India  

Butterflies are so beautiful that I find it difficult to refer to them as insects, but they are insects.

They are attractive and graceful. Vivid and multi coloured – representing nature’s canvas at its finest. The restless butterflies make a fascinating sight flittering around in gardens and parks, hovering over plants, landing on the flowers for a few sips of nectar, before taking off.
Metamorphosis - one of most remarkable phenomenon of nature 

Metamorphosis – the transformation from egg to larva, larva to cocoon, from which emerges a beautiful butterfly – is one of most remarkable phenomenon of nature. 

Metamorphosis involves four stages:

• Egg: The female butterfly lays eggs on the underside of specific plants so that when caterpillars later emerge from the eggs, they can immediately get food from the plant leaves.
• Larva: Also called caterpillar, emerge from the eggs after a few days. The caterpillar is a eating machine and spends most of its time eating.
• Pupa: When the caterpillar has finished growing, it stops eating and forms a protective shield called Pupa. Most of the magical transformation into a butterfly takes place inside the Pupa.
• Butterfly: The pupa undergoes transformation and the caterpillar metamorphoses into a butterfly which emerges from the pupa.

The adult butterfly later mates and lays eggs on plants and the cycle starts all over again.
You can see the video of a butterfly metamorphosis at any of the following sites:

http://vimeo.com/7203408

http://lifecycle.onenessbecomesus.com/

 
Butterfly Facts

• There are 1,500,000 insect species in the world. 
• Of these, 200,000 species are of Lepidoptera (the group to which moths and butterflies belong).
• 17, 050 of these species are butterflies and the rest are moths!
• Of the17, 050 species world wide, India has 1501 species of butterflies
• The life cycle of a butterfly is extremely short – mere 30 to 40 days.
   

Butterfly Parks

All over the world, butterflies have suffered extensive damage due to habitat destruction – urbanisation, felling of trees, construction, etc.
In many areas, they have been almost exterminated.

Butterfly parks have been set up in several countries ….to conserve them, to breed them, to allow visitors to see them and to conduct research.
There are quite a few well maintained butterfly parks in different countries of south-east Asia which display quite a large selection of different species.
But unknown to most of us, there are a few good butterfly parks in India, too.

India’s First Butterfly Park – Butterfly Park, Bangalore

India’s first Butterfly Park was opened on November 25, 2006 in Bangalore to promote butterfly ecotourism.

The Butterfly Park, near the Bannerghatta Zoo, cost Rs 50 millions and covers an area of over 7.5 acres.
 
The centre of attraction is the 10,000 sq. feet circular Conservatory with polycarbonate roof which has on display more than 20 species of butterflies.

The next dome houses a museum. Here you learn about the 4 stages of lifecycle of the butterfly – the egg, larva or caterpillar, pupa or chrysalis, and the adult.
You learn about different species of butterflies – from the smallest Eastern Pygmy Blue, Brephidium isophthalma with a wingspan of about 5/8 of an inch to large Bird-Wing butterflies from New Guinea, with wingspans of up to 12 inches. 

The third and last dome is a theatre where you can watch a 20 minute movie about butterflies. Besides giving information about butterflies, the movie focuses on conservation. The movie explains how the fate of man and butterflies are interlinked and conservation of the environment is in our mutual interest.

The Butterfly Park also has an artificial waterfall. It is quite well maintained and has become a popular week end attraction amongst localites.

India’s second Butterfly Park was established at Shimla in Himachal Pradesh. It cost Rs. 60 millions and spreads over an area of 10 acres.

 Himachal Pradesh has more than 300 species of butterflies. The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) found 14 species of butterflies in the cold deserts of Lahaul and Spiti district.

The Butterfly Park which includes a conservatory, a museum and a nature park has a larger collection of butterflies.

The Butterfly Park in Pune was inaugurated by actress Dimple Kapadia on Women’s Day – March 8, 2011.

The Pune Municipal Corporation funded the park with Rs. 50 million. The Park covers an area of two acres. The project has transformed a dirty drain into a beautiful park.

The Butterfly Park has about 80 species of butterflies. It also has a rock garden, waterfalls and a jogging track.

