Three endemic vulture species Gyps bengalensis , Gyps indicus and Gyps tenuirostris are critically endangered following dramatic declines in South Asia resulting from exposure to diclofenac, a veterinary drug present in the livestock carcasses that they scavenge. Diclofenac is widely used globally and could present a risk to Gyps species from other regions. In this study, we test the toxicity of diclofenac to a Eurasian ( Gyps fulvus ) and an African ( Gyps africanus ) species, neither of which is threatened. A dose of 0.8 mg kg −1 of diclofenac was highly toxic to both species, indicating that they are at least as sensitive to diclofenac as G. bengalensis , for which we estimate an LD 50 of 0.1–0.2 mg kg −1 . We suggest that diclofenac is likely to be toxic to all eight Gyps species, and that G. africanus , which is phylogenetically close to G. bengalensis , would be a suitable surrogate for the safety testing of alternative drugs to diclofenac.

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Concentrations of eight essential elements (Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni and Zn) and three toxic metals (Al, Pb and Sr) were measured in various tissue samples from African whitebacked (Pseudogyps africanus), Cape griffon (Gyps coprotheres) and Lappetfaced (Torgos tracheliotos) vultures in different regions of South Africa. Blood samples from live African whitebacked vultures were taken from nestlings from two breeding populations, adults from a wildlife reserve and immature birds held in captivity. With the exception of Sr and Mn, concentrations of the majority of metals differed between two or more of the sampling localities and between captive and wild individuals. Birds from Moholoholo had the highest overall blood metal concentrations, while concentrations in birds from Dronfield were the lowest, as can be expected for nestlings and adults respectively. Fatty tissues and bones had the highest values of metal accumulation, especially Sr, and this is congruent with results from previous studies. It was concluded that most concentrations compared well with those reported for other avian species, but concentrations of Cr, Ni and Pb in the dead vultures were generally above values characteristic of heavy metal poisoning. The values reported for each of two wild populations of P. africanus nestlings and adults, and for two other vulture species could serve as base-line data for future comparative studies.

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