Indian Wildlife Club Ezine (July, 2003)

'I believe any trip in search of wildlife can be coupled with physical activity and elements of cultural diversity to form a thrilling opportunity '
John H.Eickert

Udhagamandalam is the name given to a small town in the northern Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu. Thankfully, the name has been shortened to Ooty. Ooty has been known as ‘the Queen of the Blue Mountains’ and is the source for adventure this month. Ooty is far off the standard tourist track and is one of three hill stations the British developed, for their own unique tastes, over 160 years ago. Ooty became a place to escape the heat of the plains below. Lakes were created and places given names suggesting central England, even the forests were cut to more resemble the homeland. Of course, this was so very long ago and now, Ooty is India. India with tea plantations and thick forest, but with less hustle and bustle than most places. Here are unique tribal people including the Todas, Badagas, Kotas, Kurumbas, and Irulas and a seldom-visited park named Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary. Mudumalai joins the better-known Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary. Ooty is the terminus of the famous Mettupalayam to Ooty narrow gauge railway, the Blue Mountain Railway.

When I think of traveling in India, I often romanticize about the rail system. The journey, by rail, across the plains and up into the Nilgiri Hills is one of the most exciting passages. I visited there so long ago now, the memory of the visit a haze in my mind resembling the view out across the simmering plains from Mukurti Peak. I had met a very interesting student when I visited the Taj Mahal. Through the long hot day, watching the shadows work their magic on the Taj Mahal, we struck up a plan to escape the heat into the Nilgiri Hills. We traveled south. I was interested in experiencing the life of the sadhus and riding the trains. We arrived in Ooty and trekked through the hills living off of the good will of others. I tried chewing the betel during this epic adventure. Time passed and we returned to Ooty. I was thin, tired, and have not touched betel since. I am not much of a sadhus, but I do remember the warm, smiling people I encountered along the way.

The train up into the Nilgiri Hills and the treks or day hikes into the forests and along the plantations is perhaps the most uniquely India adventure I can describe. Though the mountains here are not as high as with other trekking opportunities, the hills tend to be steep and endless, not easy. There are rivers and waterfalls to cool the air. There is an elephant training school here as well. The best season to visit is April through June. Longer treks now require special permits inquire in advance. High summer is now upon us in Montana, as the ticking heat of the day rises, I look up into the mountains here, and my mind drifts back to those Nilgiri Hills, the train, and betel. Take the time to travel and adventure, and when you do take your time.

Visit http://www.numbum.net or call NumBum Adventurers at 406-777-2228

Last month no one has given all right answers, but roopam_dhawan@eth.net has given 9 right answers

Please try our quiz for the current month on Pheasants

Dr. Susan Sharma

Schedule I, Part III of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 lists rare and endangered birds which are totally protected throughout the country, live or dead or part thereof. They include Andaman Teal, Assam Bamboo Partridge, Bazas, Bengal Florican, Blacknecked Crane, Blood Pheasants, , Cheer Pheasant, Eastern White Stork, , Jerdon's Courser, Great Indian Bustard, Great Pied Hornbill, Hawks, Hooded Crane, Hornbills, Houbara Bustard, Humes Bartailed Pheasant, Indian Pied Hornbill, Lammergeier, Large Falcons, Large Whistling Teal, Monal pheasant, Mountain Quail, Narcondam Hornbill, Nicobar Megapode, Nicobar Pigeon, Osprey, Peacock-Pheasant, Peafowl or Indian Peafowl, Pinkheaded Duck, Scalter's Monal Pheasant, Siberian White Crane, Tibetan Snowcock, Tragopan-Pheasant, Whitebellied Sea Eagle, White-eared Pheasant, White Spoonbill, and Whitewinged Wood Duck.

The Great Himalayan National Park is perhaps the most distinct stronghold of the rare Western Tragopan in India. The most spectacular of pheasants, the Western Tragopan has been reported from all the valleys of the GHNP. This pheasant is found in high altitude fir-spruce and Deodar forests with Ringal Bamboo (Arundinaria spp.). The maximum number of sightings have been from forests of Basu, Shilt, Nada, Chordwar in Tirthan valley.