Butterfly Park in Chandigarh

The Environment Society of India inaugurated a Butterfly Park at the Commonwealth Youth Programme Asia Centre in Sector 26 of Chandigarh on Biodiversity Day – 23 May 2011.

The Park costing Rs. 70 lakh covers an area of 7.5 acres.

India’s first Open-air Butterfly Park in Sikkim

India’s first Open-air Butterfly Park was established at Rangrang, Sikkim. It cost Rs. 60 millions and extends over an area of 14 acres

Some nature lovers have started their own private Butterfly Parks.

Butterfly Conservatory of Goa, Rajnagar, Pisgal – Priol, Ponda, Goa.

 The Butterfly Conservatory of Goa. situated in Ponda , the Spice and temple town is quite good

This private Butterfly Park is spread over 4000 square metres.  A few common people, without too much money and resources, got together and have converted the place, which was once barren and without any natural source of water, into a beautiful park with streams, endemic plants and a lot of butterflies. If you go to Goa, you must visit this Butterfly Park.

http://www.bcogoa.org/

 Ovalekar Butterfly Farm at Wadi, Thane

 Closer to Mumbai, Rajendra Ovalekar, started a Butterfly Park on his own 2 acres of land at Ovalekar Wadi, off Ghodbunder Road, in Thane (near Mumbai).

This small place has about 100 different species of butterflies. And Ovalekar personally escorts you around the place and explains to you all about butterflies.
Very few people in Mumbai even know about this Butterfly Park.

http://www.wikimapia.org/14420146/Butterfly-Farm

 Protecting our Butterflies

 A total of 450 species of butterflies have been given protection under The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972;
128 species under  Schedule-I,

303 species under Schedule- II and  

19 species under Schedules- IV.
Butterflies have also been given protection under the Biodiversity Act of 2002.
 

Commercial Butterfly farming

Commercial Butterfly Farming has been adopted as a viable occupation in several countries. In India, too, Butterfly Farming can help the rural people play an active role in the conservation of butterflies as well as help them earn some good money.

The Bombay Natural History Society, founded on 15 September 1883, is one of the largest non-governmental organizations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research.

It is also doing a lot of work in relation to butterflies. Its museum has a huge collection of 25,000 butterflies collected over the years. It conducts regular programmes like Breakfast with Butterflies and Butterfly watch camps allowing any one to see and learn about butterflies.
It also conducts distance learning courses in Basic Entomology.

Butterfly Migration

Many animals, birds and other animals migrate….sometimes over long distances. Butterflies also migrate.

A few, like the Monarch Butterfly, migrate long distances. There are no other insects in the world that migrate twice each year for close to 3,000 miles.

But the there is one difference between the migration of butterflies and the other animals. The butterflies who migrate, because of their short life spans, do not live to return to the originating place.
They perish. Only their off springs return. What guides the off springs to the same locations?
Well, this is one of Nature’s unsolved riddles.

Vanishing Vultures 

Perhaps you have noticed that at present there are considerably less vultures in our skies than there were a few years back.

In the early eighties, there were about 40 million vultures in India. The Oriental white-backed vulture was so abundant in India, that it was probably the most common large bird of prey in the world.
The vulture population has declined…….. by more than 97%……. in the last few years and their numbers are decreasing at an alarming rate.

Vultures endangered

Of the nine species of vultures found in India, three species – the white-backed, long-billed and slender-billed vultures have been categorised by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as critically endangered.
These three species are also listed in Schedule I species in the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, along with the tiger and one-horned rhino.

A survey by the Bombay Natural History Society in 2007 estimated that there were about:

• 1000 slender-billed vultures,
• 11,000 white-backed vultures, and
• 44,000 long-billed vultures in the country.

Reasons for the decline

 The main reasons for the decline in vulture population in the entire South and Southeast Asia are:

• Rapid urbanization which has caused habitat destruction – felling of the high-rise trees, where the vultures nest;
• Aeroplanes and other moving objects in the sky;
• Electric power lines;
• Rampant use of pesticides like DDT, and to a great extent diclofenac.

Diclofenac

Many experts believe that the drug diclofenac is the main culprit for the decline of vultures in India.
India introduced the diclofenac in 1993. The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has been campaigning against diclofenac since 2003 because diclofenac, which is used to treat cattle, is toxic to any vulture that feeds on the carcass of recently treated cattle.

