Magazine of Zoo Outreach Organisation Vol. XXVII No. 4, April 2012
ISSN 0971-6378 (Print); 0973-2543 (Online)
Special ZOO’S PRINT Feature - Short Book / Long Article JHARKHAND’S LAST ‘HUNTING-LEOPARDS‘ By Raza Kazmi
Rare image of a pair of captive Indian Cheetahs belonging to The Maharajah of Kolhapur Image copyright – © B. Seshadri
Date of Publication: 26 April 2012
Magazine of Zoo Outreach Organisation Vol. XXVII No. 4, April 2012
ISSN 0971-6378 (Print); 0973-2543 (Online)
Contents Prologue, Pp. 1-2 Introduction, P. 3 Cheetahs of Saranda, Pp. 3-7 A Cheetah Shot in the erstwhile ‘Greater Ranchi’ District, P. 8 The ‘Mirzapur Connection’ and the possibility of Cheetahs occurring in ‘Shahabad’ District, Pp. 9-11 Cheetahs of ‘Palamow’, Pp. 12-14 Cheetahs of ‘ Sonthal Pergunnahs’, Pp. 15-17 Hazaribagh – The Missing Link!, Pp. 18-19 In Conclusion, Pp. 20-21
Rare photo of captive Cheetahs owned by Maharajah of Kolhapur. See below for detailed citation.
Appendices I) Cheetahs in West Bengal! – Asiatic Cheetah’s Historical Range Extended?, PP. 22-24 II) Cheetahs of Orissa, Pp. 25-27 III) The “Mystery Panther” of Ranchi District, Pp. 28-30 IV) Chronology of Cheetah’s Extinction from Jharkhand, Pp. 31-32 V) Jharkhand Cheetah Distribution Map, P. 32 VI) Jharkhand’s Lone Caracal Reference: Hazaribagh, Pp. 33-34 VII) List of hitherto unrecorded Cheetah references used in this paper, P. 35 Acknowledgements, P. 35 References, P. 36
Richard Lydekker’s sketch of a Cheetah from A Hand-book to the Carnivora, Lloyd’s Natural History, 1896 This rare image is of a pair of captive Indian Cheetahs belonging to The Maharajah of Kolhapur, who together with the Maharajas of Jaipur, Baroda and Bhavnagar, kept these animals for the sport of Coursing with Cheetahs (Ranjitsinh 2011 per. comm). This photograph is from H.H. Kolhapur’s Shikar Album, published in 1921 to commemo-rate Prince of Wales’ royal visit (Divyabhanusinh 2011 per. comm). It was republished by Balakrishna Seshadri in his book The Twilight of India’s Wildlife, and has been reproduced here. Image copyright – © B. Seshadri.
Editor’s Note : This issue is the first of what we hope to be many original “short books” about wildlife and zoos that we will entertain from time to time in ZOO’s PRINT, as much as 3-4 times a year. Many of us have wished to publish something we put our heart and soul in but could not find a publisher due to the document being too long for a magazine or journal and too short for a printed book. This publication is a good example of a fascinating collection of knowledge about an animal that intrigues most wildlifers. We felt that it deserved to see the light of day and also that other such “short books” also could be entertained in ZOO’s PRINT and we extend an invitation to South Asian wildlife specialists to pass on their unpublished original manuscripts for review. We hope others will take advantage of this offer. ZOO’s PRINT reserves the right of selection. Thanks to Lala (LAK) Singh for introducing the author and his unpublished work to us. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Sally Walker, Editor
JHARKHAND'S LAST 'HUNTING-LEOPARDS' Raza Kazmi* An account of the Cheetah in Jharkhand (including new hitherto unrecorded references); with appendices on their distribution in Orissa and a newfound record of their occurrence in West Bengal
Prologue The story of the Indian Cheetah has always been an enigma, and though its trail has been lost in the sands of time, the life and death of the Cheetah still continues to fascinate a section of natural historians and conservationists. With the new debate of reintroducing Asiatic Cheetahs in India generating sharply divided opinions in the clique of wildlife conservationists, studying the history and distribution of this unfortunate species in greater detail becomes all the more important. While the British wrote volumes upon volumes on the more illustrious big cats of India -Tigers, Lions and Leopards - and other wild-fauna of the country; the Cheetah remained conspicuously absent from most of those detailed narratives. A few exceptions granted some lines here and there, a page or two at most, to this little understood big-cat. The Cheetah's story came to an end in 1947 through the barrel of Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Korea's gun, though the prelude to this sad end had been written decades back. And even though the Maharaja's kin reported the presence of a few stragglers, including a pregnant female, in the forests of Chhattisgarh's Surguja district (of which the erstwhile state of Korea was a part) right upto 1967-68, while a couple of alleged sightings were reported from Orissa-Andhra Pradesh border and Chittoor district respectively in the early 1950's (Divyabhanusinh 2006); the last post had already been sounded for the Cheetah in India. It was only in the last years of the 20th century that the ‘Chita's’ story finally found a voice in Divyabhanusinh's seminal work The End Of A Trail: The Cheetah in India. It took me about 3 months to collate the data I've used in this paper, and another month to compose this text. During my research, I discovered a number of new Cheetah-references that haven't been recorded up until now in any present day literature on the species that I'm aware of. Divyabhanusinh's work has enlisted rest of the sources that I will quote, though due to space constraints, they had been quoted in snippets or as bulleted references in his book; I will try to narrate those accounts in greater length and detail. Tracing the history of Cheetahs in Jharkhand has been a pretty difficult job, given the fact that very scant literature is available on the species' natural history in India as a whole, and that for the present day state of Jharkhand is miniscule. No Mughals came hunting in this part of the country, so there are no royal records dating back to those days. The sport of Coursing with Cheetahs, which was pretty popular among the princes of Central and North-west India, was literally unknown in this wild east-central Indian state, and hence there are no princely records on the Cheetah to fall back onto. Few British wrote about the fauna of this part of Hindoostaan, and those few who did write about their sporting experiences in the forests of Chota-Nagpore, much like their sporting comrades elsewhere in the country, never mention anything about the Cheetah. It was just a single book that makes exception to this norm, describing the Cheetahs of Saranda in some detail. All the other sources for reconstructing the Cheetah story in Jharkhand are scattered snippets on the animal in a few Shikar books, district gazetteers and other government records. As a result, all the narratives and references to Cheetah in the state start and end within a span of 100 years, i.e. from mid 19 th century to early 20th century. I'm yet to come across any narrative of Cheetahs in Jharkhand prior to the 19 th century. Another problem I faced was the fact that those few references I had with me were written at a time when the administrative-divisions of the area were completely different from what they are now. So, I was burdened with the additional task of studying the history of each of Jharkhand's 24 odd
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
1
in order to pin-point the present-day locations of the Cheetah-bearing areas cited in the 19th and the early 20th century texts. And then there was yet another contentious issue at hand — the name of the animal itself! There are very real chances that Cheetahs might have been bracketed as Leopards in a number of historical texts. In those days, there was great ambiguity among hunters, administra-tors and naturalists alike regarding the nomenclature of Leopards and Cheetahs. A sample of this confusion is reproduced below — Here, Edward B. Baker in his book Sport in Bengal: How, when and where to seek it published in 1886, suggests that the name "Leopard" should be actually applied to the "Cheetah" while what is generally called a Leopard should be actually addressed as a Panther!
"we have three distinct species, not counting, of course, the "cheetah," or hunting-leopard (F. jubata), viz.: first, the F. pardus or leopardus (whether you choose to call it panther or leopard), divided into two varieties, the greater and the lesser; secondly, the F. (pardus or leopardus) melas, or black panther; and thirdly, the F. (pardus or leopardus) macrocelis, or clouded panther. If the designation "leopardus" or lion-pard, is to be understood as indicative of the appearance of the beast, it is an unfortunate one, because the Bengal pard bears no resemblance whatever to the lion, whereas F. jubata does so to the small extent of displaying long fur or hair on its crest, neck, and breast, and also some slight resemblance in its tail, which is thickly furred at its extremity. It seems, therefore, that the name of leopard should be applied in ordinary conversation to the Felis jubata, or "cheetah," alone, and that of pard or panther to the others. I shall abide by this rule in all mention of these creatures, and I respectfully commend it for the consideration of the learned as both reasonable and convenient" (Edward 1886). The above book being one of the standard texts on the wildlife of Bengal Presidency for a number of years could have caused many other authors (especially those of the Bengal District Gazetteers) to classify Cheetahs as Leopards and Leopards as Panthers. And Baker's opinion wasn't an isolated one - Sterndale echoed the same view in his book Natural History of Mammalia of India and Ceylon and so did a number of other authors; infact I've observed this idea of Cheetah being the actual 'Leopard' being reiterated in dozens of books and gazetteers that I've gone through during my research. It's possible that many important references to Cheetahs, especially in the area of Bengal Presidency, will never be identified due to the use of such equivocal terminologies in the historical texts. I however, for the sake of uniformity, have included only those references that explicitly use the Latin name "jubata", or the term "Hunting Leopard", or wherein I'm convinced that the author while using the term "Cheetah", is aware of the striking characteristics that differentiate it from Leopards. An exception to this rule was made in a single case which has been described in Appendix III. Even an expert of Divyabhanusinh's calibre agreed that scope for new additions to the story of Indian Cheetahs remained. And I would reiterate the same, my work is by no means a complete history of Cheetahs in Jharkhand, and hopefully as I delve deeper into the subject, new additions would be made. *Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. E-mail: raza.kazmi17@gmail.com
About the Author Raza Kazmi is a 21 year old engineering student and a passionate wildlife enthusiast. Brought up in Palamu and Hazaribagh, he is currently living in Bhopal pursuing his engineering course. He has been roaming the forests of Jharkhand ever since he was barely a year old. His earliest childhood memories are of trekking with his father for some 20 kms on the Barwaadih hills of Palamu Tiger Reserve, while he and his forest staff doused a forest fire that had engulfed the place. He was a baby when he saw his first Tiger in Palamu, and he credits his parents for inculcating in him the love for the forests and its denizens. His parents also explained to him their importance while his father taught him the nuances of conservation. He has since spent numerous hours in the various forests of Jharkhand and elsewhere, but Palamu claims a special place in his heart. Today he is an independent writer, his writings usually being about conservation in Naxal dominated forests and lesser known Tiger Reserves and neglected wildlife regions of the country. He is a history buff as well, and has taken up researching the wildlife history of the East Central Indian landscape. The booklet on the Cheetah is a direct result of his efforts in this direction. His ultimate goal is to get into the Indian Forest Service for he feels that a single honest and dedicated officer in charge of a forest can do much more for the forest and its wildlife than all the activism in the world can ever achieve.
