Some recent evidence of the presence of the Critically Endangered Gyps vulture populations in northern Shan State, Myanmar

For Focus, Scope, Aims, Policies, and Guidelines visit https://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-0 For Article Submission Guidelines, visit https://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions For Policies against Scientific Misconduct, visit https://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-2 For reprints, contact <ravi@threatenedtaxa.org> Note Some recent evidence of the presence of the Critically Endangered Gyps vulture populations in northern Shan State, Myanmar

, and the more recent status remains uncertain for all four species for most of the country (Pain et al. 2003(Pain et al. , 2008. On 27 November 2018, we observed a flock of G. bengalensis (Critically Endangered; BirdLife International 2017), G. tenuirostris (Critically Endangered; Birdlife International 2016b), and G. himalayanensis (Near Threatened; BirdLife International 2016a), in Man Sant Village, Mong Yai Township, Northern Shan State, Myanmar (22.43°N,97.92°E; see map). The flock was feeding on the carcass of cattle (likely accidental death). The most notable feature of our observation was the presence of G. bengalensis and G. tenuirostris: we could observe as many as 38 vultures of three species (G. bengalensis: 31, including six juveniles; G. tenuirostris: 5; G. himalayensis: 2).
The vulture flock departed westwards three days after they completely consumed the carcass. The local people were apparently familiar with vultures, informed us that they also occur in Nar Ma Lan Village, Nam Lan Village and Ho Ti Village, all of which are located within a 15-km radius from Man Sant Village.
Unfortunately, we failed to observe any nests or nesting sites of the flock. The local people confirmed frequent observations of the three species from April to May (the local breeding season according to the information we obtained from the locals; October to March after Robson 2011) in the area of interest, particularly before monsoon, indicating possible breeding attempts in the area.
Gyps bengalensis was abundant in Myanmar and considered as the most common vulture in Myanmar throughout the plains in the early 20 th Century (Smythies 2001;Naing et al. 2012). The population of vultures decrease in many parts of their former distribution ranges has been generally attributed to food shortage, chemical poisoning (i.e., diclofenac), and other human impact. Consequently, the population size decreased

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Htin Hla et al. (2011) reported G. bengalensis as more abundant than G. tenuirostris during their survey in Chin State, Kachin State, and Shan State. Additionally, they also stated that G. bengalensis were recorded regularly associating with other vulture species in Myanmar (1997Myanmar ( to 2006. In Shan and Chin states, G. bengalensis was regarded as the most common vulture species in the early 20 th Century (Rippon 1901), but was hardly reported in recent decades (Sayer & Han 1983;Htin Hla 2003;Bezuijen et al. 2010). Although the current population status of G. bengalensis in these states is not  Using open interviews questions, we also recorded information on the beliefs of some local villagers; the locals use body parts (especially bones) of vultures for belief-based use. Shwe & Aung (2016) found the vulture bone trade in southern Shan State as a significant challenge for vulture conservation. Similarly, feathers, bones, meat, beak, claws, faeces and internal organs of vultures have been used as traditional 'medicine' since  (Bowden 2019). Although G. bengalensis and G. tenuirostris were distributed in most of the Indian subcontinent and southeastern Asia, its population declined rapidly in the 1990s and 2000s (Bildstein 2017). Bildstein (2017) indicated a decline of over 95% of the entire population in a rough estimation. Our recording of several juveniles suggests breeding may well occur in Myanmar although the dispersal range of vultures is huge.
We recommend further surveys of the vultures in the region, paying particular attention to locating any breeding attempts for all three species. Finally, food is likely the limiting factor for vulture populations in Myanmar (Bowden 2019), hence maintaining uncontaminated food resources to support the local population should be beneficial. www.threatenedtaxa.org The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservation globally by publishing peer-reviewed articles online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All articles published in JoTT are registered under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License unless otherwise mentioned. JoTT allows allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of articles in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.