The tragopans or horned pheasants are medium-sized pheasants in which the sexes are highly dimorphic, the males tending toward crimson on the head and sometimes elsewhere, and with extensive white to buffy dorsal spotting. Males also have two erectile and brightly coloured fleshy horns that are erected during courtship, and a brilliantly coloured gular lappet or bib that can be expanded and exposed during display. The round black-bordered white spots or ocelli on the tragopan's feathers make it look like the King of Birds studded with diamonds all over. .

This species is usually seen singly, in pairs, or small coveys, in fairly dense montane vegetation. The white circular spotting on the greyish upperparts, especially the lower back and upper tail-coverts is distinctive, but the spotting is less regular in females than in males. Both sexes have reddish faces, and the legs are usually pinkish. During the breeding season the male can be identified by its distinctive call, uttered most often at dusk and daybreak at intervals of about five or ten minutes. It is a far-carrying waa note, resembling a goose calling or the bleating of a small goat.

In winter the birds are found in the thickest parts of the oak, chestnut, and morenda pine forests having a dense undergrowth of ringal bamboo. But, during the breeding season, they are to be found in the higher parts of the forest, up to the zone of birches and white rhododendrons, and almost up to the extreme limits of the forest. Roosting by these birds is done in trees, preferentially low evergreens, where there are closely inter-woven leaves and branches, rather than in taller trees.

Great Himalayan National Park is one of only two National Parks in the world to support a population of endangered western tragopan Tragopan malanocephalus. Very limited work has been done on methods for survey and census of these galliformes. The Parvati Hydel Project has carved out the Great Himalyan National Park destroying the very habitat of these birds. The few that are left are hunted by man for its feathers. The Western Tragopan vanishes for its colourful plumage. Legend tells that that God created the Tragopan out of feathers shed by every bird in the universe.

Captive breeding for conservation is being attempted at Sarahan in Himachal Pradesh with little success so far.

( Picture Credit: A.O. Hume)

Tamarind

Botanical Name: Tamarindus indica Sanskrit name: Tintrini Hindi Name: Imli

The name Tamarind is derived from the Arabic word, Tamar-Hind meaning Indian Date.

Although tamarind has been used in India from the most remote times against scurvy, it is also known for its effectiveness against mouth and throat infections. Indeed, the most famous tamarind tree in India stands over the tomb of the legendary Indian Singer, Tansen, whose golden voice led the Great Moghul, the Emperor Akbar, to name Tansen one of the nine gems of his court. Four centuries later, India’s finest classical singers still travel to Tansen’s tomb to pluck leaves from this tamarind tree to make into throat gargles, in the hope that their voices will become as pure as their legendary predecessor’s.

Tamarind is a large, handsome, symmetrically spreading tree. It has small compound leaves, yellowish flowers with reddish streaks and fleshy, brown fruits. The seeds are dark brown and shiny. The fleshy fibrous pulp of the fruit is acidic.

Tamarind was an important item of diet of sailors in olden times as its acid and sugar content helped them to offset their starchy diet.

Being such a popular tree from ancient time, many stories, both mythological and tribal, is happening to associate with it.

According to a Bihar tribal story, ”the reason for Tamarind leaves to be small is because Lord Rama, Lakshmana and Sita while on their exile of fourteen years came to a forest that grew Tamarind trees. The tamarind those days had large, well-developed leaves. Rama, his wife and brother made a hut under it. The large leaves of the tree sheltered them well. Rama said that they were supposed to suffer inconvenience during their exile but this tree was sheltering them from rain and sun, giving them protection from the intense heat and cold which were city comforts. He ordered Lakshmana to shoot at the leaves with his bow and arrow and since then the leaves are finely divided.”

Tamarind tree got famous in Hindu mythology because of Usha, the adopted daughter of Parvati. It is in her memory that no salt is taken in the month of “Chaitra”(Chaitra is one of the months from Hindu Almanac) and instead, food is seasoned with imli, the pulp of the tamarind fruit which is exceedingly sour.

