Holocene year 2 issue 9

Year – 2/Issue – 9/May – June ‘17

World after 5th Extinction Celebrating 2nd Anniversary of Exploring Nature

Sl. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Content Featured Topic : Panthers of Pali-The Conclusion Editorial :Current Conflicts in Tigers’ Terrain-The Tiger Conservation Scenario Story Room : The Water Wives of India Special Coverage : World’s Endangered Species The Journey : Two Years’ Exploration Cohabitation : Amazing Wildlife of Laos (Part-3) Exploration Camp : It’s Bear Necessities Theme Poster : We are Endangered

Editorial Board : Dwaipayan Ghosh, Arnab Basu, Anwesha Ghatak Logo Design : Arijit Das Majumder Title Design : Saikat Chakraborty & Arijit Das Majumder

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Year – 2/Issue – 9/May – June ‘17

Dwaipayan Ghosh ".... far more pleasure is got from pressing the button of a camera than is ever got from pressing the trigger of a rifle....in one case the leopard can be watched for hours, and there is no more graceful and interesting animal in the jungle to watch....... in the other case a fleeting glimpse.... the acquisition of the trophy which soon loses both its beauty and its interest" - Jim Corbett, in the Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag Concluding Part : Lazy Sunday and On the Way Back The rest of Saturday night was uneventful, what I experienced earlier already became milestones of my life. After having a good dinner from His Highness’s kitchen I went to bed with a sense of extreme gratification. It was a sound sleep till Makrand knocked the door at quarter to five next morning. I came out with a cup of tea in one hand, cameras in the other and found Natwar there, with his ever smiling face. After finishing up the cup, we commenced our journey into the wild, again. As the female leopard moved to Lilora with her cubs in the last evening, there was ample chance that she returned back to her cave in Badalda before dawn. If cubs were not with her, she might have stayed somewhere near Lilora, but with the cubs, she would never take the risk. So we directly went to Badalda. “There is something,�

Natwar was aiming at, looking through his binoculars. The mother with one of her cubs was sitting lazily under a large rock near the hilltop. It was still cold and they were enjoying the first sunshine of the day.

After a while, the other cub joined them and the mother stood up. She started moving up the hill followed by her cubs. They went down to the other side of the hill within 5 minutes. We didn’t want to disturb them anymore. We spent another two and half hours in villages on the laps of the hills, went to greet the old priest on motor driven tricycle, who has been taking care of the temple at Lilora for years. He shared his experiences of sleeping with leopards at nights. But I never found any complaint even. Leopards are neither the God nor the Demon there. Leopards, there are friends, neighbours. Every time I asked about the conflict, they were taken aback. Whenever I talked about a leopard, dragging a fifteen years old girl in the neighbouring district of Udaypur a week ago, they refused to believe me. Yes, leopards sometimes kill their cattle and dogs to live on. It was a relief to know that, some humans in this world still believe that Leopards, like us, have their rights to live, too. â€œâ€œŕ¤‰ च भༀ खञन༇ क ŕ¤œ रत ŕ¤šŕĽˆâ€Śâ€?

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Year – 2/Issue – 9/May – June ‘17

My return train to Jaipur was at 4’o Clock in the evening. I started from Bera at quarter past two.

While driving me to the Jawai Bandh Railway Station, Laxman Singh, a trusted companion and driver of younger brother of Thakur Sahib, Thakur Baljeet Singh, was talking about Leopards near Jawai Dam. How he accompanied his master in childhood, when they used to hunt leopards and how efficiently he now tracks leopards again for his master to protect them. I was going through a time warp, visualising a Royal family, once famous for hunting and killing tigers and leopards, now turned into conservators, building awareness among local people about nature, wildlife and leopard conservation. The area ruled by tigers fifty years ago, is now a kingdom of Indian leopards. But this big cat might have vanished from this region like their larger cousin, if people here haven’t been friendly to them. While crossing the Jawai Bandh on my way back, I realized that the conflict can be avoided if we will. “ फर से आना सािहब!” Laxman bade me goodbye at Jawai Bandh Station. Waiting for the train, I looked towards the dam. I must come back to learn to cohabit.