In 2006, the Government of India banned the manufacture and import of diclofenac – but only for veterinary purposes. Nepal and Pakistan followed the ban.

In 2008, the Government of India placed more stringent restrictions on diclofenac for animal use, making contravention punishable with imprisonment.

But diclofenac, which continues to be legally used and sold for humans, is available across the counter in most medicine shops, and is illegally used for animals.

Dr. Vibhu Prakash, the principal scientist for the vulture conservation breeding programme at BNHS, Mumbai found that, over 75% of vultures which were discovered dead or died of visceral gout had diclofenac in their tissues.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/supporting/campaigns/vultures/ 

The Indian Veterinary Research Institute also conducted tests and detected heavy content of diclofenac, in samples of dead vultures.  

Diet of the vultures

Vultures usually feed on carcasses of livestock and wildlife.
They do not hunt living animals, though sometimes, they attack and  kill wounded or sick animals.

A mature vulture eats almost half a kg meat everyday. Vultures detect dead animals faster than any other animal, and follow migrating predators and other large animals feeding on the dead and help in keeping the environment clean.

Captive Breeding

The BNHS advocated the captive breeding of vultures as the only viable option to save the creatures

“By bringing some vultures in captivity, the life of these vultures is saved and once they start breeding, they would augment their population. The vultures will be released back in the wild once we are sure that there is no diclofenac available in system,”

The Govt. of India permitted BNHS to run three vulture conservation breeding centres at Pinjore of Haryana, Rajabhatkhawa of West Bengal and Rani of Assam. BNHS is supported by a number of international organizations like the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (UK), Zoological Society of London , Peregrine Fund (US), and the newly-formed consortium Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction (SAVE).
(There are conservation breeding centres linked to the SAVE programme also in Nepal and Pakistan.)

The three conservation breeding centres in India have 271 vultures. And they have successfully bred of all the three endangered species. 

2011 has been the most successful year for the Indian captive breeding centres.
The number of fledged chicks is almost double than last year’s. 
Eighteen vulture chicks were successfully reared, 15 at the Pinjore centre in Haryana, and the remaining three at Rajabhat Khawa in West Bengal.

Four fledged birds were a direct result of ‘double clutches’: some pairs produced a second egg after the first was removed, hatched in incubators and reared by BNHS staff.

Some experts are against captive breeding of vultures. But the three breeding centres are making very good progress.

An exclusive sanctuary for the Vultures

The Tamil Nadu Government is now examining a proposal  to set up a home for vultures in the Sigur Plateau in the Nilgiris. This would be the first of its kind in the country. 

Why should we be concerned about vultures

About a year back, I saw a large group of vultures flying over the Fort in Jodhpur. Someone explained that this place was one of the biggest nesting and breeding places of these vultures.

Why should we be concerned about vultures?
For one, they are nature’s scavengers.
There are other scavengers, but they are not as efficient as the vultures.  The vultures are usually the first to detect dead carcasses and others follow them. Besides  they carry a host of diseases like rabies, which can easily be transmitted to humans.

Love them or hate them, vultures are uniquely adapted scavengers and their loss would have numerous negative repercussions for other species inhabiting our planet, including us.
http://blogs.peregrinefund.org/pages/article.php?eid=683

Manicured Tea Gardens

I had heard a lot about Munnar, the beautiful hill station in South India.
And although I had visited places very close to Munnar, such as Theni (Tamil Nadu) – only about an hour’s drive from Munnar – due to shortage of time, I could not visit the place.

So, in early 2011, I decided to visit Munnar,

Munnar is a wonderful getaway in Kerala, nestling at an altitude of 1,829 metres, amidst luscious tea and coffee plantations, hills, valleys, lakes, waterfalls, forests, exhilarating walks, birds and animals. It is nicknamed the Kashmir of South India.
I booked a small suite in one of the finest resorts there. My RCI membership comes in handy on such occasions. I had to pay only nominal charges. I also booked return flights from Mumbai to Kochi three months in advance. So those too were cheap.

A two hour drive (120 kms) from Kochi airport took me into the heart of tea country. I was passing through beautiful tea gardens on all sides.