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
2
Introduction The forests of Jharkhand - literally meaning "The Land of Forests" - once used to be the prime-shooting blocks for yesteryear British Sahebs posted in Bengal. " The finest shooting grounds I know of in India -- and I have been over the greater part of the country -- are in Chota-Nagpore " (Smith 1904), wrote one of them. Those were the days of plenty. Today, it's a completely different land; gone are the Sahebs, and so are the days of plentiful wildlife. Most of the state's erstwhile wild-bastions — Saranda, Hazaribagh and Chatra being the most prominent — have been completely destroyed. A relict population of Jharkhand's major fauna makes a last stand in the famed forests of Palamu. As I would find out during my research, the list of animals gone extinct from the State is long - Asiatic Lion, Great Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros, Indian Cheetah, Gharial, Pink-headed Duck and Central Indian Wild Buffalo to name a few. The loss has been tremendous and unparalleled, and even now there seems no stopping to it. And it's this sense of loss, and the grief that followed it, that inspired me to research on the state's illustrious past. Even though the story of every animal on the aforementioned extinction list deserves to be penned down separately, this paper however, deals with the tale of Jharkhand's Last Hunting-Leopards.
Cheetahs of Saranda "It is generally believed that the Cheetah is only found in the more open parts of the scrub jungle of Central India, but I have killed them in the dense forest of Saranda in Chota Nagpur. The skin is differently marked to that of the panther. Both have a yellowish brown ground with black spots. The spots on the panther are rosettes; on the cheetah they are simply black dabs without a central opening of yellow………The cheetah, or hunting leopard, in no way resembles the ordinary leopard or panther. The latter has retractile claws like the cat, while the cheetah's paws are like those of the dog. Most shikarees are agreed that he belongs to the hyaena family, and is to that animal what the greyhound is to the foxhound." (Smith 1904) — wrote Mervyn A. Smith in his book Sports and Adventure in the Indian Jungle.
Published in March 1904, the book was a compilation of his stories that had originally appeared in columns of the Calcutta Statesman over the years. The approximate time-period of the events he narrated would have been the late 19th century. The forests of Singhbum district in southern Jharkhand, better known as the Saranda Landscape straddles through south-Jharkhand and parts of northern Orissa. Saranda, Asia's largest Sal forest, once used to be one of the richest "game-tracts" in India, copiously stocked with Tigers, Leopards, Deers, Gaurs, Elephants, Central Indian Wild Buffaloes, Dholes and all the other smaller forest denizens. A favorite hunting ground of the British Officers posted in Bengal, the forests of Saranda were labeled as "savage, rugged, uninhabited, and infested with wild beasts; where the rivers swarmed with fish, reptiles and crocodiles". Today's Saranda is emblematic of the brutal destruction of Jharkhand's flora and fauna. Gone are the Tigers, Cheetahs, Central Indian Wild Buffaloes, Gaurs and Dholes; there are no more than a few dozen Cheetal in the core ~1000 sq.km area Saranda division, a handful of Sambhar might survive though they have not been seen for years and even the most optimistic estimates peg the Leopard population at less than a dozen. Almost all edible fauna has been wiped off forever, Saranda's forest have lost their soul. A few hundred elephants somehow tenaciously hold-on — a relic that serves as a sad reminder of the wonder that was Saranda. With the wild-animals all but gone by the late 80's, the big mining companies came in, and hundreds of mines (both legal and illegal) representing all the major mining-players gnawed away their "fair share" of the forest. Mining townships came up in the heart of Saranda; while for the locals their serene and peaceful Saranda became an abyss --people started dying every-year due to breathing-ailments caused by iron-dust that envelopes the environs of the mined areas (Hindustantimes 2011). The once pristine Karo and Koina rivers that used to "swarm with fishes and crocs" turned into envenomed drains. What happened to the mahaseers, crocs and other
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
3
aquatic-fauna that "swarmed" these rivers needs no elucidation. And then came the Maoists, making this forested landscape a bastion of theirs -- the locals, already stung by the mining onslaught, were now caught in the crossfire between the rebels and the security forces. The local Hos now rue the cardinal sin they committed by destroying Saranda's fauna for the extinction of these endangered species created fertile ground for the eventual entry of the big-mining industries. Alas it's too late! Saranda is on its last lease today, and even though an odd transient Tiger sometimes wanders into these forests via the narrow degraded Saranda-Similipal corridor, Saranda is all but a lost cause. Anyway, coming back to the Cheetahs, the forests of Saranda were the southernmost limit of Cheetah's range in Jharkhand. Though there are no known records up until now of the Cheetah's occurrence on the Orissa side of the Saranda, it's likely that they might have existed there given the contiguity of forests. Cheetahs of the Saranda landscape, akin to their counterparts in other Cheetah-bearing areas of India, did prey upon the livestock of the villages on the periphery of the forests. Mervyn Smith writes:
"It is singular that while the tiger, the leopard and the wolf are the recognised enemies of the cultivator, in that they prey on his flocks and herds, and that the Government offers a reward for the destruction of these predatory animals, probably the most daring and destructive of all, and the one which does more damage to cattle and goats than all the other wild animals put together, is generally regarded as a harmless creature and one to be protected rather than destroyed. One reason perhaps for this good name is that the cheetah, or hunting leopard, has never been known to prey on mankind, while tigers, leopards and wolves are all known to be maneaters on occasion." (Smith 1904). And though I personally find Mervyn Smith's statement of Cheetah being "the most daring and destructive of all, and the one which does more damage to cattle and goats than all the other animals put together" a crude exaggeration, it certainly did prey upon the livestock in the area. He narrates a curious incident of a Cheetah making off with a pet Cheetal, at a place called Jaraikela near Saranda in present day West Singhbhum District of Jharkhand.
"At Jeraikela, on the Bengal-Nagpur Railway, a villager had a pet spotted deer, which would follow him about like a dog‌‌... His hut was in the heart of the village. One warm moonlight night he drew his charpoy (bedstead) as usual across the entrance of his hut and slept on it. While he was asleep, a hunting leopard crept under his charpoy, seized and killed the deer, and crept back the way it came, drawing the deer after it, and made off to the woods. The man only knew of his loss on awakening in the morning, when the unmistakable doglike foot-prints of the animal showed who the midnight marauder was." (Smith 1904). Jaraikela must not be confused with Saraikela though, as it has been in Diyabhanusinh's book, the former being a small station on the Mumbai-Howrah Trunk line. Its location has been marked on the map. Another incident questions the general belief that Cheetah's preyed on light-weighed animals. Mervyn Smith narrates the incredible feat of a ~40 kg Cheetah preying on a calf thrice his own weight.