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Year – 2/Issue – 9/May – June ‘17

Editors’ Desk:

Current Conflicts in Tigers’ Terrain: The Tiger Conservation Scenario Exactly one year back we were discussing about conflicts in Tigers’ Terrain, with a heavy heart after losing Baghin Nulla with her three cubs to poachers. What has happened next? Many can say, number of tigers increased in this one year. But is that “number” enough? WWF launched a programme called TX2 with an aim to double the number of Bengal Tiger in wild by 2022, the next Chinese year of Tiger. Where exactly we are standing today!

One hundred years ago, there were 100,000 wild tigers. Despite of intensive conservation efforts since the 1970s, the number came down to as few as 3200 in 2010. Over the past 100 years, the wild tiger population has declined by 97%. Therefore, rather than focussing on saving this iconic animal at a site or country level, a strategic long-time approach working across entire landscapes and encouraging trans-boundary collaboration is much required. TX2 has been succeeded so far to some extent involving increasing protection where the tigers are currently, maintaining wildlife corridors and connectivity between areas and then boosting resources and protection for where tigers can be in the future, when their numbers have increased.

But there is always another side of the story, where situation is not that much pleasant. Increasing interest in Traditional Chinese Medicine from China and Southeast Asia has kept tiger poaching profitable in recent decades. Due to a long history of believing the tiger has supernatural, restorative powers the animals are valued for their virtually all of their parts. As India is harbouring the most of the wild tigers among all 15 Tiger Nations, the poaching is also a prominent issue here. In 2016, 50 tiger poaching incidences have been officially documented (WPSI data) and that was the highest since 2001. WPSI also has records of a large number of tigers that were “found dead”. Without verification of poaching evidence these deaths have not been included in the above figure. Even the status quo is not very promising. 4 tigers were killed by poachers in first two months of this current year (Officially recorded, WPSI data).

With the incidences of poaching, loss of classical tiger habitats and transit corridor in the country is also a challenge for tiger population. Urban developmental activities intersecting corridors between classical tiger habitats are interrupting natural migration of increasing number of tigers to a place, where they can have less competition. The 2010 report clearly showed that tiger habitats outside of the reserves are declining, and corridors are being decimated and fragmented. The final report of the 2014 estimation, expected sometime soon, reportedly reiterates this. In another report, Connecting Tiger Populations for Long-term Conservation, by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), on India's key tiger corridors, it has been stressed that vital connectivity between isolated reserves is very fragile, and increasingly threatened. In absence of proper corridors, in many reserves, tiger population density is increasing like anything resulting an intense intra-species conflict leading to increase in tiger death toll in the country. Agricultural expansion, timber cutting, new roads, human settlement, industrial expansion and hydroelectric dams push tigers into smaller and smaller areas of land. Again these forest fragments are surrounded by rapidly growing and relatively poor human populations, including increasing numbers of illegal hunters. Due to space and resource constraint, the interspecies conflicts between tiger and human being are also increasing day by day.

But still we have a chance. If we join hand with authorities and behave in a little responsible manner this time, we can not only save but can make the number of our National Animal double. Otherwise it is not very far when we have to track the icon of Asian forest, the biggest felid on Earth in text books and fictions. We have only one Earth and merely one chance to save it. Let’s make the difference.

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Year – 2/Issue – 9/May – June ‘17

Story Room:

Anwesha Ghatak

Denganmal, an arid village in western Maharashtra state, not more than 140 km (85 miles) from the glitz and glamour of Mumbai metropolitan, tells discomfiting tales of “India’s Water Wives”. In that state-forsaken hamlet, there’s no water tap. The Only drinking water comes from the two wells at the foot of a nearby hill, a spot so crowded that the sweltering walks to and fro and the wait there can take hours. For Sakharam Bhagat, like many other locals, the way to sustain life is to marry again and again, to younger women, just to fetch water. Bhagat, 66, now has three wives, two of whom he married solely to ensure that his household has enough water to drink and cook. Bhagat, who works as a day labourer on a farm in a nearby village had to have someone to bring water, and marrying again was the only option. While the first wife was busy with the kids and the second wife was expectant and was unable to fetch water, he married a third! Bhagat and his family are suffering from the consequences of a critical shortage of safe drinking water in India's villages, as well as the fallout of the most severe drought Maharashtra has faced in a decade.

