Conservation – An Indian Bureaucrat's Diary

The Vanishing Tigers of Panna

Binoy Gupta — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:58:43 +0000

Panna National Reserve was created in 1981 (from the former Gangau Wildlife Sanctuary created in 1975).
It was upgraded to a Project Tiger Reserve in 1994 – the 22nd in the country.

The Reserve forests and some protected forests in Chhatarpur district were the hunting preserves of the erstwhile rulers of princely states of Panna, Chhatarpur and Bijawar.
The official figures of tigers in Panna Tiger Reserve were as follows:

1993	1995	1996	1997	1998

22-27

23-28

22-24

In March, 2005, the Sunday Express first reported about the vanishing tigers in Rajasthan, prompting the Government of India to take urgent measures.
Around that time, a field researcher submitted a report that some 23 tigers had died or gone amissing in the Panna Tiger Reserve over the past two-and-a-half years.

The Director, Tiger Project, Govt. of India, New Delhi poo poohed the report and insisted there were 32 tigers. By early 2009, it was clear that there was only on male tiger left in Panna. In March 2009, two tigresses were relocated from Bandhavgarh and Kanha national parks to breed with the surviving male tiger. But by May 2009, even he had vanished. In April 2009, a central government team led by former National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) chief P.K. Sen confirmed that there were no tigers left in Panna.

In June 2009, Madhya Pradesh Congress demanded formation of an all-party MLAs

committee to probe into the reason behind the disappearance of the big cats from the reserve.

The same month Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Environment and Forests, said the government will fix accountability for the exaggerated projection of the tiger population in Madhya Pradesh’s Panna forest reserve.

What is needed is not enquiry by expert or in-expert committees, but fixing of responsibility.
How is it possible that the officials in charge of the Panna Reserve were not aware of the vanishing tigers?
They should have been the first to point this out.

And how could the Director sitting in his cosy office in Delhi discredit a researcher’s findings instead of trying to ascertain the facts.

Responsibility should be fixed and stringent action should be taken fast.

Travel India Whale Sharks

Binoy Gupta — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:20:20 +0000

Whale Sharks

“Whale Sharks are the largest fish in the sea, and yet, we know the least about them,” Jeff Swanagan, Executive Director and President, declared shortly after the opening of the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, U.S.

Seeing a Whale Shark in the ocean is very rare.
Even well-known oceanographers such as Dr. Sylvia Earle and Philippe Cousteau did not see their first Whale Shark until coming to an aquarium.

Whale Sharks frequently enter the coastal waters around India.
A few are washed ashore.
Nature lovers try to push them back to deeper waters.

Fortunately for us, today, most of the larger public aquariums display Whale Sharks.

Description
Believed to have originated about 60 million years ago, the Whale Shark, Rhincodon typus, is the largest living fish in the world.

The Whale Shark was first identified in April 1828 following the harpooning of a 4.6 metres (15.1 feet) specimen in Table Bay, South Africa.
It was described the next year by Andrew Smith, a military doctor with the British troops in Cape Town.
He published a more detailed description of the Whale Shark in 1849.
The name ” Whale Shark ” comes from the fish’s physiology.
It is actually a shark, as large as a whale, and filter feeds in the same way as whales do.It can grow up to 12.2 metres (40 feet) in length and can weigh up to 13.6 metric tons.

The largest accurately recorded specimen was caught on November 11, 1947, near the island of Baba, near Karachi, Pakistan.
It was 12.65 metres (41.50 feet) long, weighed more than 21.5 tons (47,300 lb), and had a girth of 7 metres (23.0 feet).

Distribution and habitat

The Whale Shark is found in open waters in tropical and warm-temperate oceans around the world.
Its range is restricted to about ± 30 ° latitude.
It is found to a depth of 700 metres (2,300 ft).
It is usually solitary.
Males range over longer distances than females.

Seasonal feeding congregations of the Whale Sharks occur at several coastal sites such as Ningaloo Reef (Western Australia); Útila (Honduras); Donsol and Batangas (Philippines); off Isla Mujeres and Isla Holbox (Yucatan Mexico); and the Tanzanian islands (Pemba and Zanzibar).

Description and Feeding

The Whale Shark is a filter feeder.
It has a huge mouth which can open up to 1.5 metres (4.9 feet) wide and contains between 300 and 350 rows of tiny teeth.
It has five large pairs of gills.
The two small eyes are located towards the front of the shark’s wide, flat head.

The body is mostly grey with a white belly.
Three prominent ridges run along each side of the Whale Shark and the skin is marked with a “checkerboard” of pale yellow spots and stripes.
These spots are unique to each whale shark and are used to identify each animal.

The skin can be up to 10 centimetres (3.9 inches) thick.

The Whale Shark is not an efficient swimmer and uses its entire body for swimming, reducing its speed to an average of around 5 kilometres per hour (3.1 mph).

Diet

The Whale Shark is a filter feeder — one of only three known filter feeding shark species (the other two are the basking shark and the megamouth shark).

It feeds on phytoplankton, macro-algae, plankton, krill, small fish and small nektonic life, such as small squid or vertebrates.
The rows of tiny teeth play no role in feeding.

The shark sucks in a mouthful of water, closes its mouth and expels the water through its gills. The plankton and other food material is trapped inside and swallowed.

The Whale Shark and Divers

The Whale Sharks are quite gentle and allow divers to play with them.

Divers and snorkellers can swim with them and even touch them without any risk apart from unintentionally being struck by the shark’s large tail fin.