Tea

I recently read an article that tea drinking originated in India. Much as I would love to believe this,  this is not true.
Tea drinking originated in China almost 4750 years ago. It was known there as Ch’a. The word has been copied by India, Japan, Russia, Iran and the Middle East.

In A.D. 780, the Chinese tea expert Lu Yu published the first exclusive book on tea ‘Ch’a Ching’ meaning ‘Tea classic’. In this book, he has described various kinds of tea, their cultivation and manufacturing in China.
Though we had indigenous tea plants in India, commercial cultivation of tea entered India much later. In 1834, Lord William Bentinck, then Governor General of British India, appointed a Tea Committee to advise him on the feasibility of commercial tea cultivation in India. The first experimental samples of tea from indigenous tea plants were sent to Calcutta in 1836.
The rest is history.

Today, India is the world’s second largest producer (India was number one, but China overtook India to become the number one). And we have all kinds of tea….from the good old time tested orthodox “Britisher’s….cuppa tea” to all kinds of delicately flavoured exotic concoctions.

History of Munnar and its tea plantations

Munnar was discovered by John Daniel Manro, a British lawyer and planter, in the 1870s, when he visited the area on a hunting expedition. He immediately recognised the agricultural potential of the region.

In July 1877, Manro leased 581.12 sq kms (125,000 acres) of land from the Raja of Poonjar and formed a co-operative society called ‘North Travancore Land Planting and Agricultural Society’. The members of the society started farming coffee, sisal and cardamom.  
Another European, A.H. Sharp, experimented with different crops such as coffee, cinchona, sisal and cardamom and concluded that the area was best suited for tea. He started tea plantations. Over the years, more and more tea plantations grew up.

In 1964, the Tata Group entered Munnar.  By 1980s, Tata Tea Ltd. had acquired most of the tea plantations to become the second largest integrated tea manufacturing facility in the world.

On 1st April 2005, Tata Tea Ltd. exited most of its plantations in Munnar and were succeeded by Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company Private Limited which now owns 7 extensive gardens covering 24,000 hectares, with an annual production of 21 million kgs of tea.
An interesting feature of this company is that its 12,000 plus employees are its shareholders.

What to see

There are a number of places in and around Munnar which you can visit. During the rains, the place becomes a fairyland enveloped in fog and mist andfull of cascading waterfalls.

But where ever you go, when ever you go, you will see beautifully manicured tea gardens. Left to nature, the tea plants grow quite tall. But for tea cultivation, they have to be continuously cut to 1 metre or so to encourage the growth of new shoots. The fresh tea shoots are pinched or clipped every three or four days from which tea is made.

The tangled leftovers of dead tea plants make wonderful show pieces. They are dried, sand papered and given a coat of varnish. You can put a sheet of glass on them and use them as beautiful ornamental tables.

Tea Museum  (2 kms from Munnar)

The Kanan Devan Hills Plantations Company Private Limited maintains India’s first tea museum which is a must visit site for all visitors.
Here, you can learn about the growth of the tea industry – from the simple tea roller to the present fully automated tea factory of Madupatty.
You can learn about various aspects of tea processing and the operations that go into the making of black tea. You can also do some tea tasting.

 You can see old-time bungalow furniture, iron safe, magneto phone, wooden bathtub, iron oven that used firewood, etc., and antique office equipments such as antiquated typewriters and PBX.
The museum has an iron-age burial urn from the 2nd century B.C. exhumed in the 1970s.

 Near the entrance of the museum is a granite sundial, made in 1913 by the Art Industrial School at Nazareth in Tamil Nadu.

Mattupetty (13 kms from Munnar)

The Mattupetty lake and dam are situated at a height of 1700 mts. You can do some boating here.
You can visit the Indo-swiss dairy farm, which is close by. It has over 100 varieties of high yielding cattle.
Eravikulam National Park (15 km from Munnar)
PEERMEDE

There are other national parks around Munnar,  but the 97 sq. kms. Eravikulam National Park is the home of the endangered Nilgiri Tahr, a rare mountain goat. Originally established to protect the Nilgiri Tahr, the Park was declared a sanctuary in 1975. Its status was elevated to National Park in 1978.
The total number of Niligiri Tahrs here is estimated to be over 1300 – about half the world’s population.

