About Chincha Kingdom:

• The 'Chincha Kingdom,' which was established in the coastal region of modern-day Peru, was a powerful ancient state that flourished before the rise of the Inca Empire.
• It ruled the Chincha Valley.
• The Chincha Kingdom and its culture were very strong between 900 CE and 1450 CE. This time is known as the Late Intermediate Period in pre-Columbian Peru.
• It was organised into specialist communities such as fisherfolk, farmers, and merchants.
• The Chinchas did not build enormous cities but left important marks in their religious and administrative constructions.
• Their temples, palaces, and fortresses were built mainly with adobe, a technique they mastered skillfully.
• They applied stucco to decorate walls, shaping figures of fish heads, gannets, and seabirds.
• The dwellings of most of their inhabitants were built around these enclosures, made with mats and reeds.
• An important old ruin linked to the Chincha is La Centinela, found near the city of Chincha Alta.
• Decline:
  • Conquered by the Inca Empire around 1476 CE.
  • Later affected by Spanish conquest in the 16th century.
    The population drastically declined due to diseases and colonization.
• A new analysis suggests that the secret to the Chincha Kingdom's prosperity was seabird droppings (guano).
  • The analysis indicates that the nutrient-rich droppings, high in nitrogen, acted as a fertilizer, increasing corn yields and significantly contributing to the economic development of the time.

About White-Rumped Vulture:

• It is a small Old World vulture native to South and Southeast Asia.
• Scientific name: Gyps bengalensis
• It is also known as Indian White-backed Vulture or Oriental White-backed Vulture.
• Like other vultures, it feeds mostly on carcasses, which it finds by soaring high in thermals and spotting other scavengers.
• Distribution: Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and southern Vietnam.
• Habitat:
  • Found mostly in plains.
• Population:
  • The main reason for the big decline in its population is a medicine called diclofenac.
    • This medicine, used for farm animals, poisons the vultures when they eat dead animals.
    • It causes their kidneys to fail.
  • Conservation Status:
    • IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered.

About Semaglutide:

• It belongs to a class of medications known as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, or GLP-1 RAs.
• It mimics the GLP-1 hormone, released in the gut in response to eating.
• One role of GLP-1 is to prompt the body to produce more insulin, which reduces blood sugar (glucose).
• For that reason, semaglutide is used for the following:
  • to control blood sugar levels in certain patients with type 2 diabetes (a condition in which blood sugar is too high because the body does not make or use insulin normally).
  • to reduce the risk of a heart attack, stroke, or death in adults with type 2 diabetes, heart and blood vessel disease, also in adults who are obese or overweight.
  • to reduce the risk of worsening of kidney disease and death in certain adults with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease
  • to assist with weight loss in certain people who are obese or overweight and have weight-related medical problems.