The Vulture Effect

In the 1990s, millions of vultures quietly vanished from India—and the consequences were deadly. This is the story of how a cheap painkiller set off a chain reaction involving rabid dogs, polluted water, and tens of thousands of human deaths. Economists now say it may be the most expensive extinction you’ve never heard of, and is just one example of how wildlife extinctions impact our human world. More on the study on vultures: https://climate.uchicago.edu/the-social-costs-of-keystone-species-collapse-evidence-from-the-decline-of-vultures-in-india/ More on the study on bats: https://climate.uchicago.edu/the-economic-impacts-of-ecosystem-disruptions-costs-from-substituting-biological-pest-control/ More from Eyal Frank: https://climate.uchicago.edu/people/eyal-frank/