"Not long ago one of these brutes entered the village of Bendee during the dark hours just before dawn. It dug a passage for itself through the wattle-and-dab walls of the bazaar-man's hut, seized and killed a two-year-old calf, and endeavoured to drag the body through the passage it had made for itself, but the calf's body was too large to pass that way. The noise made by the cheetah's efforts to drag the calf through the hole in the wall awakened an old woman who was sleeping in the hut, and she immediately opened the door, rushed out and raised an outcry. The cheetah, seeing the door open, re-entered the dwelling and pulled the calf away through the door! It made off to a neighbouring nullah and there devoured the stomach and a great
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
4
part of the rump. The calf certainly weighed over 200 Ibs.; yet the cheetah was able to drag the body several hundred yards, when its own weight could not have been over 70 Ibs. even if full grown." (Smith 1904). A few rare narrations by others such as T.G. Fraser who recorded a Cheetah hunting a full grown Sambhar in the grasslands of Burhanpur, (Fraser 1881) lends further support to the argument that Cheetahs indeed could hunt animals which were many times its own body-weight. Much like their other spotted cousins i.e. Leopards, Cheetahs also seem to have had a liking for domestic dogs, or atleast that was the case here in Saranda. Mervyn Smith personally lost as many as 7 dogs to the Cheetahs over a period of 18 months, and he narrates one such incident in detail:
"The cheetah is particularly fond of dog's flesh and does useful service in carrying off superfluous pariah dogs which otherwise would increase to such an extent as to be a source of danger to the villagers themselves. It is seldom one sees a dog in the country where the hunting leopard has taken up its abode. Sooner or later even the 'cutest of 'cute pariah dogs falls a victim to its arch enemy. I have had seven dogs carried away from my bungalow in eighteen months. Among these was a black pariah that the servants had named Hooseearee (the wary one), so alert was it. I often tried to tempt it out with a bone after dinner, but no; hungry or not, Hooseearee was not to be cajoled into the open. One night while I was having my dinner, a pheeall (an animal of the jackal kind said to act as a decoy to tigers, leopards and other of the great carnivora) sent forth its hideous howl near the servants' quarters……..Hooseearee gave chase. Instead of making for the jungle, which was near at hand, the pheeall made for some logs of timber lying in the open. As soon as the black dog in pursuit of the pheeall neared the timber, swift as a flash of light the cheetah was on him and seized him by the back of the neck; a single bark of agony and Hooseearee was no more. I fired twice at the cheetah, but he was off like a bird, carrying the body of the dog with him." (Smith 1904). He further narrates the audacity of the Cheetah in the following lines:
"After the loss of Hooseearee I had all my dogs shut up in a godown at dusk every evening. On several occasion I was awakened by the furious barking of the dogs, and generally found signs in the morning that the cheetah had tried to enter through a barred window. After several attempts to break in this way he gave it up, as he found iron bars too hard for even his powerful teeth. But one day three of my dogs accompanied the syces taking out my horses for their morning constitutional. All three were large dogs, halfbreeds, about the size of a foxhound. One of them was particularly large and heavy. All had broad leather collars with steel pricks to protect the neck from the assaults of wild animals. The horses were being promenaded along the road within half-a mile of my bungalow, when a cheetah sprang out of the neighbouring bushes and seized the largest of the dogs by the neck, in spite of his protecting collar, and made off with him." (Smith 1904). I've also come across a hitherto unrecorded new reference of two Cheetahs being shot near Somij, a village on the periphery of the Saranda forests.
"Beema, the bagh-maree, has to my knowledge accounted for two panthers, two cheetahs (hunting leopards), one tiger and one bear. Their skins now adorn the verandah of my bungalow. These animals were all killed within a mile of the village of Somij (Chota Nagpore district), and in about two months' time." (Smith 1904). Cheetahs of Central and Northwest India were almost always encountered in grasslands or open scrub and rocky landscapes. However, the last Cheetahs to be shot in India were found inhabiting dense Sal forests of Surguja in present day Chhattisgarh state. But they were in all probability stragglers that had been pushed to seek refuge in the forested areas of Ramgarh due to persecution and destruction of their preferred habitat. This belief is based on the statements of Maharaja Ram Chandra Singh Deo, who said that Cheetahs were unknown in the area of Ramgarh prior to 1951:
"It is strange that Hunting Leopards were found in Ramgarh region in 1951 as the area is not a proper habitat for them. The area is very heavily forested and the forests stretch to 50-60 miles in all directions. It is difficult to explain how the hunting leopards came to Ramgarh. They have never been even heard of in Ramgarh and the adjoining areas.” (Divyabhanusinh, 2006)
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
5
Location of Jaraikela Village on the periphery of Saranda
Ramgarh is located on the southern edge of Surguja district with the Hasdeo-Arand forests of Korba district forming its southern purlieu. Divyabhanusinh argues that Ramgarh being an open flat cultivated patch surrounded by scrub and degraded forest interspersed with small open grassland patches, would have caused the Cheetahs that had sought refuge in the nearby Sal forest to gravitate to this area (Divyabhanusinh 2006). But was this the case in Saranda landscape as well? It's important to note than unlike Surguja where the Cheetahs were shot in the last phase of their existence in the country, those in Saranda were shot/observed in the mid 19th Century, about 100 years prior to their extinction. So could it be that the Cheetahs of Saranda landscape, unlike their counterparts in central, peninsular and north-western India, might have over the years actually adapted themselves to the dense Sal forest habitat and made it their preferred habitat as well? Or were these Cheetahs like all others of their race, inhabitants of the more open areas around Saranda where they hunted, while they sought refuge on the peripheries of Saranda landscape's dense forests? Theoretically speaking, it is possible that the Cheetahs of Saranda had actually adapted to and made the region's dense forest their preferred natural habitat. I say this because even today there are very few scrub forests in and around Saranda, much less they would have been 150-200 years ago. Moreover, all the areas where Cheetahs were met with or shot at were either inside or right next to Saranda's dense Sal forests. However, since there is no solid data on the Cheetah population of the area over a considerable period of time to conclude on its habitat-use pattern, the above viewpoint of mine is at best just a hypothesis. So, for the time being, it seems the answer to this question will remain a mystery. When did Saranda's Cheetahs go extinct is yet another mystery, but in all probability they had disappeared by the dawn of 20th century. None of the district gazetteers of Singhbhum, starting from W.W. Hunter's statistical record of 1877 to O' Malley's gazetteer of 1910, make any mention of the Cheetah among the fauna of the district even though all other prominent mammals of the area are recorded. V. Ball, the famous geologist who recorded his extensive travels in the region of
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
6
Chota-Nagpur, Singhbhum, Surguja, Central and Northern Orissa between 1865-1878 in his book Jungle Life in India makes no mention of the Cheetah during his travels in the region of present day Jharkhand. So, it seems that the Cheetah, just like in the rest of its historical range in India, was never very abundant in this landscape as well, or atleast that was the case by the mid 19 th century; and coupled with the insatiable appetite for hunting among the Hos and the Kols, even the stragglers must have been wiped out by the turn of the 20th Century.
A Comparison between the District-Organization of contemporary Jharkhand to that in the Days of the Raj. Š Raza Kazmi
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
7
A Cheetah Shot In The Erstwhile 'Greater Ranchi' District About 70kms as the crow flies north-west of Jeraikela village in Saranda, is a place called Palkot—one of the eleven blocks that comprise today's Gumla district. Close to Singhbhum district, the present day district of Gumla was a part of the Lohardagga district upto 1843 and then a sub-division under the Ranchi district from 1902-1983. And it was here at Palkot that a Cheetah was shot circa 1905, the exact year of shooting being unknown. L.E.B. Cobden-Ramsay confirms this incident in one of the titles of the Bengal District Gazetteer series-- Feudatory States of Orissa, published in 1910. He writes:
"The chitah (Felis jubata) or hunting leopard is not supposed to inhabit Bengal, but………. A Chitah was shot in Palkot in the Gumla Sub-division of the Ranchi district, which proves that though rare, they do exist in Bengal." (Cobden-Ramsay 1910). Palkot's southern and western environs are characterized by an undulating terrain with a prominent chain of small forested hills (called Biru Pahaar or the Biru Hills) running to its south and west; while the northern and eastern areas are largely flat open tracts with a few sporadic hillocks. And so it makes sense why the Cheetah was found here — they most probably would have operated in the open tracts to the north and east, while they would have sought refuge either on the peripheries of narrow series of low forested hills that sporadically dot the largely open tracts to the north and east of Palkot, or in the foothills of -- what in those days would have been -- largely contiguous southern and western Biru hill ranges. Even today, the southern forested environs of Palkot — though much degraded now with the chain of small hills having been completely fragmented by the agricultural fields that have mushroomed in the shallow valleys — collectively constitute the decrepit 183 sq.kms Palkot Wildlife Sanctuary. Of course, like most of Jharkhand's other wildlife sanctuaries, this protected area is also a 'paper tiger'-- a safe 'sanctuary' for humans rather than the wild denizens it was supposed to protect.
Location of Palkot with a view of the Biru Hills to its south and west.