In 2012, Maharashtra declared that the drought that hit Marathwada that year was the worst of them all. A deficit in rainfall adversely affects agriculture resulting in poor output of crop, which in turn affects the financial condition of farmers. While insufficient rainfall is a reason for drought, it’s not the only reason. Poor selection of crops, inefficient methods of irrigation and imbalanced use of ground and stored water also lead to drought-now commonly known as ‘manmade drought’. Maharashtra has been facing this man-made drought since 2012. In 2011, the year preceding the drought, Maharashtra recorded an above-average rainfall and most of the dams were full (even today, Maharashtra has the highest number of dams in the country). Then why did the ‘worst’ of the droughts hit the State the very next year?

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In 2013, Maharashtra had the highest number of dams in the country exclusively for irrigation; yet its irrigation coverage was 17.9 percent in 2009-10. In 2013, it was reported that these projects were plagued with delays and cost overruns. In a 2014 report, a horrifying scam was unearthed. While many political figures faced the Anti-Corruption Bureau, post interrogation, they went scot-free and Maharashtra went back to doing business as usual. Beside the scam, the State government also came under criticism for encouraging production of water-guzzling sugarcane. In Maharashtra, almost 72 percent of available irrigation and well water is directed to the production of sugarcane, leaving little water for cultivation of other crops. Fingers were pointing at the politicians all over again, who, if not completely, to a large extent, comprise the wealthy sugar lobby in Maharashtra, even today. Nearly a third of the State cabinet at one time had direct or indirect interest in sugar mills. Today, even after being in a constant state of drought since 2012, Marathwada has about 80 mills across the State.

Lack of political will and vested interests have created this drought. As of April 2016, statistics released by the Rural Development Ministry show that Maharashtra has Rs 322 crores of unspent central funds for drinking water. The Centre provides funds to States under the national Rural Drinking Water program through a budgetary allocation for the Rural Development Ministry. Over and above which, the State government has sought a loan of Rs 5,000 crores from the World Bank to mitigate the drought conditions. Let’s not forget the Chief Minister’s fund for drought relief. While we can hope that the Maharashtra government becomes sensitive to others and to the gravity of the situation, what we must do is use water judiciously, adopt methods to conserve water, contribute in any way possible to bring relief to those reeling under drought and make the government accountable for its actions.

Tuki(the first wife) and Sakharam have six children. When they were younger, Tuki was responsible for looking after them while her husband went to work in the fields. Tuki would run the house, cook, clean, feed and bathe her children -- but she faced a massive problem: There was no water.

Denganmal is located in a region which routinely experiences drought-like conditions. In the summer months, the heat is so severe that wells run dry and cattle die. There is no water connection in this village. It's in a remote, hilly area, isolated from other villages.

The only solution is to walk to a distant well or to a river, carrying vessels to fill up with water. It can take up to 12 hours to go there and return home. Sakhri would fetch up to 100 liters per day, but as she aged and found it difficult to walk such distances, Bhagat married for the third time.

Bhaagi, a widow at 26, came into the family about a decade ago, and she was assigned the duty of getting water for the family. Sakhri, whose job it earlier was, is now in charge of the farmland and works as a farm hand. The marital arrangement did not face any resistance from the village panchayat because it involved the rehabilitation of Sakhri and Bhaagi, who would otherwise have had no home. But there was another reason why the village found nothing unusual about it: Bhagat was not the only man with more than one wife.

Others in this village also have multiple wives, the second one usually there only to fetch water. They are called “paaniwaali bais” (“water wives”) in the region.