The park is breathtakingly beautiful. The Anamudi peak (2695 mts), the highest peak in South India, is located in the Southern region of the park.
If you have the time and inclination, you can walk up to the top.

Marayoor (40 kms from Munnar)

Marayoor is the only place in Kerala that has a natural growth of sandalwood trees.
I visited the sandalwood factory of the forest department, the caves (muniyaras) with murals and relics from the New stone age civilization and the children’s park spread across a hectare of land under the canopy of a single banyan tree.
You can also visit the Thoovanam waterfalls and Rajiv Gandhi National Park nearby.

Dolmens

You can see muniyaras (caves) dating back to the New Stone Age near Kovilkadavu village. These caves contain rock paintings of great archaeological importance.
But what was more interesting for me were the dolmens, or old burial chambers, consisting of four erect stones covered by a horizontal capstone.

Neelakurunji flowers

You can also see the beautiful Neelakurunji flowers here, but there is only one hitch. The spectacular blue blooms cover the entire mountainside.
But they flower once in 12 years and the next flowering will take place in 2018.
So you will have to wait for another 7 years.

 Reaching There

 The nearest airport is Kochi.
Kochi also has a railway station and is well connected by road also.
You can see a map of the place and get other information from the
following site:
http://www.munnar.org/munnar-maps.php

Summer Resort

The word Munnar is derived from the Tamil words moon – aar meaning three rivers because Munnar is located at the confluence of three rivers – Mudrapuzha, Nallathani and Kundala.
The most appropriate description of Munnar would be tea country. But it is much more than that.

The Britishers of South India had made Munnar their summer resort.

And it really rains during the monsoons. The rains here are 2^nd only to Cherrapunji in Assam.

You will surely fall in love with the place during the rains.

Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar, Rajasthan has been
in the news for the past four years – unfortunately for
the wrong reasons.

Sariska Tiger Reserve

The Sariska Tiger Reserve (866 sq. kms.) was originally a hunting preserve of the Kings of Alwar in Alwar District in the state of Rajasthan.
The area was declared a wildlife reserve in 1955.
In 1978, it was declared a Tiger Reserve and is now a part of India’s Project Tiger scheme.
It became a National Park in 1979.

The Sariska Tiger Reserve is larger than Ranthambore Tiger Reserve with similar topography, but is far less commercialized.

Sariska Tiger Reserve in the news

From the summer of 2004, there were persistent reports from people connected with tourism that no tigers were being sighted in Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan.Even more alarming was the fact that there was no other contemporary evidence (pugmarks, scratch marks on trees, etc) indicating the presence of the tiger. The Rajasthan Forest Department shrugged off any suggestions about the complete absence of tigers with a simple explanation – “the tigers had temporarily migrated outside the Reserve and would be back after the rains”.
The Project Tiger authorities endorsed the Rajasthan Forest Department’s view.In January 2005, Jay Mazoomdaar, an Indian Express journalist, broke the startling news that there were no tigers left in Sariska.
The Rajasthan Forest Department and the Project Tiger Directorate declared an “emergency tiger census” in Sariska and the Central Bureau of Investigation conducted a probe.

After a two months exercise, every one finally conceded that Sariska Tiger Reserve did not have any tiger left.

Relocation of Tigers to Sariska

But what is much more interesting, and cause for happiness for environmentalists, is that for the first time in India, the Rajasthan Government have decided to relocate tigers into the Sariska Tiger Reserve from the neighbouring Ranthambore Tiger Reserve.On 28th June 2008, one three and a half year old, male tiger, weighing 220 kgs., was tranquilised in Ranthambore Tiger Reserve and flown into Sariska Tiger Reserve (200 kms.) in an Indian Air Force helicopter.
The tiger has been temporarily kept in a 100 metres x 100 metres enclosure to help it get acclimatised in the new surroundings.
A four year old female, weighing 170 kgs., was flown in from Ranthambore on the 4th July 2008.
It has been kept in a separate enclosure.After the pair settle down, the door of the enclosure would be opened and the tigers would be allowed to wander off into the wilds.
Sariska has a rich prey base, and environment quite similar to Ranthambore Tiger Reserve.
It should be easy for the tigers to re-establish themselves.