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
8
The 'Mirzapur Connection' And The Possibility Of Cheetahs Occurring In 'Shahabad' District Bordering the erstwhile larger Palamau district to the north-west is the present-day Sonebhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, which was once a part of erstwhile larger Mirzapur district of United Provinces. And to the north of Palamu, in Bihar, lies a clump of four districts - Rohtas, Kaimur (Bhabua), Bhojpur and Buxar. Together, they constituted the former district of Shahabad which ceased to exist in 1972. A study of these two districts, though they are not a part of Jharkhand, is critical towards understanding the occurrence Cheetahs in the Palamau as well as northern Jharkhand. The common thread that ties these two British-era districts bordering Palamau is the Kaimur Hill Ranges. Covering a major part of the Mirazapur district, they run through -what used to be - south Shahabad (i.e. present day Rohtas and Kaimur districts). The Kaimur ranges in those days were wooded for most of its part with mixed deciduous forests, but they were bespeckled with plateaus (such as the Rohtas plateau) - which in those days consisted of a mixture of open scrub forests and agricultural lands - as well. These areas of Kaimur abounded in Chinkara and Blackbuck. From the northern and north-eastern foothills of the Kaimur ranges, flat alluvial plains north Shahabad (present day Buxar and Bhojpur district) extended for miles; while the Son river ran parallel to the eastern and southern foothills of the Kaimur (beyond the southern foothills lay Muhammadganj in Palamau, which will be described in detail in the next section). In Mirzapur, the Kaimur ranges dominated the extreme south of the district while in the central part, the ranges decreased in height and formed a huge shallow valley/open flat plain around Robertsganj, Ghorawal, Marihan, Khairpur and Sirsee. Save for a few passes, these plains were surrounded on all sides by the forested hill ranges of the Kaimur. These areas too were Chinkara and Blackbuck strongholds. Though the Chinkara kept itself confined to the forests of Kaimur hills, the Blackbucks inhabited the hill ranges as well as the plains of North Shahabad (i.e. today's Mohania plains in north Kaimur, Buxar plains and plains of Bhojpur) and that of Mirzapur around Robetsganj et al. A few hundred of these forgotten blackbucks - though extinct from most of its former range in the landscape - precariously survive in the agricultural plains of Buxar, Bhojpur and Robertsganj, largely because the local farmers venerate these "Krishna-mriga" as a holy animal. And in the light of the above description, it's easy to analyze this note written on 10th Aug, 1919 by G.O. Allen of Mirzapur:
"The following notes on two uncommon mammals in Mirzapur District may perhaps be of interest in connection with the Survey. On 28th December 1912, during a sambhar beat in light jungle about 25 miles S. of the Ganges, a small animal that I did not recognize came out at very close range. I blew a large piece of its back away with a 500 Express but it made off and took refuge in a small nala where it was shortly afterwards despatched with a shot gun. It proved to be a female lynx (F caracal) My measurement maele it 34 inches long (body 27 and tail 7) apparently a rather small example. Unfortunately the only memento I have of it are the claws, as shortly after I got the head mounted it was destroyed in a bungalow fire. This is considered locally a distinctly rare animal. I saw not long ago in the possession of a friend a very fine skin of a cheetah (C. jubatus) that had been killed in 1916 by villagers about 30 miles South of Mirzapur, which is on the Ganges near Benares. I think about 5 have been obtained in the last 25 years, one being shot while it was in the act of stalking a sambhar. The one whose skin I saw had been killed in the neighbourhood of a grassy plain which held some Black buck." (Allen 1919). If one looks up the map today, he will observe that ‘30 miles South of Mirzapur’ is the approximate directional distance of the foothills of Kaimur ranges around Sirsee and the shallow plain valleys of Ghorawal. Clearly, with the geographical features of this area and the one-time abundance of Cheetah's preferred prey - Blackbuck, Chinkara (as well as the odd Sambhar which they sometimes preyed upon) - in this area, it's now easy to comprehend why Cheetahs and its sympatric smaller
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
9
Geography of South Mirzapur (contemporary Sonebhadra District) with a view of the Mohania Plains and the Shallow-Valleys of Ghorawal, Robertsganj, Khairpur, Marihan and Sirsee
cousin i.e. Caracals were shot in Mirzapur.
Curiously enough, the Mirzapur District Gazetteer authored by D.L. Drake-Brockman in 1911 makes no mention of the Cheetah in his section on fauna of the district, while he writes that "Lynx are rare". (Drake-Brockman 1911). Another Cheetah skin was obtained in circa 1927, the details of which are provided by Frank Finn in his book Sterndale's Mammalia of India, published in 1929. He states:
"One specimen, which from its skin must have been very old, was killed by villagers in the Mirzapur district (which borders on Rewah) about two years ago" (Finn 1929). Where exactly was the animal shot in Mirzapur is unknown (the reference to Rewah was given because prior to the line quoted above, the author talked of Lord Hardinge - the viceroy - shooting a Cheetah in Rewah state, which today forms the Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh). The above reference would be the last time Cheetahs are mentioned from Mirzapur; in all probability they went extinct from the district by circa 1930. South Shahabad, as elucidated above in detail, was a similar land as well — both geographically and in terms of faunal diversity. However, unlike Mirzapur district, which has definitive records of the occurrence of Cheetah; there are none for Shahabad. Nonetheless, I firmly believe that they would have occurred in South Shahabad region as well — the open plateaus that dot the ranges near Rohtas, the foothills plains to the north of the ranges near Mohania and the plains around river Son near the eastern and southern foothills of Kaimur ranges in Shahabad — being my best bet. A few historical references further strengthen my speculations. For instance, Edward B. Baker wrote:
"It may occur in the Santhal Pergunnahs, and in the southern and hilly parts of Shahabad, but this cannot be asserted from my experience; nor have I ever seen its skin brought in by "Shikarees" in Bengal, Behar, or Orissa." (Edward 1886).
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
10
"Behar" here doesn't refer to contemporary Bihar state; it was a British province that included a few districts of today's southern Bihar. And it's worth noting here that Cheetahs were indeed later shot in Santhal Pargana as we shall see in the later section. Another curious reference that drew my attention was the description of a Kuiah or Wild Dogs in W.W. Hunter's Statistical Account for the district of Shahabad. Hunter quoted Dr. Buchanan Hamilton's (who wrote a journal of his travels in and around Shahabad in early 19th century) desc-ription of the wild dog. Following are the excerpts from the section on Ferae Naturae of Shahabad:
"Leopards, viverrine cats and the wild dog or koa also abound…………it may be distinguished from other kindred animals by having a compressed tail, in which respect it resembles the hunting leopard." (Hunter 1877a).
Cropped map of Eastern United Provinces from The Imperial Gazetteer of India's Map of United Provinces, 1907
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
11
Cheetahs of ' Palamow ' South of Shahabad, east of Mirzapur and north-west of Palkot, lies a cluster of four districts — Lohardagga, Latehar, Palamu and Garhwa. The last three were once a part of the larger erstwhile district of Palamow or Palamau, while Lohardagga — once a prominent district in the mid 19th century, ceased to exist after the districts of Ranchi and Palamow were carved out of it in circa 1890 — became a sub-division under the Ranchi District upto 1983. Cheetahs once inhabited Palamow, though there are no particular shooting incidents or locations to pin-point the area of their distribution within the district. Stray references, coupled with the fact that Cheetahs occurred in adjoining districts, however confirm that they were met with and perhaps even shot in Palamow. Edward B. Baker, in his book Sport in Bengal and How, When and Where to Seek It published in 1886 writes:
"I have never myself met with a single F. jubata in the wild state, and have never heard of one being killed east of Palamow in Chota Nagpoor." (Edward 1886). Even though the above statement doesn't explicitly state the Cheetah's distribution in Palamow, Baker suggestion that he 'never heard of one being killed east of Palamow' seems to hint at the fact that even though not killed east of Palamow, Cheetahs were killed/occurred in Palamow. Ofcourse, we now know that Baker was wrong in his assumption because Cheetahs were indeed killed east of Palamow in Saranda and as we will later discuss in areas of Santhal Pargana as well. There is another reference to Cheetahs occurring in Palamau. L.S.S. O'Malley in his Gazetteer of Palamau district published in 1907, after a few lines on Leopards, writes:
"The Cheetah is occasionally met with." (O'Malley 1907). In 1926, P.C. Tallents revised L.S.S. O'Malley's original Palamau Gazetteer of 1907 and authored the Revised Palamau Gazetteer. However, when Tallents revised the gazetteer in 1926, in addition to O'Malley's original reference to the Cheetah, he added this new content:
"The Cheetah is occasionally met with. An animal which is said to be a cheetah has been carrying off children from the neighbourhood of Untari for some years past and has hitherto evaded capture although a large reward has been put on its head." (Tallents 1926). And this is a really confusing reference, for on one hand the republishing of O'Malley's original 1907 reference to Cheetah by Tallents hints towards the Cheetah's continued existence in Palamau right upto his days (i.e. atleast early 1920's); but Tallents' second statement of "an animal which is said to be a cheetah carrying off children" makes me doubt if the animal he refers to was indeed a Cheetah. I say this because even though a Cheetah is fully capable of lifting off children, there hasn't been a single reference uptil now anywhere from India which records a Cheetah attacking a human-being. So there are two possibilities — either the "Child-lifter of Untari" wasn't a Cheetah and this was a case of mistaken identity, or else this is perhaps the first documented case of a Cheetah attacking humans. Which of the two is correct is anybody's guess! But we must remember this nature has this uncanny knack of throwing up the most amazing surprises just when we start assuming that "we know it all"! Then there is yet another rather late reference to Cheetahs of Palamow. Sir John Wardle Houlton, a retired I.C.S. officer and an infequent hunter, dedicated a chapter describing the wildlife of Palamau in his book Bihar, The Heart Of India published in 1949. In Chapter 29 of the book, titled "Forests and Wildlife in Palamau", he writes:
"Wolves are occasionally seen, and the cheetah or hunting leopard is believed to survive in Palamau" (Houlton 1949).