The shark is often seen by divers in The Bay Islands in Honduras, Thailand, the Philippines, the Maldives, the Red Sea, Western Australia (Ningaloo Reef and Christmas Island), Gladden Spit Marine Reserve in Belize, Tofo Beach in Mozambique, Sodwana Bay (Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park) in South Africa and at the Galapagos Islands.

The highest concentration of Whale Sharks to be found anywhere in the world is in the Philippines. From January to May, they congregate in the shallow coastal waters of Sorsogon province (at Donsol).

Recently 150 Whale Sharks have been tagged and identified off the coast off Hol Box Island, Mexico. The island is located north of Cancun in the Gulf of Mexico. They visit the island from June through August and more have been identified every year.

Tour guides can organise swimming with these enormous creatures.

Reproduction

The reproductive habits of the Whale Sharks are obscure.
It was earlier believed to be oviparous, but the capture of a female in July 1996 which was pregnant with 300 pups proved that they are ovoviviparous.

The eggs remain in the body and the females give birth to live young which are 40 centimetres (15.7 in) to 60 centimetres (23.6 in) long.
It is believed that they reach sexual maturity at around 30 years and live to over 100 years.

Conservation status

The Whale Sharks are captured by artisanal and commercial fisheries in several areas where they seasonally aggregate.
However, they are not endangered.
IUCN has classified them as vulnerable.

Fishing, selling, importing and exporting of Whale Sharks for commercial purposes has been banned in the Philippines in 1998; in India in May 2001; and by Taiwan in May 2007.

Whale Sharks in India

Around 1,200 Whale Sharks migrate from East Africa to the Gujarat coast in the Indian Ocean for breeding every year.
They were indiscriminately slaughtered by fishermen in the coastal areas of in Gujarat.
About one thousand were slaughtered by Gujarat’s fishermen between 1990- 2001, who killed them for their oil, fins and meat. These fetched high prices in the international market. However, since 2005, the fishermen themselves have rescued nine of these huge creatures of the sea.

This has been possible through ‘Save the Whale Shark’ – a joint awareness campaign, conducted by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Tata Chemicals and the Gujarat government since 2004.

Watching the magnificent creatures is a unique experience.
India is doing a wonderful job protecting and saving them.

Travel India The Great Indian Bustard

Binoy Gupta — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:14:55 +0000

……….. on the brink of
extinction

The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) is a highly endangered, ground dwelling bird.
In fact, it is the most endangered member of the bustard family in the world;
and has disappeared from almost 90 per cent of its former habitat.
The total population of the Great Indian Bustard is estimated to be around 700. The Great Indian Bustard is found in sanctuaries located in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
You can see the Great Indian Bustard in the Desert National Park (Rajasthan) and in the Lala-Parjau Sanctuary in western Kutch (Gujarat).

Nanaj Bird Sanctuary (18 km from Sholapur)

The Nanaj Bird Sanctuary covering an area of 8,500 sq. kms. in Sholapur and Kolhapur Districts of Western Maharashtra was set up in 1975.
At that time, there were about 100 Great Indian Bustards.The number have dwindled down and only 34 Bustards remain in the Nanaj Bird Sanctuary today,

The State Government has taken a decision to cut down the Sanctuary to a shocking 300 sq. kms even though an expert committee appointed by the Government under the directions of the Supreme Court of India suggested a minimum of 1,190 sq. kms. to save the Bustards from extinction.The reason for this political decision is that land within a sanctuary cannot be sold or purchased.
Therefore, there is always a lot or pressure from various quarters to reduce the area.

Description

As you can see from the picture, the Great Indian Bustard is a large, brown and white bird, with a long neck and long bare legs like that of an ostrich. It stands about a metre high.
The male is about 122 cm (48 in) in length. Its weight is 18–32 lb (8–14.5 kg).
The female is shorter and lighter – about 92 cm (36 in) in length. Its weight is 7.8–15 lb (3.5–6.75 kg).

The sexes are similar in appearance although the male is deep sandy buff coloured. The crown of the head is black and crested.
The female is smaller than the male. Its head and neck are not pure white and the breast band is either rudimentary or absent.
The male is polygamous.

The Bustard breeds during March to September during which time the inflated fluffy white feathers of the male are inflated and displayed.
The male also raises the tail and folds it on its back.
The neck is folded and the male periodically produces a resonant, deep booming call. The female lays a single egg once a year and incubates it for about 27 days.
Nests are situated in open ground
Males take no part in incubation or care of the developing young.The eggs are at risk of destruction from other animals.
The fledglings remain with their mother till the following breeding season.

Habitat

The Bustard prefers dry, short grasslands, and open country, tall grass interspersed with cultivation where the vegetation is below its eye level (less than one metre high).
It avoids dense grasslands that hamper its movement.
It avoids irrigated areas.
It is omnivorous and feeds on seeds of grasses, small shrubs, insects, rats, grams, groundnuts, millets etc.

Reasons for the steady reducing population
The main reasons for the seriously fast declining population are poaching and the reduction of habitat due to cultivation and farming.

Present Status

According to the 2008 IUCN Red List Category (as evaluated by Bird Life International – the official Red List Authority for birds for IUCN), the bird has been classified as: Endangered.

The IUCN has also passed a resolution requesting the Indian Government to initiate Project Bustard, on the lines of Project Tiger to help the bird from extinction.

But something more drastic than mere paper resolutions are necessary to save the magnificent bird from extinction.