Migratory vultures radio-tagged in MP's Panna tiger reserve

Panna (Madhya Pradesh): Three migratory vultures have been radio-tagged in Madhya Pradesh's Panna tiger reserve, as part of a project to study their lifecycle and travel paths, an official said on Saturday.

A total of 25 vultures are to be radio tagged under the ongoing project which started from December, 2020, with the help of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), a senior official said.

"We have successfully radio-tagged two Eurasian Griffons and a Himalayan Griffin in Panna Tiger Reserve. There is no information about migratory vultures being radio-tagged earlier in the country," the reserve's field director Uttam Kumar Sharma said.

So far, no information has been gathered about the living conditions and routes taken by migratory vultures, the official said.

"The main objective behind the project is to know the migratory pattern and travel path of vultures," Sharma said.

The work of radio-tagging was started in December 2020 to collect information about behaviour of vultures, their travel path and lifecycle, he said.

"We tagged three resident vultures of Panna Tiger Reserve at the time, which included two long-build ones and a red-build. Our efforts continued in 2021, but no migratory vultures could be tagged," Sharma said, adding that migratory vultures started coming to the reserve in November.

A total number of 10 vultures have been tagged so far, the official said.