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
12
Though this account of his was published in 1949, the content and travels narrated in the text were undertaken in the early 1900's to late 1930's. His other descriptions of Palamau's fauna and its distribution are very accurate; and he is right when he says that wolves are occasionally seen. They are still there, in the valley of Mahuadanr in what is today Latehar district — perhaps being the last wolves of the Sal forest! And just like in the days of yore, even today they are very rarely seen, though they regularly make-off with goats and pigs of the villages in the area. However, I doubt if Cheetahs had survived in Palamau uptil the late 1930's, in all probability they were gone by then. So, all these varied references spread over a good 60 years confirm the Cheetah's presence in Palamau, although the details are very sketchy. Even though there are no specified areas of Cheetah's occurrence in the district, I believe that they wouldn't have been an inhabitant of the renowned forests of Palamu Tiger Reserve (located in the south of the district). They would have rather dwelled in the northern areas of the district characterized by large open tracts, most probably around a place called Muhammadganj. And the reason I believe this particular area was the Cheetah's haunt in Palamow is Muhammadganj's geographical location, which would have made it an ideal habitat for the Cheetah. Muhammadganj, lying on the banks of North Koel river, located just below the junction of the erstwhlile districts of Mirzapur and Shahabad, has large open tracts in its immediate vicinity, while ~16-18 kms to its north and west, its flanked by Kaimur hill ranges. The western area, though flanked by Kaimur hills is also dotted with open tracts. At the foot of the Kaimur hills to the north of Muhammadganj, the extremely wide and shallow Son river runs almost parallel to ranges, with the North Koel joining it from the south. To the east and south of Muhammadganj are open tracts for miles and miles, though parts of the eastern and southern area are interspersed with forested uplands. Although today completely taken up by agricultural fields, all these open areas that surround Muhammadganj were a mixture of scrub forests and agricultural fields 100-150 years back. And so it's now easy to comprehend why Muhammadganj was also a historical Black-buck and Gazelle stronghold in Palamow — the open scrub tracts as well as the 'Chaur' grasslands in wide shallow bed of Son, would have provided them an ideal habitat to live in. This naturally would have made this area an ideal Cheetah habitat as well. The flat-lands and open scrub forests of the area as well as river Son's Chaurs, well stocked with prey in the form of Blackbucks, Chinkaras and even the odd live-stock, would have provided ample of hunting opportunities; while the undulating rocky terrain at the forested foothills of Kaimur to the north and west (as well as the forested uplands in east and south) would have provided refuge to the Cheetah as well as doubled up as safe-spots for rearing up cubs. This theory of mine finds further support in the fact that Cheetahs and Blackbuck disappeared from Palamau almost successively i.e. in the first half of the 20th century. While the Blackbucks were once abundant till the mid 19th century, their numbers had started plummeting by the end of the century with more and more area being brought under the plough. L.S.S. O'Malley wrote in his 1907 Palamau gazetteer that only "a few black buck (Antelope cervicarpra) are to be found in the open country to the north" (O'Malley 1907). ("The open country to the north" is the Muhammadganj area). The fragile Cheetah, who like in most other areas would have occurred in low-densities here, must have failed to cope up with this sudden decline in its chief prey as well as the alteration of its habitat; and the killings that would have surely occurred as a result of these developments, would drive the last nail in the coffin of Palamow's Cheetahs. A few stragglers however might have persisted in Palamu right upto to the late 1920's or early 1930's, perhaps the reason behind the continued reference to animal's presence in Palamau even uptil the mid 1930's. Within a few decades of the Cheetah's extinction from the area, the last few blackbucks that O'Malley talked about disappeared as well — the hunter and hunted being united for once in their journey to the netherworld. If for a moment we believe that the "Child-lifter of Untari" was a Cheetah indeed, then it throws up an interesting picture. The landscape of Untari, now known as Nagar Untari — located almost right at the tri-junction of Jharkhand's Garhwa district, Chattisgarh's Surguja district and Uttar Pradesh's Sonebhadra (erstwhile Mirzapur) district - would have been prime-Cheetah habitat. A few kilometers to the south of Untari lay the forested Dhurk Hills of Garhwa, which are even today pretty well
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
13
Location of Muhammadganj with a view of the Son river and Kaimur Ranges to its north; Alongwith the location of Untari, Dhurk hills and the shallow valleys of Kone, Khauraundhi and Bhawanathphur
connected with the famed forests of Palamu Tiger Reserve. To the east and west of Untari lay flat open plains for miles, interspersed with a few uplands. To the north, Untari was flanked by the foothills of Kaimur - a rather thin branch of Kaimur that extended right upto Muhammadganj in an eastward direction; while beyond this Kaimur branch, about 9 kms north-east of Untari, lay the large plain valley of Bhawanathpur, Kone and Kharaundhi, the former two completely encircled by Kaimur ranges. These two valleys of Bhawanathpur and Kone would have been a small-scale mirror image of the Ghorawal valley of Mirzapur, some 65-75 kms north-west of these two valleys, where, as explained in the previous section, Cheetahs weren't uncommon. So landscape-wise, the area of Untari was completely suited for Cheetahs, but was the "Child-lifter of Untari" a Cheetah? — the answer to this question shall never be known.
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
14
Cheetahs of 'Sonthal Pergunnahs' Located south of Bihar's Bhagalpur district, about 200 kms as the crow flies east of Palamow borders, Santhal Pargana or "Sonthal Pergunnahs" as the British called it, was the easternmost district of contemporary Jharkhand state. Today, tough the district has ceased to exist, the name "Santhal Parganas" still lives on. It is one of the five administrative divisions of Jharkhand and comprises of 6 present day districts of eastern Jharkhand viz. Deoghar, Jamtara, Dumka, Godda, Pakur and Sahibganj. The District Gazetteer of the district by L.S.S. O'Malley brilliantly describes the physical aspects of the Santhal Pargana as they used to be in his days. He writes:
"The district is an upland tract with a hilly backbone running from north to south. To the north and east it is flanked by a long but narrow strip of alluvial soil hemmed in between the river Ganges and the Rajmahal hills. These hills rise abruptly from the plains, forming a wall 1000 to 2000 feet high, which juts out into the Gangetic valley and forces the Ganges to bend to the east before its takes its southerly course to sea. Broadly speaking, the district may be divided into three parts, viz. the hilly portion which covers about 3/8th of the entire area, the rolling country covering half of it and the flat country which occupies the remainder...…. The hills are in many parts still covered with jungle, while in the valleys, some of which are of considerable size, are scattered small villages surrounded by cultivated clearings. The rolling country includes whole of the west and south west of the district. It contains long ridges with intervening depressions, in places rocky and in places covered with scrub jungle. The third division consists of a fringe of low-land between the Ganges and the hills, which is largely cultivated with rice and liable to annual inundation." (O'Malley 1910). The area of Santhal Pargana, which once boasted abundant wildlife including the Great Indian One-Horned Rhinoceros till the mid 19th century, was completely emptied of its fauna by the beginning of the 20th century. And the sole culprit for this devastation was the quenchless hunting thirst of the local Santhal tribals. Rhinos, Elephants and Tigers successively disappeared within a span of 60 years between circa 1850-1910. Today's Deoghar district , a sub-division of the Santhal Parganas in those days, lay in what O'Malley described as the "rolling country containing long ridges with intervening depressions, in places rocky and in places covered with scrub jungle". Even today, to the north of Deoghar town, one can observe the highly degraded rocky, scrubby terrain of the area that stretches almost 100 kms in a west to east direction and 20-30 kms in a south to north direction. And I personally believe that this undulating rocky terrain to the north of Deoghar with its ridges and scrub forests would have been the abode of the Cheetahs in the Santhal Parganas. What further confirms my belief is the fact that all the Cheetah references from Santhal Parganas that I'm aware of mention just one name— Deoghar! W.T. Blanford in his book The Fauna Of British India Including Ceylon & Burma published in 1888, writes:
"I once saw a skin that had been brought in by a local shikari at Deoghar, in the Sonthal Pergunnahs, south of Bhagalpur" (Blanford 1888). Edward B. Baker, though never saw one, wrote — "It may occur in the Santhal Pergunnahs"
(Edward 1886).