Articles 494 and 495 of the Indian Penal Code of 1860, prohibited polygamy for the Christians. In 1955, the Hindu Marriage Act was drafted, which prohibited marriage of a Hindu whose spouse was still living. Thus polygamy became illegal in India in 1956, uniformly for all of its citizens except for Hindus in Goa where polygamy is legal, and for Muslims, who are permitted to have four wives.

A polygamous Hindu marriage is null and void. While the punishment specified in articles 494 and 495 is applicable, it is rare if the first spouse does not have an objection.

Now the second or third wife of Bhagat, like many others do not have any legal rights as the lawfully wedded wife, neither they’ve any empowerment. Often these women, previously abandoned by society, are perceived as “rescued” as water wives.

Few pertinent questions arise in my mind while researching this grave matter, such as, if the second wife is brought in just for water, why on earth will she be impregnated, and then a third wife! For wealthy Indian men, Royals, business tycoons, politicians and socialites, polygamy has been 5|Page

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Year – 2/Issue – 9/May – June ‘17

common. In those affluent families also, women have been subject to injustice and oppression. Often there are fights over property ownerships and legal rights of offspring out of polygamy. Coming to think about these poor “water wives” and how justice is denied to them, I’m at my wit’s end! There are cases of crimes committed by family members in those villages unable to bear “Patriarchal Feudalism”. In one case, the eldest daughter of the man from his first marriage couldn’t take well his father marrying a girl almost her age. Partnering with her mother, they bribed a local officer to set up a well in the vicinity of the village. Learning about this incident, the agitated father bribed the officer back, not to go ahead with the water resource. The father’s perversion ended in the hands of his own daughter and his first wife. Now whenever there are crimes committed, I consider that as a collective failure of our society. In this case evidently, the failure is of the authorities to keep up law and order, prolonged discrimination of remote villages from reforms.

The vicious circle of women being victimized by “man’s world” and rescued by men, again, often make me wonder, when will we women hear our own voices. Were there enough water resources put up in the village of Denganmal by the State, will Sakharam Bhagat, a practicing Hindu, have illegal and complicated marriages? If Indian constitution is help up high by the local law enforcements, will Saakhri and Bhaggi(the second and third wife of Bhagat, respectively) were wedded as resources to fetch water.

Denganmal is a nondescript clutch of mudhouses with verandahs and thatched roofs that is home to about 100 indigenous families. There are 8,000 odd drought-hit villages in Maharashtra, and Denganmal is only a small statistic—the village has been home to drought for as long as its inhabitants can remember. But Denganmal is unusual because the Basta River that supplies water to Mumbai is barely 8 km away. Three kilometres from the village is also a dam on the river whose reservoir has abundant water. But while pipes take this water all the way to Mumbai, there is no pipeline to the village.

Photo Courtesy : Reuters

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Year – 2/Issue – 9/May – June ‘17

Special Coverage: World’s Endangered Species

Endangered Species Day is an opportunity for people of all ages to learn about the importance of protecting endangered species and everyday actions they can take to help protect them. Started in 2006 by the United States Congress, Endangered Species Day is a celebration of the nation’s wildlife and wild places. Every year on the third Friday in May (and throughout the month), zoos, aquariums, parks, botanic gardens, wildlife refuges, museums, schools, community centers, conservation groups and other organizations throughout the country hold tours, special speaker presentations, exhibits, children’s activities and more to celebrate Endangered Species Day. India is still home to some of the most beautiful creatures in the world, There are 400 wildlife sanctuaries and 80 National parks in India, which give shelter to the wide range of wild and Endangered Wild Animal. Because of deforestation and other human activity wild animals lost their habitat and reached at risk of become extinct. Indian is losing their animals due to Environmental pollution, deforestation, loss of habitat, human interference, poaching and hunting. A good number of animals and birds in India are rated as critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) or Vulnerable (VU). Mainly endangered animals in India are big cats family includes snow leopard, Bengal tiger and Asiatic Lion, other India’s endangered animals are Purple Frog or Pig nose Frog, Great Indian Vulture, Indian giant squirrel, Giant Indian Fruit Bat, Great birds and King Kobra. Some of the extinct animals of India includes Asiatic cheetah, Pink headed duck and Indian aurochs. According to the Red Data Book of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), there are 47 critically endangered species in India (as of 5 September 2011). The Red List of 2012 was released at the Rio+20 Earth Summit. It contains 132 species of plants and animals in India listed as critically endangered.

