Indian Wildlife Club Ezine (September, 2001)

By
Prashant Mahajan, senior Education Officer, BNHS, Mumbai

Scientific name: Ficus benghalensis

Banyan is one of the common trees planted as a shade tree along the city roads and highways. However, a palm tree growing out of Banyan tree makes an interesting observation. As a matter of fact the palm does not grow from the Banyan but it is Banyan which grows around the palm tree.

Roots of the giant banyan tree at Adyar,
Madras which overs 59,000 sq ft.
(Photographed by Susan Sharma)

This is a fascinating creation of birds. Many birds cherish the globular, stalk less figs of Banyan. One of such birds defecates on the palm tree. During rainy season, the undigested seeds germinate and send thread-like small roots to the ground. These roots then surround the palm tree with a delicate network. These roots further thicken and become like mighty ropes. The powerful roots then start pressing and squeezing the stem of the palm so strongly that all the capillaries that carry water from ground to the top of the palm get crushed and blocked. Eventually the palm dies off and its trunk decomposes and disappears leaving behind a strange, hollow, cage-like structure, formed by the strangler roots of the Banyan tree hence called Strangler fig. However the two can co-exist for along time.

Banyan is found in the sub-Himalayan forests and peninsular India. It has a smooth bark and large leathery leaves. The leaves are used as fodder for captive elephants and camels. The leaves are also made into plates. The fruits are fig like which appear between April and June and October and November as well.

The Banyan is sacred to the Hindus and Buddhists. The great Banyan of Calcutta has around 1000 trunks. The canopy covers 4 acres and a walk around the tree is about 400 meters. One can see huge Banyan tree under total control of a palm tree in gardens, roadside, forest area or agricultural land.

(Photographed by the author in Film City Mumbai)

Would you be interested in contributing content to the world wide web's portal to network nature lovers?

Do you or someone you know have a veritable closet full of wildlife adventure stories, articles, pictures or other interesting media which would interest other nature lovers?

Have you always wanted to write about a specific travel adventure to the jungles/mountains/rivers or a memorable animal contact but never been motivated enough or given the forum to do so?

Do you have photographs of animals/nature's moods/forest tapestry, which sit gathering dust, never finding an audience beyond family and friends?

If your answer is yes to any of the above, read on!

How can you help?

Whether you are an amateur or professional, the pleasure of sharing your work with a group who share your passion is immense.

Pictures are even more valuable to us if they accompany an editorial piece, which you or a partner has written.

With the highest level of integrity and appreciation.

Unless we negotiate with you for use of rights other than the website, anything you offer to IndianWildlifeClub.com will be used exclusively on the pages of our website. We may, at a later date, get back in touch with you to discuss using your work in a CD ROM, or video about nature/wildlife which we would sell on the website. Of course you would receive payment for this use. But for now, all we are interested in is the right to use your content on the website.

Currently, the simple answer to this question is No.

But there are several benefits we can offer beyond cash, which may be immensely satisfying to you:

a) Exposure to a global market of your skills as a writer, photographer, or videographer.

b) Traffic to your own website. We will credit all work and be happy to place a link to your website.

c) Establish a good working relationship with IndianWildlifeClub.com in anticipation of future, paid assignments.

d) Helping a worthwhile project and building global appreciation of India's natural wealth which needs protection.

IndianWildlifeClub.com is a forum for wildlife lovers to share the wonder and beauty of India's exclusive wildlife and birds through reports, photographs and videos. It is the vision of this club that appreciation of the beauty and diversity of wildlife can promote commitment to a healthy environment objective which in turn achieves a conservation objective. The site gets visitors from an average of 20 countries. The maximum page views are from U.S followed by India, Canada and U.K. and other countries.

The site is not all about clicks though. The Mumbai chapter of the club has a few active members who is working in tandem with the Bombay Natural History Society.

The Pune chapter is taking shape to be soon followed by the Delhi chapter.

Toby Ninan retired from Delhi Zoo about two years back. With his varied experiences with the wild animals in the zoo, he is the right person to direct your queries to. Hear what Ninan has to say about his life and chosen career!

The urge to look after wild animals started off at a very young age especially fuelled off by my Dad's hobby of keeping not only domestic animals but also wild ones at home. At about the age of 7+ I had the chance to enter a pigeon coop and help my father to clean it up, change the water and feed. I could, after some instruction, find out the sick ones, treat them and after some years could even do minor surgery.

The local jungly area around South Delhi gave me a chance to hunt the ring necked doves and eat these after roasting them on an open fire. These were joints which my parents knew nothing about but my prowess with the catapult was well known to my friends around and in the colony we lived in.

Soon after school choosing a subject for college was not any problem and soon I was pouring over thick Zoology, Botany and other science books and cutting up all sorts of inoffensive creatures in the lab.

