighs 5.52 kg – 5.71 kg and has a wingspan of 2.29 m, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the Indian vulture endangered?
The Indian vulture is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
What kind of animal is the Indian vulture?
The Indian vulture (Gyps indicus) belongs to the family Accipitridae in the order Accipitriformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Indian vulture (Gyps indicus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/indian-vulture
“Indian vulture (Gyps indicus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/indian-vulture.
@misc{indian_vulture_2026,
title = {Indian vulture (Gyps indicus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/indian-vulture},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}