SYSTEMATIC SURVEY ON POPULATION OF GYPS HIMALAYENSIS IN HIRPORA WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, JAMMU AND KASHMIR, INDIAHameem Mushtaq Wani, Mustahson F. Fazili, Samina A. Charoo and Riyaz AhmadAbstract The change in population dynamics of scavenging birds will lead to an ecological imbalance and will increase the chance of disease spread among wildlife and livestock. Keeping in view the absence of baseline data regarding vultures from Kashmir Himalaya, we examined the population status of Himalayan vulture Gyps himalayensis in Hirpora Wildlife sanctuary. A total of 289 individuals of Himalayan vulture were sighted during the study period. Among them 75.77% were adults (n=219) and 24.23% were sub-adults (n=70). The mean population of Himalayan vulture was highest during summer season (36.66±2.02), followed by spring (25.00±2.88), autumn (20.33±3.17) and winter (14.33±0.66). Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA was used to test the null hypothesis of randomness. The results showed that there is a significant variation (P<0.05) in population of Himalayan vulture in four different seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter) in the area. These variations could be attributed to changes in the availability of day light hours and food during different seasons in Hirpora Wildlife sanctuary. |