If everything goes on well, and there is no reason why it should not,
within two years, three more tigers will be relocated to Sariska. Relocating tigers to a new habitat is being tried out in India for the first time.
If successful, this will revive the tiger population at Sariska and open up fresh opportunities to save the majestic tiger.

Most likely, the disappearance of the tigers in 2004 was due to poaching. The other major hurdles are: 
·         11 villages in the core area;
·         Heavy traffic on a portion of the Jaipur-Alwar highway that passes
        through the Sariska Tiger Reserve; and
·         Heavy traffic to the ancient temple at Pandupole – in the core forest –  22 kms. from the entrance.The authorities have already shifted one village.
Each relocated family has been paid a generous compensation of Rs 10 lakhs (earlier this was only Rs. 1 lakh).
Three more villages will be shifted soon.

The traffic on the stretch of the Jaipur-Alwar highway passing through the Sariska Tiger Reserve has already been diverted via a bye pass.Efforts are on to minimize traffic to the Pandupole temple by pursuasion.

Adverse impact on Ranthambore Tiger Reserve

There is no fear of the number of tigers in Ranthambore being adversely effected.
In fact, Ranthamore has 34 tigers and their numbers are fast increasing.
It has actually become necessary to relocate some tigers.
Moving them to Sariska is the best decision.

There has been some criticism that relocation of tigers has always failed, and that the relocated tigers would die.
The relocated tigers are being fitted with radio collars and their movement will be constantly monitored through satellite.
The collars, costing Rs 8 lakh each, have been purchased from a Canadian firm, Lotek.
The satellite is operated by the Argos system, supported by Nasa (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US)), and the French space agency, CNES.
The Argos system is already monitoring more than 4,200 animals worldwide.The radio transmitters send out information in short pulses.
The pulses are picked up by the satellite which retransmits them to the Argos centres for processing.
The radio tracking will help wildlife authorities keep effective track of the movement of each tiger and prevent poaching.

Vegetation

The landscape of Sariska comprises of hills and narrow valleys of the Aravali hills.
The vegetation is scrub-thorn arid forests, dry deciduous forests, rocks and grasses.
Other Animals

Some of the other animals in the Reserve include the leopard, jungle cat, hyena, jackal, chital, sambar, carecal, langur, wild boar, four-horned deer (chowsingha) and several species of birds.In the morning and evening, the animals in Sariska head towards the many water holes, which litter the park, providing the guests their best chance of viewing animals.It is possible to book hides situated in prime spots for wildlife viewing at some of these watering holes.
What to see around

There are temples, forts and ruins in and around Sariska.
There are historical buildings associated with the Maharajas of Alwar such as the Sariska Palace (the royal hunting lodge of the former Maharaja of Alwar State Jai Singh).
The Kankwadi Fort (located near the centre of the Sariska Reserve)  has a long history.
In the 17th century, Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb briefly imprisoned his brother Dara Shikoh here in the battle for succession to the Mughal throne.
There are ancient temples, such as the Neelkanth Mahadev Temple and Garh Rajor temples dating back to the 9th and 10th centuries.

Location

Sariska Tiger Reserve is situated 200 km from Delhi and 107 kms from Jaipur.
It covers an area of 800 sq km in total, with a core area of approximately 500 sq. kms.

I am delighted that the Wildlife Institute of India and officers of Rajasthan Forest Department are jointly and actively involved in this experimental project.
But there is no excuse why the two set ups could not detect the complete absence of tigers much earlier ….. and continued giving out lame explanations. Unfortunately, this is not the first relocation attempt of tigers.
In 1928, Maharajah Lakshman Singh of Dungarpur ordered the first successful relocation of a pair of tigers from the forests of Gwalior to the forests of Dungarpur where they had all been killed by hunters.
The tiger population gradually increased to 25 in 1947.

But once again, there are no tigers left in the forests of Dungarpur.
And remember, there were no radio collars, no helicopters and all the back ups available and used today.

the largest mass nesting site of
Olive Ridley turtle
in the world

Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is the only marine sanctuary in Orissa (Eastern India).
This Sanctuary is extremely important because it is the largest mass nesting site of the Olive Ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) in the world. There are only four mass nesting sites of the Olive Ridley turtles in the world.
Of these four, the ‘Playa Ostional’ is in Ostional village in Costa Rica.
The other three are in Orissa.