Based on a public notification of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India has taken few key measures for protection of endangered species of India:

Loss of habitat is one of the primary reasons for the endangerment of species. Today, human intervention plays a major role in the destruction of the natural landscape. Human activities like removal of trees that provide both food and shelter for innumerable number of species, mining and agriculture.

Over hunting and poaching has a very destructive and catastrophic effect on the number of animals and fishes all over the world.

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Year – 2/Issue – 9/May – June ‘17

Pollution like air pollution, water pollution and waste pollution, especially in the form of plastic plays a very dominant role in the endangerment of animal species. Pollution not only causes health hazards for humans, but it affects the animals also.

To save the animals from poaching and hunting they are often kept in a sanctuary and shelter.

Though for some animals it has proved to be very much beneficial, there are other animals too who suffer and are in trouble for being endangered. The main two reasons are overcrowding and overgrazing. Usually there are too many animals that are enclosed in small areas. These animals often eat the same grass and trees in a limited area whereas in natural surroundings the grazing animals keep on changing the landscape while eating and keep on moving for most of the time. But in an enclosed and small area they eat from the same plants repeatedly which finally destroys the plants due to overstress.

To save the endangered animals from extinction, a number of breeding programmes have been introduced. The government, NGOs and the other corporate bodies should come forward for this noble cause as this programme involves dedicated and special people and of course a lot of money.

If hunting and poaching can be controlled then there can be a significant change in the numbers of the endangered animals.

India is part of five main International Conventions which are associated to wildlife conservation.

They are (i) Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), (ii) Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking (CAWT), (iii) International Whaling Commission (IWC), (iv) United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – World Heritage Committee (UNESCO – WHC) and (v) the Convention on Migratory Species (CHS).

Numerous positive steps are being taken for saving the endangered species of India. But that is not enough. There is a dire need for more NGOs and the private corporate sectors to come forward for this noble cause.

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Year – 2/Issue – 9/May – June ‘17

The Journey: Two Years’ Exploration

This 23rd May, 2017, Exploring Nature is completing its two years of Exploration. On behalf of Exploring Nature, we would like to thank all our members, supporters and wellwishers for being with us and following us for these two years. Stay with us to explore more…..its one earth and we have only one chance to save it…….

Here is an update of last year’s key events for the readers of Holocene: 11th June, 2016: The Jungle Book was still open. Explorer Dwaipayan Ghosh went for Baghira again. but this time not in Jungle but in Open lands of Aravalli range. “Panthers of Pali” in July 2016....Exploration Series - V “Panthers of Pali” was launched.

8th to 10th July, 2016: The Leopard Man, Thakur Devi Singh Ranawat, Thakur Saheb of Bera, blood line of Maharana Pratap, has been observing leopards of Bera for last 20 years. Explorer Dwaipayan Ghosh was "His Majesty's Guest" while watching Panthers of Pali. Exploration series V. 14th July, 2016: The Jungle Book was still open. Explorer Arnab Basu would be in search of King Lui in Sumatran jungles in October this year. Explorer Arnab Basu would be going to spend time with Sumatran Orangutan. Exploration Series -VI “In the cave with Orangutan” was launched.

25th July, 2016: The face book group of Exploring Nature reached 2000 members.

25th to 27th October, 2016 : Explorer Arnab Basu was in Geunung Leuser National Park, North Sumatra, Indonesia……finished his exploration successfully by spotting critically endangered Sumatran Orangutans….18 other species were spotted.