However, the most definitive and detailed account of Cheetahs of Deoghar comes from a book written by Edward Braddon, a British officer who served in Bengal during the mid-19th century spending a considerable number of years posted in Santhal Parganas. In his book Thirty years of Shikar published in 1895, he writes:
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
15
"Among the beasts of Deoghur jungles an occasional cheetah was to be found. In Oudh and other parts of India, this animal is domesticated and kept by sporting rajahs for the purpose of running down antelopes: in the Deoghur country they kept themselves by running down the goats and sheep of the people. A curious animal is this hunting cheetah — a cat (i.e. a small and much attenuated leopard) down to its feet, and at those extremities a dog. Twice in the course of my Deoghur career was I summoned forth from my cutcherry to shoot cheetahs. In both instances they had been imprisoned in a hut into which they had made their way after the goats of the hut-holder, and as to both I pursued the same tactics — that is to say, I rode gun in hand to the scene of action, from five to ten miles distant, climbed on the thatched roof that covered the cheetah, and made a hole in the thatch in view to shooting the spotted thief where it crouched below. In both instances, I failed of this purpose in consequence of the cheetah's anticipation of my plans; for so soon as I had displaced enough of the roof to make a hole through which I could look into the interior, the cheetah came out by it, and springing to the ground went off. On the second occasion, when, forewarned by previous experience, I conducted my house-breaking with a more jealous care as to monopoly of my skylight, the cheetah was still too many for me, and, bounding out from off a beam upon which it lay, swept me before it nearly off my coign of vantage. The first cheetah I killed within a hundred yards of the hut; and second was less summarily disposed off. I missed it with my right barrel (fired before I had regained composure and equilibrium), and my second shot, although it went home, did not drop my quarry or stay its retreat into a small patch of bush and grass close by. There it was speedily found cowering in cover that failed to conceal it, but how was it to be finished off? I had brought no spare ammunition, for two shots seemed more than enough for a creature that I had reckoned upon killing inside the hut that had become its prison, and there was no weapon at hand, except the spear of a village watchman — a spear lacking the keenness of Ithuriel's, a spear that, as to point and edge, was far less formidable than a ploughshare or the weaver's shuttle. However, this was the sum-total of our available armoury, and I attacked the cheetah therewith. The active resistance of the beast was quantite negligeable, but the passive hindrance offered by its slender and too lissome body constituted an insuperable obstacle to the spearing. I pinned the cheetah down with this rude halberd, so that an inch or two of its carcass only intervened between the spear-point and the ground, and yet was its skin unbroken by a prick of steel. The wretched animal had to be finished off with a heavy stake." (Braddon 1895). It's worth noting here that Bradonn states that the shoots occurred "five to ten miles distant" from the ‘cutcherry’ (anglicized Kachehri), which must have been Deoghar town; and the rocky scrubby
A View of the Rocky, Scrubby and Undulating Terrain to the north of Deoghar
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
16
scrubby terrain north of Deoghar which I believe would have been the Cheetah's habitat in the district lies almost exactly the same distance away from present day Deoghar town. This account was published in 1895, decades after the actual incident. Braddon must have killed these Cheetahs circa 1860. Similarly Blanford's account was published in 1888, while that of Baker in 1886. Clearly, the dates add up — all the Cheetah references from Deoghar date to mid 19th century, there are no mention of Cheetahs from Deoghar post circa 1865-1870. The two district gazetteers of Santhal Parganas published in 1877 and 1910 make no mention of the Cheetah among the fauna of the district; infact almost all the other major mammals of the area had also gone extinct by 1910. So, we can confidently conclude that the last of the Cheetahs disappeared from Santhal Parganas circa 1860-1865. Uptil now, the Santhal Parganas is considered to be the easternmost limit of the Asiatic Cheetah's historical range. However, during my research I have come across a new reference that challenges this conclusion, and might actually extend Asiatic Cheetah's historical easternmost limit to as close as 20 kms from the Bangladesh border! (See Appendix I - Cheetahs in West Bengal!: Asiatic Cheetah's historical range extended?)
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
17
Hazaribagh ------ The Missing Link! Cheetahs occurred in southern Jharkhand, western Jharkhand and existed in the easternmost districts of the state as well. So there was continuity in the distribution of Cheetah from western to southern Jharkhand, but the Cheetahs of Santhal Parganas formed an isolated reference. There are no known records of Cheetahs inhabiting lands above the Ganges, so it was impossible that they came down into the Santhal Parganas from the north. So either they came into the area through the west or they came from the South. Now the straight-line distance between Muhammadganj in the west and Deoghar in the east was around 290 kilometres, and this was almost exactly the same distance between Deoghar and Jeraikela to its south-west. Surprisingly, there was no mention of Cheetahs being encountered anywhere in between these three areas. So, there was a missing link somewhere! I guessed that it was more likely that Cheetahs came into Santhal Parganas from the west, for there were miles and miles of thick forests separating Deoghar and Jaraikela to its south-west whereas to the west of Deoghar, the terrain was much more conducive for a Cheetah influx. And to Deoghar's west lay the large district of Hazaribagh which connected Jharkhand's west to its east. Today, the former larger district of Hazaribagh has been split up into seven districts — Chatra, Hazaribagh, Koderma, Girdih, Dhanbad, Bokaro and Ramgarh. Even though the west and west-central part of the district was substantially forested in those days, the terrain of east-central and eastern Hazaribagh was very similar to that of western Santhal Pargana (i.e. the areas around Deoghar). So I concluded that Cheetahs must have occurred in Hazaribagh as well, hence creating a continuity in distribution of the species from west to east Jharkhand. However, there were absolutely no references to back this belief of mine. None of the Shikar books, Natural History books, district Gazetteers or historical travel accounts even remotely suggested of their occurrence in Hazaribagh district. I poured over records after records, books after books, yet the efforts were of no avail. And I was almost about to give up when I finally struck gold! I was going through W.W. Hunter's 20 volume series describing the districts of Bengal Presidency, the first volume being published in 1875 and the last in 1877. One of the most experienced and celebrated officers of his day, Hunter knew these lands really well. He had extensively traveled the length and breadth of the state, and had also written a two-volume book on his travels in Orissa. As I flipped on to page no. 41 of the 16 th volume in the Statistcal Account Of Bengal series — this volume describing the districts of Hazaribagh and Lohardagga (as I've explained previously Palamau was a part of Lohardagga) — my joy knew no bounds. My hunch had finally been confirmed in the sub-section on the Ferae Naturae of the district. Hunter wrote:
"The low conical hills with which the surface of the district is dotted afford a fine refuge for bears and leopards; and the sona chita, or dog-leopard, distinguished by non-retractile claws, is occasionally found." (Hunter 1877b). This was the first and perhaps the only reference to Cheetahs of Hazaribagh. The missing link between the western and eastern Cheetah references had been found! Yet, this reference is woefully inadequate to make a guess on the area of distribution within the district. However, there are a few clues! To the north-east of Palamau and north of Hazaribagh lies the district of Gaya, sharing almost its entire southern border with Hazaribagh. Though most of Hazaribagh district is an upland plateau, on this Hazaribagh-Gaya borders runs a low hill-range covered with dry deciduous forests and dotted with ridge-valleys. To the north of this hill-range lie the plains of Gaya while to the south lie the more open tracts of Hazaribagh which would have been a mixture of scrub forests and agricultural lands in Hunter's time. In those days, the dry deciduous forests of the hills and the ridges along with the foothill scrub forests were stocked abundantly with Gazelles or the Ravine Deer as they were called
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
18
by the British, Sambhar, Cheetal and other game. The open plains of Gaya to the north of these hill-ranges abounded with blackbucks, and a herd of 60-100 bucks wasn't an uncommon sight in those days. Blackbucks however didn't occur to the south of the hill ranges in Hazaribagh. The plains of Gaya extended right upto the Shahabad plains of Bhojpur, Buxar and Rohtas. So it seems that Cheetahs entered Hazaribagh via Shahabad and Gaya, crossing through the ridge-valleys of the Hazaribagh-Gaya hill-ranges. And then they would have moved further east of Hazaribagh into the Santhal Parganas. Another alternate route the Cheetahs could have used to enter Hazaribagh, and then move further east, may be going straight east of Muhammadganj in Palamau to reach the open tracts of east-central Hazaribagh. However, that the Cheetah would have entered Hazaribagh taking this route, is very unlikely for this route via Chatra (a district today, it was a sub-division of Hazaribagh in those days) was very thickly forested in those days for more than a hundred miles (it still is a pretty substantially forested area, though highly degraded now). So was the case south of Hazaribagh, with thick forests separating the districts of Hazaribagh and Ranchi. So even though Cheetahs occurred in southern and western parts of Ranchi, it's unlikely that Cheetahs would have entered Hazaribagh crossing the heavy forests of south Hazaribagh. But then if Cheetahs could have lived in Saranda, who knows— maybe these Cheetahs of Jharkhand might have waded their way through thick forests to populate new areas and even inhabited the forest peripheries in most of these regions. One can never be sure. Some mysteries it seems, are destined to remain so forever. But what can be demystified to some extent is the extinction of Cheetahs from Hazaribagh. To me it seems that they, just like in rest of Jharkhand, disappeared somewhere in between the last decade of the 19th century and the first few years of the 20th century. The basis of this assumption of mine is the fact that the next detailed account of Hazaribagh's fauna written by E. Lister in his 1917 Gazetteer of Hazaribagh makes no mention of the Cheetah in the area, even though it catalogues almost all other animals described by W.W. Hunter in his account. Moreover, Lister writes in the preface to this Gazetteer: "This Gazetteer has been compiled on the basis of the Statistical Account of Hazaribagh, which was prepared about 1875 under the supervision of Sir William Hunter.", (Lister 1917) and curiously enough Cheetah and Gaur were the only two animals mentioned in Hunter's account that had been excluded by Lister. And so the Cheetahs of Hazaribagh disappeared circa 1890-1910. However, it's possible that some Cheetahs might have survived in Hazaribagh inspite of Lister not mentioning them — I say this because an odd Gaur would come over into Hazaribagh through the Palamu-Chatra corridor right upto the late 1990's. Moreover, there have been cases when Gazetteers have failed to mention Cheetahs even though they did occur in the area. The Gazetteers of Singhbhum and Santhal Parganas never mentioned Cheetahs in their checklist of fauna of the area even though they had been shot in both the districts. Even W.W. Hunter's Statistical Account for Santhal Parganas and Singhbhum fails to mention Cheetah among the fauna found in the area even though Braddon and Mervyn Smith respectively shot them in these districts almost exactly at the same time as the publication of Hunter's accounts. Similarly, Drake-Brockman doesn't mention Cheetahs in Mirzapur District Gazetteer's section on the district's Fauna, even though atleast 6 cheetahs were obtained from the district between circa 1894-1927. Ranchi Gazetteer didn't mention them explicitly, but one particular reference of a "type of panther", as I found out was actually to the Cheetah. (See Appendix III - The "Mystery Panther" of Ranchi District.)