The three mass nesting sites of the Olive Ridley turtles in Orissa are:        ·         Nasi Islands of the Gahirmatha beach near the mouth of rivers Brahmini and Baitarani.
      ·         Devi river mouth in Puri district (100 kms south of Gahirmatha), and the 
      ·         Rushikulya river mouth (320 kms south of Gahirmatha).

The estimate of the numbers of Olive Ridley turtles who come to the three nesting sites in Orissa vary according to different estimators.
They may exceed 1 million.
On an average, around 15,000 Olive Ridley turtles get killed every year – largely due to drowning, after getting entangled in the fishing nets.

Gahirmatha Turtle Sanctuary

The most important nesting site in Orissa is Gahirmatha.
The 35 kms coast of Gahirmatha (in Kendrapara District of Orissa), covering an area of 1435 sq kms, was declared a Turtle Sanctuary in 1979.On an average, 700,000 turtles lay 120 eggs each on the beach here every year.
The total is a cool 84 million eggs.
The eggs hatch in 45 – 70 days depending on the weather and temperature conditions.

The hatchlings emerge and make a frantic run to the sea, chased by predators such as crabs, vultures, and seabirds.
Even after they reach the sea, they are in danger from such predators as sharks, fishes and crocodiles.
Some years, there are no nestings at all.
We do not know why mass nesting does not take place in some years.

Olive Ridley Turtle
The Olive Ridley turtle, named after H.N. Ridley FRS, who first reported sighting of Olive Ridleys in Brazil in 1887, and because of their overall olive green colour, is the smallest of the marine turtle species in the world.They grow to a length of 70 cms. The adults weigh about 45 kgs.
The carapace is tear-drop shaped.
They are omnivorous and feed on crustaceans and molluscs.

They can dive to great depths and may be bottom feeders.
They are highly migratory, travelling thousands of kilometers between foraging and nesting grounds.

The most fascinating feature of Olive Ridley turtle is their mass nesting called ‘arribada’ – a Spanish word meaning mass arrival.

It is believed that they nest at intervals of one to four years.
In India, the nesting season is between November to March.
Olive Ridleys nest sporadically in other coastal places of India, such as,.Jamnagar, Bhavnagar, Gorai, Kihim, Manowrie, Versova, between Ambolgad and Vetye, Morjim and Galgibag; Kozhikode district (Calicut) in and some places  in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and in the Sundarbans.

According to the IUCN, the status of the Olive Ridley turtle is ‘Critically endangered’.

Incredible Mass Nesting

The mass nesting or arribada is an unforgettable sight.
On a clear moonlit night, during the nesting season, you can see thousands of turtles crawling out of the sea, puffing and laboring as they drag themselves on the beach, select a suitable site, dig a hole in the sand with their hind flippers, lay nearly 120 eggs each, cover and compact the holes with their own body, sweep out all traces of their visit and crawl back to the sea – all within 45 minutes.
This indeed is one of Nature’s miracles!

Nesting Sites in Danger
Gahirmatha has come into the news recently due to construction of the Dhamra Port in the area.
The Port is being built by the Dhamra Port Company Ltd (DAPCL) – a joint venture of Tata Steel and Larsen and Toubro.The port is less than 15 kms from the turtle nesting beaches at Gahirmatha Turtle Sanctuary and less than 5 kms from the Bhitarkanika Sanctuary, India’s second largest mangrove forest.

25 percent of the Port work is already over (May 2008).
The first phase of the project, worth about Rs.24.63 billion, will become fully operational by April 2010. National and international environmental activist group raised objections.
The work was stopped for a short spell.
But the concerned Government agencies, including the National Environment Appellate Authority, have given clearance and construction work has again begun.These agencies are of the view that the northern stretch of the Dhamra river is muddy and silty and therefore unsuitable for turtle nesting.
The Wildlife Institute of India has also opined that the marine turtles nest south of the river and do not come to the beaches on the north.

Role of IUCN

DAPL had invited the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to identify areas with potential to adversely affect the turtle habitat and precautionary measures that can be implemented to nullify the possible negative impact.