4th December, 2016 : Official T-shirt of Exploration Series-VII “Waagh Alaa Patil” was released.

10th and 11th December, 2016: First Annual Meeting of Exploring Nature happened at Bangalore, key decisions taken were, 3 years project to be conducted on Complete study of Human-Big Cat Cohabitation and Conflicts; At least one exploration by each members to be done in every year; Distribution of Organizational Responsibility was freezed; decision of registering exploring nature as per Society Registration act was agreed upon.

24th December, 2016 : Polar Biodiversity Model workshop at BOSCO Rainbow, Bangalore with ERM Foundation representative Pooja Uthappa; Significance and conservation of polar biodiversity was discussed, around 20 girl children of BOSCO participated in that workshop.

29th December, 2016: The Face Book group of Exploring Nature crossed 3000 members mark.

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Year – 2/Issue – 9/May – June ‘17

1st January, 2017: On the first day of New Year the “Shoot Photographs Leave Footprints” section of Exploring Nature’s website and face book page was renamed as “Camera Stylo” for technical reasons.

14th to 20th January, 2017: “Wagh Alaa Patil” Exploration series VII of Exploring Nature happened at Kolara and Mahurli zones of Tadoba Andhari Tiger reserve, Maharashtra.

20th January, 2017: Next exploration “Call of Corbett” to search man eater of kumaon was announced. Scheduled on 18th April, 2018 at Jim Corbett National Part, Uttaranchal.

3rd to 5th March, 2017: “It’s Bear Necessities” Exploration series VIII Part One of Exploring Nature happened at Palkot Wildlife Sanctuary, Gumla, Jharkhand.

12th March, 2017: Exploring Nature launched its 1st Biodiversity project “It’s Bear Necessities” to study biodiversity of Palkot Wildlife Sanctuary, Gumla and surrounding areas.

25th to 26th March, 2017: Second visit for the project “It’s Bear Necessities” happened on 25th and 26th March.

3rd April, 2017: The Face Book group of Exploring Nature crossed 3500 members mark.

7th May, 2017: Third visit for the project “It’s Bear Necessities” – this time it’s in Ranchi – Birsa Munda Deer Park and Rescue Centre.

People who are following us and reading our stories in Holocene as well as in our website, should know that all our big explorations (where a team of explorers participated rather than one individual) in last two years always had a theme – our very first exploration in Gujarat was based on the theme of Last Legacy – Asiatic Lion and Asiatic Wild Ass – last few memebrs of these two species were our area of study. Then we did Hiking in Highland – largest expanded rainforest of India – the Westernghats – we literally hiked through covering three states of India – Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Then we did Tigers’ Terrain and Waagh Alaa Patil – both on the theme of Indian national animal – Bengal Tiger. Besides these four big exploration, there were three more short exploration, where one individual explored different forest of world based on individual interest – Panthers of Pali, with focus on theme animal of Exploring Nature – Indian Leopard and to study pattern of man animal conflict and cohabitaion. African Safari , with focus on African Big 5 animals and big 6 birds. Ofcourse nature and wild life exploration is incomplete without exploring Africa. In the Cave with Orangutang, with focus on Sumatran Orangutang and controversial Palm Oil cultivation.

Besides these theme and individual interest based explorations, every year we had a theme animal: 2015-16 – The first year was the year of Lion;

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2016-17 – The second year was the year of Bengal Tiger; and

2017-18 – The year would be the year of Bear. Therefore our ongoing explorations and projects - “It’s Bear Necessities”

Also at the end of third year, our full team would pay tribute to the British-Indian hunter and trackerturned-conservationist, author and naturalist - James Edward "Jim" 'Corbett – without his guidance the whole concept of nature conservation in India wouldn’t have gained any momentum.

Watch out for Call of Corbett in April, 2018.