After graduating I did a job as a public relations man and also one knocking off beetles and worms from bags and bags of wheat and other grain. My delight knew no end when I came across an ad where the Delhi Zoological Park wanted what they called a 'Zoo Ranger'. I appeared for a test. Luckily all the questions were of a practical nature and thus were well up my street. The interview also turned out to be a zoo man's delight and it seems that I did well. In spite of a few candidates having pulls and pushes, I was selected and thus I was thrown on to a job where my teachers were older zookeepers, a colleague who had been there for a couple of years and of course my boss and the good old library. Last but not the least I must mention the wild animals under my charge- for they also taught me a lot about my job.

During my tenure with the zoo I was selected for a training course at the Jersey Wildlife Trust and could get a professional insight into my job , most of which I had learnt through experience. A number of foreign zoo experts taught me skills like using the tranquilizing equipment.

I had the great fortune of traveling with a number of wild animals to deliver them to different destinations both within India and abroad which were very instructive indeed.

One cannot make money on this job but the adventure and satisfaction of a wonderful job is well worth the job of a curator in any zoo.

If I had a chance to do it all over again I 'd do it, though hopefully better!!

Toby Ninan can be contacted at Ninan@indianwildlifeclub.com

Web Of Magic

'It was a poem on celluloid with a very clever choice of an engrossing and colourful subject. The visuals, the music, the script all blended so well to weave a web of magic around the viewers.'

Padma Ramasubban
General Manager, State Bank Of India, Singapore.

Soul Stirring Music

'The music was soul stirring and I was distracted from the visuals. I was most fascinated by the informations provided. The links between ragamala paintings, peacocks and sarang raag was effectively enumerated. I was attracted to the shot of peafowl and the snake. But most absorbing part was survival of the two left over chicks. The entire project, one felt was thoroughly researched, conceived and executed keeping in view perfect balance of presentation.

R. Mohan,
Chief Manager , Times Music.

India's Wildlife Interests Artists.

India's rich and abundant wildlife has inspired poets, musicians and painters. Traditional Hindustani music sounds derived from the sounds of the peacock, elephant, deer etc.

A deep interest in music and a deeper interest in the natural world and its conservation has been the motivation for Dr. Susan Sharma (susan_sharma@hotmail.com) to conceptualize a series of wildlife documentaries linking the two. The first in the series is 'Sarang-The Peacock', which has been aired on India's TV channel and also participated in the Mumbai International Film festival.

Wildlife film News Vol. 12 at wildlife-film.com

Read synopsis and see pictures by clicking here.

The river dolphin is practically blind. The eyes does not have a lens so is incapable of forming images on the retina. However, it can sense light levels. It is believed that the loss of sight in the river dolphin is related to its habitat, the water in which it lives is so muddy that the vision is essentially useless.

The river dolphin ranges from 2.3 to 2.6 meters in length. Females are larger than males. Color varies from lead-gray to black. The undersides are lighter in colour, some almost pink. The rostrum is long and the forehead is steep and rises abruptly from the base of the snout. The neck is visibly constricted and the blowhole is longitudinal slit. There are 28 to 29 teeth on either side of the jaw.

Young are born year-around in this species, but most births occur between October and March. A significant birth peak takes place in December and January, at the beginning of the dry season. Gestation lasts eight to nine months. The young are weaned and solitary before they are one year old. They reach sexual maturity in ten years, and individual dolphins studied have shown growth past the age of twenty-six.

Although the schools of three to ten individuals have been reported in particular parts of river systems, these animals are not gregarious and spend most of their time feeding and traveling solitary. They swim all day and all night and continually emit sounds. One study showed that 81% of the sound are echolocation and 5% communication. Echolocation is used by the dolphins in the foraging and it helps these animals to sense objects; they can detect a wire one millimeter in diameter. The river dolphin is found only in fresh water and may migrate locally to tidal waters during the monsoon season. During the hot, dry season the species disappears from the areas of river systems where temperature, salinity, food limitation may cause conditions to be too severe.

The main threats to river dolphins are fragmentation of their habitat, increasing levels of pollution, depletion of their prey for human consumption, boat traffic, and the perils posed by fishing equipment. In addition, river dolphins are sometimes killed for their product.Their meat is also used as bait for fishing, some people regard their oil as an aphrodisiac. In 1982, the total population of Ganges river dolphins was estimated to be 4,000 – 5,000 animals. There are no recent estimates available.

( This report was sent in byArjit Purkayastha, General Manager Tours, Net work Travels, Assam.)

photo Courtesy 'Outlook' September 10th 2001

The fresh water dolphin is an endangered species. Bihar's rivers are home to about 1000 dolphins. Prof. R.K Sinha ( rksinha@mail.girija.net.in ) runs the Dolphin foundation with a six member team. The foundation educates and convinces people about the harmful fallout of killing dolphins. Prof. Sinha had a role in setting up of the Vikramshila Dolphin Sanctuary in Bhagalpur.