The IUCN made certain suggestions. One of the measures involves using turtle excluder devices (TEDs) in the fishing nets and trawlers.
Bittu Sehgal, editor of Sanctuary magazine, is of the view that construction of the port “would disrupt the food chain cycle in the entire marine system”. According to him, the damage by the port would be irreversible. “Olive Ridley turtles feed on invertebrates and play an important role in open ocean and coastal ecosystems. …The effect will be visible after five years but who will answer then? ”

Bhitarakanika Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park

Close to Gahirmatha Turtle Sanctuary is the lovely Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park.
The Bhitarkanika area was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1975.

This is the second largest Mangrove ecosystem in India and is known for its crocodiles, water monitors, creeks and canals and kingfishers.
There are also white crocodiles.
There are herds of deer on the banks.  There are also a large variety of migratory and resident birds. 

Cause for concern

A number of national and international environmental groups have expressed concern that the port, in proximity to the two Protected Areas, poses an unacceptable environmental risk. Greenpeace has released a critique that exposes serious and fundamental flaws in the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) conducted for TATA’s Dhamra port project in Bhadrak district, Orissa.According to the environmentalists, the risk is not limited to the nesting sites alone.
The turtles live in the off shore waters for about six months a year.
The port site is a breeding ground for horse-shoe crabs, as well as rare species of reptiles and amphibians including the amphibian Fejervarya cancrivora.

Recommendation

The presence of the turtles actually helps the fishermen and results in higher fish productivity. There is higher abundance of fish –  leading to higher catches.The reason is the preference of turtles to feed on jelly fishes which otherwise would have eaten the fishlets,

The law in Orissa requires that the trawlers should be fitted with turtle excluder devices (TEDs). But the fishermen are averse to this device. They feel that this will greatly reduce their catch.
The environmentalists, several NGOs and students are doing a good job educating the public and protecting the turtle hatchlings.

Visit the incredible mass nesting, if possible.
Local tour operators will organise a visit to the nesting sites.Other wise, you can visit the mangrove forests and the area any time of the year except during the monsoons (rainy season). 
 

 

The Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Thane district.
It is 90 kms, or one and a half hours drive, from Mumbai.
It covers an area of 355 sq. kms. – more than three times the size of the 103 sq. kms. Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

Yet, according to census reports, Sanjay Gandhi National Park had 20 Indian Leopards in 2007.
Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary had seven leopards in 2005. The number fell to five in 2006, and to two in 2007.
The number has dropped to one in 2008.

And this is a cause for serious concern amongst all environmentalists and lovers of wild life.

Flora
The land vegetation is southern tropical moist deciduous forest.
The major tree species found are Teak, Khair, Ain, Hed, Kalamb, Bibla, etc.
There are small patches of Bamboos.

Fauna

The Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary has a wide range of species.
There are about 50 species of animals, including the Indian Leopard, Sambar, Four-Horned Antelope, Chital, Barking Deer, Mouse Deer, Wild Boar, Hyena, Jackal, Hare, Common Langur, etc.
There are about 200 species of birds.  

Best Time to Visit

The best time to visit Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary is from November to May.

Other Attractions

Other attractions near the sanctuary are the historical Mahuli Fort; Mahadeo Temple at Tilsa and the Suryamal Plateau.

Where to Stay

Accommodation facilities are available at Log House and Ascu Hut at Tansa; and Forest Rest House, Suryamal.
These can be reserved through the D.C.F. Wildlife, Thane.

Indian Leopard

I have written this blog to draw the attraction of my readers to the dwindling number of leopards in this Sanctuary.
The Indian Leopard is one of the most successful members of the Indian big cat family.

It is found throughout the subcontinent, including the neighbouring countries of Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and southern China.Its habitat varies from dry deciduous forests, desert ecosystems, tropical rain forests, northern coniferous forests, to the neighbourhoods of human habitation.
Problems

The sanctuary is plagued with a series of problems:
·         The Middle Vaitarna dam project involved the felling of more than 1 lakh trees.
·         Encroachments – there are about 110 villages housing 1,300 families in about 510 hectares of land.
·         Forest fires, often lit by the encroachers.
·         Felling of trees for firewood and for commercial purposes.
·         Rampant grazing of cattle, which leaves little food for herbivorous animals.
·         Inadequacy of funds.
·         And of course, poaching.

All these problems require urgent attention.

       

    ……….. 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.

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.