Year 3/Issue 03/November–December 2017 The World After 5 th Extinction Wildlife Corridor Designing for Conservation in India Using Computational Aspects: A Preliminary Interaction Model (Part – I) Asiatic Lion… Human-Lion Interaction in Kathiawar Featuring Asian Biodiversity Asian Featuring Why Tigers become Man Eaters Your God is not Green of Ethereal Bikaner: The Land of Raptors Monthly Newsletter Monthly Cover Photo : Tanmoy Das Year 3/Issue 03/November–December 2017 “The mouse says: I dig a hole without a hoe; the snake says: climb a tree without arms.” ~ Ancient African Hearsay Copper Headed Trinket; Photography by Sauvik Basu Year 3/Issue 03/November–December 2017 The Holocene is the geological epoch that began after the Content : Pleistocene at approximately 11,700 years BP and continues to the present. As Earth warmed after the Ice Age, the human Cover Story population increased and early man began to change the planet Ethereal Bikaner: The Land of forever. For Exploring Nature, our newsletter Holocene is our Raptors by Sandipan Ghosh platform to convey our concerns on human threat to 3|Page biodiversity. We will use our newsletter as a media to highlight the current local and global issues which could impact Editorial biodiversity of Mother Nature and promote awareness of Illegal Wildlife Trade… biodiversity in alignment with our group’s mission of promoting 10|Page awareness of different aspects of Mother Nature among people. Experts’ Voice In this newsletter our readers will get information and periodic Wildlife Corridor Designing for updates on. Conservation in India usin Computational Aspects, A Preliminary Recent significant discussions on biodiversity, going on Interaction Model (Part–I) by Saurabh across the world. Shanu & Sudeepto Bhattacharya 12|Page Major recent research and studies on biodiversity. Exploration Camp Biodiversity explorations planned and conducted by national The Asiatic Lion and international groups as well as Exploring Nature. Human-Lion Interaction in Kathiawar by Dwaipayan Ghosh Information and interesting readings on wildlife photography 17|Page and biodiversity modelling etc. Cohabitation Holocene Year 3/Issue 03/November–December 2017 Why Tigers become Man Eaters by Vrushav Borkar © Exploring Nature 19|Page Cover, Design and Illustration Voice of Nature © Exploring Nature Your God is Not Green by Arnab Basu 23|Page All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or Theme Poster mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any Female Giant Wood Spider by Ashim information storage or retrieval systems, without proper prior Talukdar permission in writing from Exploring Nature . 30|Page Editorial Board Editor in Chief : Anwesha Ghatak Co–Editors : Dwaipayan Ghosh, Arnab Basu and Vrushabh Borkar Social Media Coordinators Koushik Mondal and Samiran Halder Logo and Title Design Arijit Das Majumder and Saikat Chakraborty Website The Monthly Newsletter of www.exploringnature.org.in e-mail [email protected] [email protected] 2 | P a g e Year 3/Issue 03/November–December 2017 Sandipan Ghosh Asst. Professor, Dpt. Of Geography, Chandrapur College Burdwan, West Bengal The term ‘raptor’, used for all birds of prey, is derived from the Latin word raptare meaning ‘to seize and carry away’. The most significant characteristic, which differentiates raptors from other birds, is that they hunt or take live prey and become apex of many food chains. For that reason it makes them ideal indicators of ecosystem health. The question rising nowadays is that, if raptors in wild are threatened or endangered, then other fauna in the ecosystem also are at risk. Recent study of raptors conservation and management alleges, rapid deforestation, pollution of natural life supporting system, intensification of agricultural practices and urbanization leading to the degradation of various habitat types, have been the prime reasons for the accelerated decline of raptors in India. These phenomena compel many species of raptors and other birds in the boundary of extinction. Many species are now recognized as red-list categories by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature): near-threaten or vulnerable or engendered species. As a bird lover, I have deep affection and interest on the birds of prey since my consciousness and I love to watch behavioral patterns of birds in their natural conditions. So to quench my thirst and to see the largest winter agglomeration of raptors, I selected a place of many Historic occurrences, Bikaner and its surroundings. The birding trip started on 18th October, 2017 and ended on 23rd October, 2017. Apart from other birds, in this essay, I have concentrated only on the geographical description of habitat and the important information regarding the raptors which were photographed during the trip. Before 1486, Bikaner (a central city of Bikaner district, Rajasthan) was a barren wilderness in western part of Indian “Thar” Desert. The city was founded by Rao Bika, a scion of the Rathore clan of Rajputs, in 1486. Though it was in the harsh