Скачать или смотреть How 99.9% vultures disappeared from India.

If you were born in the 1990s, you likely saw vultures near your home. However, it seems like they suddenly disappeared. What happened exactly?

During 1990s, Diclofenac (a pain-killer used for buffalos) was widely used in India. The vultures used to feed on rotting animals thus letting Diclofenac enter their blood system in process. It was a cheap medicine which had a really bad side effect on vultures failing their kidneys in the process.

This led to a rapid decline in vulture populations, with 95-99% disappearing by 2000, and some species nearing extinction. The absence of vultures, which naturally consumed disease-causing bacteria and pathogens, also contributed to a rise in human mortality rates. A report estimated an increase of human mortality rate by 100,000 annually between 2000 and 2005 due to this issue.

Finally in 2006, Diclofenac was banned, but it was already too late.

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