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
19
In Conclusion We can now safely conclude that Cheetahs were more-or-less distributed throughout the state of Jharkhand, and had presence in every district of the state. They disappeared from atleast three districts viz. Hazaribagh, Saranda and Deoghar within a span of ~30 years, with the dawn of the 20 th century. However, some of them managed to survive in western Jharkhand - Palkot & Biru Hills (Greater Ranchi District) and north-Palamau. They first disappeared from Palkot and Biru hills in circa 1915. In Palamau, they managed to ward off the imminent right upto the first-quarter of the 20th century atleast; the last ones I believe disappeared circa 1930. And with their demise from Palamau, the sad story of Jharkhand's little understood Cheetahs came to an end. Approximately 18 years later, three Cheetah brothers would be shot by the Maharaja of the neighboring princely state of Korea, about 170 kms south-west of Palamow — and these three would eventually become the last ones to be ever shot in India. Cheetahs, it seems, were never abundant in Jharkhand and occurred in very low densities throughout their range in the state. This perhaps was their biggest downfall. Since they occurred in such low densities, even the slightest change in their habitat along-with a decline in prey-base would have adversely affected their population. With the scrub-forests being aggressively brought under the plough, Cheetah's natural prey that inhabited these scrubs was declining rapidly. Cheetahs would have been forced to increase their live-stock depredations; and this would have brought them into conflict with humans like never-before. And this direct-conflict with humans after they had already eaten away into their habitat, was the final straw for the species. The death-knell for this lithe spotted feline had been sounded, and by circa 1930, the last Cheetah's trails quietly disappeared forever from the state. Much water has flown down Chota-Nagpore's gurgling rivers since, and many other species from the state have joined Jharkhand's Cheetahs in the halls of Valhalla. The few that survived are on tenterhooks, and most of us who know Jharkhand's forests realize that even these relicts are slipping away fast. Palamau, it seems, has a history of providing that last refuge to species' gone extinct from the rest of Jharkhand — 80 years back it was the Cheetah that made its last stand here; today the last of Jharkhand's Tigers tenaciously hold on in Palamu, as do the Gaurs that have an even smaller range within Palamu Tiger Reserve. Will they go the Cheetah's way? I hope they won't, I fear they will.
R.A. Sterndale's sketch of a Cheetah from his book Natural History Of Mammalia Of India And Ceylon, 1884
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
20
So the story of Jharkhand's Cheetahs is essentially the story of Jharkhand's now-almost-lost natural heritage, which withered away just like their forgotten Cheetahs — uncared-for and unmourned! Divyabhanusinh, after reviewing this paper, remarked that the discovery of a considerable number of new hitherto unknown Cheetah references (See Appendix VII) in this paper — the ambit of which is just a small portion of the Cheetah's overall historic range in India — highlights the need for detailed regional studies on the species' history. He opined that carrying out such detailed regional studies throughout the Cheetah's historic range in the subcontinent would surely bring forth noteworthy additions to the story of Indian Cheetahs.
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
21
APPENDICES Appendix I - Cheetahs in West Bengal! : Asiatic Cheetah's Historical Range Extended? PLATS XXV.
Richard Lydekker's sketch of a Cheetah from his book A Handbook To The Carnivora, Lloyd's Natural History, 1896
While researching for new Cheetah-references for what today is the state of Jharkhand, I came across something rather odd. As I was going through various sporting and shikar books by authors of yore, I randomly picked up a book titled Reminiscences of Twenty Years' Pigsticking in Bengal. Published in 1893, the author was "Raoul" who worked in one "Gaureepore Factory, Murshidabad". Prior to this one, I had gone through another book on pigsticking, and knew that these books contained nothing apart from the hog (wild boar) and intricacies of this sport. So I knew this book would be of no use either for my Cheetah research or even for a general account of the wildlife of the region. But still, I aimlessly started flipping the pages, and the first few hundred pages were a repeat of my previous experience - it had nothing in it except Wild Boar, the landscape and the author's varied experiences spearing them while trying to perfect his pigsticking skills. As I was about to close the book, I decided that having come so far, I should maybe glance through the last chapter of the book titled "Miscellaneous" as well. And lo! There it was -- a Cheetah reference! Who would have imagined that tucked in the pages of the most vague chapter of this rather useless (wildlife history-wise) book, was as I would later find out, a very precious Cheetah reference. In the second paragraph on Page 153, ChapterXVII - Miscallaneous, Raoul had written:
"Of panthers or leopards in Bengal proper, where also pigs abound, there are three varieties to be found, including the cheetah (Felisjubata). This latter seems very rare, and I have come only across one, which had been killed by some of the Modoopore villagers in 1874." (Raoul 1893).
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
22
Now, the task at hand was to find out the location of this "Modoopore village". I immediately guessed that this "Modoopore" was the anglicized version of "Madhupur". But then, there were dozens of villages/towns named Madhupur strewn across Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal. A quick search on the net yielded the apparent result - Madhupur is a small town in Deoghar District of Jharkhand! And that immediately rung a bell, Cheetahs occurred in Deoghar as I've already narrated above and this Madhupur is a small town in Deoghar district. Quite obviously, it would have been a village about 130 years ago. Everything was adding up perfectly, and so it apparently seemed that the mystery had been solved. But I still wasn't convinced, and decided to search for other references to this "Modoopore Village" in the book. And once I went through the few other references to the village in the book, holes started getting driven into my earlier theory of the village's location. In a chapter titled Modopoore "Null"Meet, the author had written:
"Modoopore is one of the Patkabari Concern's out-work or factory, and owned by that Prince of Bengal pig-stickers, Archie Hills…….To the east of the preserve, and about half a mile or so away, lies the river Jellinghee," (Raoul 1893). And immediately my earlier conclusion of the village being the present-day town of Madhupur was shot down, for there was no river by the name of "Jellinghee" anywhere near Deoghar's Madhupur. So, I was back to square one and the search for Madhupur or Modoopore began again. The three key words in the above text were --- ‘Patkabari', ‘Archie Hills' and the river ‘Jellinghee'. I started scouring the net to get more info on these three simultaneously. And after a painstaking few hours long search, I finally zeroed in on the location of the village with confidence. Apart from a number of cross checks to verify my conclusion, there were three main texts that sealed the location for me. The following reference in the Handbook of Indian of Agriculture, and subsequent further cross-checking confirmed that Patkabari was indeed in Murshidabad, West Bengal.
"Steam-ploughs have been found unsuitable for most Indian surroundings. They have been tried by Mr. Archie Hills, of Patkabari (Dt. Murshidabad), and by Mr. Armstrong, of Dehradun, and others." (Mukerji 1915).
Location of Madhupur Village where a Cheetah was shot in 1874. The Yellow zigzag line is the Indo-Bangladesh Border
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
23
The only change the place's name has undergone over the years has been an addition of a single letter to the name - the Patkabari of Bengal Presidency is now "Patikabari" of West Bengal. And the river "Jellinghee" which Raoul quotes was actually the river "Jalangi", still flowing a few hundred metres away from the village as it used to all those years ago. The following reference in L.S.S. O'Malley's gazetteer of Murshidabad District was my first breakthrough:
"The Bhairab is an offshoot of the Ganges, from which it branches off to the south nearly opposite to Rampur-Boalia. It empties itself, after a very circuitous course, into the Jalangi at Madhupur." (O'Malley 1914). And while the cyberspace — with all its modernity, innovation and latest technology-use — failed in helping me locate the village on the map, it was this century old description of the village being situated where Bhairab "empties itself' into the Jalangi that came to my rescue, and allowed me to nail the geographical coordinates of the village on Google Earth. So finally, the riddle of Modopoore had been solved. As I had suspected, that nondescript village 120 years back was still a nondescript village, near the bigger Patikabari village, Nawda Block, Murshidabad district, West Bengal. And once I had confidently identified the site, I now realized what an important discovery this was. The easternmost limit of Cheetahs in India was previously thought to be Deoghar in Santhal Parganas. There has never been, up until now, any reference to Cheetahs being encountered in lands east of Deoghar. But now, this reference proves that not only did they occur further east of Deoghar, they were infact found almost upto what is now the Bangladesh border. Located almost 200 kms south-east of Deoghar, Madhupur village is located just ~20 kms as the crow flies west of the Indo-Bangladesh Border! And so I can confidently say that with this discovery, Asiatic Cheetah's historical range has been extended eastwards, almost upto the Bangladesh border. Though, strictly speaking, a single reference of a species from an area is not enough to include that area in the species' distribution-range. However, in case of the Indian Cheetah, the references are so few and scattered, that even a single reference is good enough for us - most of the times that single reference is all we have.