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Cohabitation: Amazing Wildlife of Laos – Part Three

The Outlander In Laos, from May 2016 to January, 2017, most of my time was spent at Pak Lay – a small town in Xayaboury Province. My inquisition passed with ‘flying colours’ after I witnessed some pretty creatures of nature – butterflies, symbols of glorious natural metamorphosis. The count and the types of those beautiful bugs were really massive. During that period, I sighted 150 species of butterflies (some of them are unidentified till date), alongside 5 species of birds, 2 species of Geckos (including Tokay Gecko), 3 species of Moths ( including Atlas Moth), 2 species of Lizards, 1 species of Bat (unidentified), 2 species of Frogs (1 unidentified).

The list of butterflies identified by me is given below, in subsequent issues of Holocene, few more species of butterfly and other spotted and identified species will be published.

BUTTERFLY FAMILY: HISPARIDAE

Rounded Palm Red Eye

Small Palm Red Eye

Common dartlet ( Oriens goloides )

Dusky spotted flat ( Celaenorrhinus fusca )

Forest Hopper (Astictopterus jama )

Tree flitter ( Hyarotis adrastus )

Coon ( Psolos fuligo )

Purple and gold flitter (Zographetus satwa )

Suffused snow flat ( Tagiades gana )

Velvet bob ( Koruthaialos butleri ) FAMILY : PIERIADAE

Chocolate Albratros

Common Gull

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Indian Jezebel

Lemon Emigrant

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Monted Emigrant

Common Emigrant

One Spot Grass Yellow

Plain Puffin

Oriental Psyche

Spotless Grass Yellow

Yellow Orange Tip

Common Wanderer (Pareronia valeria )

Orange gull (Cepora judith )

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Exploration Camp: It’s Bear Necessities

Subject Area: Palkot Wildlife Sanctuary and surrounding area, Jharkhand Number of visits done : Three Hihlights of each visit: 1st visit - 4th and 5th March, 2017at Aswar and Palkot zone of wildlife sanctuary. Initial segregation of study area was done, total 14 potential areas and hideouts were identified to spot wildlives.The sanctuary is dry deciduous and scrub forest with primary tree species of Teak, Sal, Madhuca Indica, Bamboosa, Kendu etc. Reportedly 100 different plants with pharmacognosical importance are available there. Based on anecdotal information potential herbivores spotted in the area are spotted deer, rabbit and porcupine. The scats and pathways of porcupine through bushes were found during visit which corroborated the theory of presence of this nocturnal animal in forest. Plenty of scats, pug marks and hide outs in caves were found which confirmed potential presence of bears and few carnivores (suspected fox, striped hyena, leopard cat etc.).Reportedly number of bear in the forest is 1000 and leopard is 10-12. One suspected hide out of a male leopard were shown during visit by trackers. One Indian Hare at Aswar zone and a herd of Rhesus Macaque at Palkot zone were spotted during visit. Flocks of black drongo, Asian palm swift, pea fowl and spotted dove were found during site visit.

2nd Visit – 25th and 26th March, 2017 at Palkot zone of wildlife sanctuary. The main studies carried out in this visit was on Rishimukh or Rishyamukh Parvat. This has mythological significane. There is a description of PAMPAPUR located on RISHIMUKH PARVAT in RAMAYANA. Villagers believe that the ancient PAMPAPUR is today's PALKOT. This fact is proven by a number of places of Ramayana era in its neighbourhood such as ANJAN, where Lord HANUMAN born, RAMREKHA DHAM that is the place where Lord RAMA and SITA spent some times in their exile, UMRA where the hill is similar to KISKINDHA etc. PAMPASAR, a pond spread in about 1000 Sq.ft, is considered as a place of mother PUMPABHAWANI and a hidden way door to some place. It is a holy pond situated on the upper part of PAMPAPUR Mountain.

3rd Visit – 7th May, 2017 at Birsa Munda Deer Park and Recue Centre, Ranchi – Key study was on rescued Sambar Deer and Spotted Deer and general biodiversity of the park.

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Year – 2/Issue – 9/May – June ‘17

Theme Poster: We are Endangered!!

Photography by Dwaipayan Ghosh and Arnab Basu

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