desert, Bikaner was considered an oasis on the trade route between Central Asia and the Gujarat coast. Junagarh fort was built at the heart of city and Maharaja Karan Singh started to rule that region since 1631. Bikaner is located 330 km north-west of the State capital Jaipur of Rajasthan. Bikaner is well connected with highways and is directly linked to New Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Jodhpur etc. National Highways 11, 15 and 89 intersect at Bikaner. A train, named 12457 Delhi Bikaner Super Fast Express, departs from Delhi Sarai Rohila station at 11.30 3 | P a g e Year 3/Issue 03/November–December 2017 p.m. to reach Bikaner station near about 7 a.m. Raptors are important species in these bio-geographical zones of semi-arid and desert dunes. The Thar Desert bio-geographically is an extension of the eastern fringe of the Sahara-Arabian desert zone extending through Iran, Afghanistan and Baluchistan eastwards to the Indo-Pakistan border. In Rajasthan, the Desert National Park and Tal Chapar Wildlife Sanctuary are important destinations for wildlife lovers. Primarily for raptors many bird watchers come to Bikaner which is situated in the middle of the Thar dunes and has a hot and dry semi-arid tropical climate with very scanty rainfall and extreme temperatures. During summer the mercury soars through 450 C and during winter drops below freezing. The mean annual rainfall varies from 260 mm to 440 mm. During the trip, the day time temperature was near about 350 C and at night it reduced to 180 C. In general the region has very low humidity (42 to 61 percent), showing extreme dryness. In spite of extreme climates, human population is still increasing in that region and present population density of Bikaner has reached up to 4,200 persons per km2. According to 2011 Census, the total population of Bikaner city is 144,406 which have increased about 21.7 percent compared to the census of 2001. The development of Indira Gandhi Nahar Project has resulted in large scale ecological changes during the last two decades. Additionally the high human density and continuous encroachment of wild habitat are exerting tremendous pressure on the fragile Thar ecosystem. The changed habitat (plantations and seepage wetlands) now attracts increasing numbers of woodland and wetland birds. The number of raptors species (especially vultures) is decreasing due to introduction of toxic Diclofenac drug in the domestic animals, mainly cows. When the raptors feed on the animal carcasses, the deadly drug penetrates into their bodies malfunctioning kidneys of the raptors. The highest population density of raptors is predominant in Jorbeer (12 km south-east from Bikaner city). Here as many as 20 - 35 carcasses are dumped per day by the municipality board, though this region is protected as vulture conservation centre. In this territory (least amount of water, least thickness of soils and high percentage of sands and salts), the main vegetation is thorny and scrub bushes like trees, viz., Prosopis cineraria, Salvadora oleoids, Zizipus mummularia, Lasiuruss indicus, Panicum antidotale etc. The major part of this region is Map of Jorbeer; Source: Internet occupied either by large dunes and dry open grasslands or by shrubs interspaced with trees and thorny bushes. Here it is observed that the main living preys for raptors are Indian Spiny-tailed Lizard (Saara hardwickii) and Indian Desert Jird (Meriones hurrianae). Seven types of vultures are found in this region. These are Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnoptenus), Indian White-backed Vulture (Gyps bengalensis), Indian Long-billed Vulture (Gyps indicus), Eurasian Griffon (Gyps fulvus), Cinereous Vulture (Aegypies monachus) and Red-headed Vulture (Sarcogyps calvus). Vultures, throughout India, were once a symbol of commensalism with man, are now critically endangered and remain understudied and the recent decline warrants immediate attention. During our trip, only Egyptian and Eurasian Griffon vultures were observed in the surrounding region of Bikaner. Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnoptenus) is the smallest (length 54–66 cm, wingspan 146–175 cm) among the Indian vultures and it is now categorized worldwide as an endangered species by IUCN. 4 | P a g e Year 3/Issue 03/November–December 2017 Neophron percnoptenus ginginianus is the Indian counterpart of Egyptian vultures. Though identical in general appearances, the Egyptian subspecies is slightly larger with the curved bill tip dark brown as opposed to yellow in the Indian species. Fully grown vultures are distinctive, overall creamy-white with prominent blackish primary and secondary. Juveniles in both the species are similar, entirely dark to blackish-brown with paler wing-coverts and rump. In Bikaner they are plenty in numbers and in perfect commensality with humans, scavenging on available carrions. It feeds on variety of mammal, amphibian and Egyptian Vulture (Juvenile) Photography: Sandipan Ghosh reptile remains, and any organic rubbish such as rotten vegetable matters.