One of the world's most endangered birds, the oriental white-backed vulture, has been bred in captivity for the first time in India. The chick, hatched in a breeding center in Pinjore, northern India, belongs to one of three species of Asian vultures facing extinction.

The World Conservation Union has listed the three Indian vulture species as critically endangered, the category applied to animals closest to extinction.

The population of the three species of vultures has dropped by as much as 97 percent, according to Britain's RSPB that provides funds and technical expertise to the Indian breeding program.

This is the first vulture baby of this species to breed in captivity. None of the vultures bred in other parts of the world were as endangered as this species.

Activitists believe two breeding centres, one in Haryana and the other in West Bengal, are the only hope for the survival of the species.

Conservationists plan to release the vultures in to the wild over the next 15 years. Once there are 25 young ones, they will be released together as they live together in flocks. Young birds will be released along with some adult birds so they can learn from each other.