The story goes back to Lord Ganesha getting an elephant head. “One day Lord Shiva was coming after his bath when he saw his daughter usha playing with Ganesha. He was in angry mood and finding the two playing and ignoring him, his anger rose further and he cut off his son’s head. Parvati lamented the death of her son and insisted that he be brought back to life. To pacify her, Shiva replaced the severed head of his son by that of an elephant, and thus revived the child. Usha had witnessed the scene and in fright, hid in a barrel of salt. When Parvati found her, she was annoyed at her for not looking after Ganesha who because of her negligence had to have an elephant head. She cursed Usha to be born on earth as the daughter of Banasura of Tezpur in Assam. Usha protested that on earth she would die unrecognized and ask for forgiveness. But a curse once pronounced could not be revoked. Parvati relented and gave Usha a boon that in her memory that no salt would be taken in the month of Chaitra but instead the juice of Tamarind fruit would be used to season the food, because Usha had hid in a barrel of salt to escape the wrath of Shiva.”

The pulp of the tamarind fruit, an important source of Viatmin C, is a popular ingredient in the curries, rasams, chutneys and preserves of South India. Valued as an antidote to heat stroke, tamarind pods are often preserved in salt and are sold by weight. The whole plant has medicinal virtues. Its leaves are cooling while bark and seeds are astringent, a tonic and reduces fever. The fruit pulp is digestive, cooling and laxative.

Importance of Indigenous plants in Indian Mythology and folklore—Compiled by Ms. Priti Sawant

News….

And Views……………

The predicaments of conservation by Ashwini Chhatre and Vasant Saberwal

The conservation establishment in India periodically finds itself caught in a cleft stick—between the developmental onslaught on biodiversity and local resistance to conservation projects that threaten human livelihood. Conservation as a necessary agenda requires a new vision that transcends the inherent limitations of the current practice.
....................................

The crux of the problem, therefore, is interest groups. What is the support base for biological conservation in the country? ............To some extent public opinion in the metropolis does influence conservation policy. It influences the way the Supreme Court may make decisions that have far-reaching legal and social consequences. And to that extent, it is important that information be made available to a public so that an informed opinion can be formed. But once policy has been formulated, the weight of various interest groups determines the ways and means by which this policy is implemented. For too long, Indian conservationists have focused their efforts on the crafting of public policy and the shaping of public opinion within urban India. Too little effort has gone into understanding the negotiated and fiercely contested process by which such policy is implemented.

An alternative perspective that has emerged in recent years places local communities at the centre, rather than on the periphery, of the entire exercise. The crux of this argument is that the environment needs to become a part of electoral politics within rural India. The objective, then, is to turn electoral power around, such that pressure from below works in the service of, rather than against, conservation.

Popular support for conservation can only come when local communities play a greater role in the decision-making concerning protected areas which affect them. Such support comes from a sense of control over a resource and a negotiating process in which the community perceives itself to be an equal partner with outsiders who also stake a claim to managing the area. Conservation partnerships with local interests are not easy to forge since these imply a loosening of state control over people and resources. Such collaborations also pose an intellectual threat to scientists accustomed to having it their way.

The Great Himalayan National Park of Himachal provides a unique opportunity to test the waters of community participation. There is mounting empirical evidence supporting the view that security of tenure is the most compelling incentive for participatory conservation. GHNP is probably the only protected area in India, which affords us the luxury of indulging all the stakeholders without compromising on basic scientific and social principles. Where else in India would you find 1100 square kilometres of area with only 15,000 people, that too populating only its southwestern periphery?

There are even now large areas inside the park that have fallen into disuse. It is possible to devise a scale of graded protection to different areas inside the park, ranging from totally closed areas to fully open spaces near villages. The villages are characterized by strong community institutions, which could be harnessed in a new conservation paradigm. But for that to happen, community representatives, politicians, conservationists and biologists ought to agree to negotiate and make the necessary compromises. This could signal the end of exclusionary conservation choices forced by urban middle-class India upon its fellow citizens who rely on the forest, and the institutionalization of a more adaptive system of managing biological heritage.

(Courtesy: http://www.himalmag.com/june2001/opinion.html)

By: Yasser Arafat

( Photograph of cheer pheasant in the wild by Yasser Arafat)

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!

There was a cheering crowd and a not too unhappy pujari seeing us off and that was the successful end to another one of my jaunts!