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Searching for vultures in India

10,000 Birds

Yet, in 1990s India has killed more than 99% of its Gyps vultures (e.g. The disappearance of vultures has allowed other species such as rat and [stray] dog populations to grow. A vulture’s metabolism is a true “dead-end” for pathogens, but dogs and rats become carriers of the pathogens. Not for the same reason, although.

India 140
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Come@Me: Don’t Mourn for Extinct Birds

10,000 Birds

The causes were the usual reasons for island extinction—deforestation by both humans and invasive plants that crowded out native plants, hunting, and invasive rats, mongoose, monkeys, and, of course, feral cats. A foot deep by some accounts, it killed what life was left in the forest. And, then there were the droppings.

Mauritius 102