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
24
Appendix II - Cheetahs of Orissa If archival records are anything to go by, Cheetahs were well distributed in Orissa as well. Within Orissa, all the Cheetah references come from central and western Orissa, as well as from the deep south with some of the last alleged Cheetah sighting reports surfacing from the Orissa-Andhra Pradesh border. Space constraints however won't allow me to go into a detailed discussion on the Cheetah's distribution in the state; perhaps I will have to write another paper for that. So even though I won't be quoting each and every Cheetah reference from Orissa that I have at my disposal in detail, I will try to quote most of them here, which hopefully will provide the readers a general overview of the species' distribution in the state. L.S.S. O'Malley — who apart from other administrative books also has dozens of District Gazetteers to his credit in the period between circa 1905-1930 — in his book Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, Sikkim published in 1917, wrote:
"A few cheetahs or hunting leopards have been shot in the Orissa States." (O'Malley 1917). In those days, much of present day Orissa was under princely rule, divided into a number of "tributary or feudatory states", as the British used to call them. Only the districts of Sambalpur, Angul, Puri, Cuttack and Balasore were under direct British rule. So naturally, the details of fauna in most of the Tributary states are sketchy, though a few insights into the faunal wealth of Gangpur and Bonai states in northern Orissa can be found in various books and archival records.
# Sundargarh's Cheetahs : Hemgir or Himgir, is a block in the present day Sundargarh district of Orissa, located on the north-western border of the state with Chhattisgarh. In the days of the Raj, this area was a part of the 'game-rich' princely state of Gangpur, one of the two princely states (the other being Bonai) that were merged to form Sundargarh district. The terrain around Himgir is very similar to that of other Cheetah-bearing areas of southern Jharkhand — a ~60 km and ~15km forested hill range to its south, a maze of broken forested hills to the north and east, and the Tamnar & Ghargoda valleys (roughly of the same dimensions as the southern hill ranges) with their open tracts, to its west. In these very broken hills to the north-west of Himgir where
Cropped map of Orissa from the Imperial Gazetteer of India's map of Bengal and Sikkim, 1907
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
25
two Cheetahs were shot, while 2 others were seen to the south, in circa 1905. L.E.B Cobden-Ramsay recorded this in one of the volumes of Bengal District Gazetteer series titled Feudatory states of Orissa, published in 1910:
"The chitah (Felis jubata) or hunting leopard is not supposed to inhabit Bengal, but there are a few to be found in the west of the State of Gangpur in the Himgir zamindari. Two have been shot in the Garjan hill in the north-west of that zamindari and two more have been seen in south Himgir on the border of Kodabaga." (Cobden-Ramsay 1910). Kodabaga was also a zamindari, south of Himgir. And although there are no documented records to prove the same, it's very likely that Cheetahs also occurred in northern Sundergarh's Saranda landscape (near its border with Jharkhand's Singhbhum district) given the fact that Jaraikela, is hardly 10-12 kms away from the Orissa border.
# Cheetahs of erstwhile 'Greater Sambalpur' district: The British-era Sambalpur district has now been split up into three districts—Jharsuguda, Sambalpur and Bargarh. And it's been mentioned time and again, right from the mid 19th century to circa 1920 that Cheetahs weren't uncommon in this part of the country. The earliest evidence of the Cheetah inhabiting Sambalpur comes from this hitherto unrecorded reference of the species in the book Jungle life in India: Or, The Journeys and Journals Of An Indian Geologist published in 1880. Written by Valentine Ball, among the country's foremost geologist in his days, he mainly operated in the area of Orissa and Chota-Nagpur plateau and became a pioneering ornithologist of the area as well. In the book's appendix 'On the Mammals and Birds occurring in the area which extends from the Ganges to the Godavari rivers', Ball writes:
"Felis jubata, Schreb. — The hunting-leopard appears to have been obtained in Sambalpur." (Ball 1880). W.T. Blanford, the famous geologist and naturalist, and a good friend of V. Ball would later quote him in his celebrated book The Fauna Of British India Including Ceylon & Burma published in 1888, while describing the distribution of the Cheetah in India:
"I once saw a skin that had been brought in by a local shikari at Deoghar, in the Sonthal Pergunnahs, south of Bhagalpur, and Ball saw another, under similar circumstances, at Sambalpur." (Blanford 1888). In yet another hitherto unrecorded reference, L.S.S. O'Malley in his District Gazetteer of Sambalpur, published in 1909, writes about the Cheetah's as well as the Caracal's presence in the district:
"The chitah or hunting leopard (Cynaelurus jubatus) is also met with occasionally, more especially in the more open country to the south and west. The red lynx (Felis caracal), though very rare, has been seen and indentified on more than one occasion. It is found in the south-west of the district, and one is known to have been run-down with dogs a mile to the east of Sambalpur." (O'Malley 1909). This is the last time Cheetah is mentioned in Sambalpur; and so in all probability they disappeared from Sambalpur in first quarter of the 20th century. The Caracal followed suit in a few years, for there have been no Caracal reports from anywhere in Orissa in the last 30-40 years. The last such report was one from Mayurbhanj district in 1962 (Behura and Guru 1969).
# A Cheetah shot in Talcher: Talcher is one of the 4 subdivisions of Angul District in Central Orissa. A cheetah was shot here in 1932 by Sir Arthur Cunnigham Lothian, who remorsefully wrote in his book Kingdoms of Yesterday, published in 1951: "In Talcher one day, when out for a Tiger, I fired at an animal moving through the jungle, and found to my great regret that I had shot a specimen of that very rare animal, the Indian cheetah." (Lothian 1951). # Alleged Cheetah Sightings From Orissa: Orissa has reported at least two alleged Cheetah sightings post the killing of the last 3 Cheetahs in 1947. A gentleman named James Milne claimed to have seen one near the Orissa-Andhra Border in 1951 while the local villagers opined that
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
26
there were more Cheetahs in that area (Seshadari 1969). And then a Shikari is said to have seen one in an isolated corner of Dhenkenal forest in 1960 (Behura and Guru 1969). It's worth noting here that Dhenkenal forests are about 50 kms south-east of Talcher town, and it's quite possible that the Cheetah killed by Arthur Lothian in 1932 was shot somewhere around this very forest area of Dhenkenal. An embarrassing controversy arose in last months of 1990, when the then Field Director of Similipal Tiger Reserve inadvertently referred to a large Leopard he had seen on his trip along the Baniabasa-Bhajam-Jenabil road of the park, (Singh pers. comm.) by its vernacular name viz. Cheeta. The story was picked up by the press who reported that the long extinct Indian Cheetah had been rediscovered in Similipal by the Director and Deputy Director of the park! The story caused a bit of flurry in the conservation quarters before the matter was cleared up.
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
27
Appendix III - The "Mystery Panther" Of Ranchi District
Two 'Hunting-Leopards' on a hunt --- one of them stalks the prey, while the other stands on a vantage point atop a few rocks. This rare painting was published in The Instructive Picture Book - Lessons from the Geographical Distribution of Animals or the Natural History of the Quadrupeds which Characterise the Principal Divisions of the Globe; Edmondson & Douglas, 1860.
"Rock Panther"! — Those two words caught my attention as I flipped through the pages of yet another district Gazetteer — the Ranchi District Gazetteer. What was this "Rock Panther" I wondered, for I hadn't ever come across this name in the hundreds of archival books and papers that I had poured over during my research. The Ranchi District Gazetteer was published in 1917 by M.G. Hallett, though Hallett admitted that much of the material quoted in the text had actually been compiled by his predecessor T.S. Macpherson - who for some reason could not complete his work - between 1909 and 1912. In his gazetteer, Hallett writes in the section on Leopards:
"Biru Pahar and Palkot are typical rocky hills where leopards are to be found, and from the former no less than eight leopards have been killed in one year. The distinction between the rock and the wood panther, though admitted by few naturalists, is very clear in this district. The former is smaller, the spots closer and without any resemblance to a finger print; the head bullet-shaped and the ears small and pricked. This animal is rarely dangerous and confines its depredations to goats, pigs, and even fowls. The larger species is frequently a cattle-destroyer, and in the years 1911 to 1913 leopards were reported to have killed 1720 head of cattle. During this period also 207 leopards were killed for rewards." (Hallet 1917). And the post independence revised Gazetteer of Ranchi (published in 1970) compiled using information that had been collected post this Hallett's 1917 Gazetteer, further added to this description. This revised Gazetteer said:
"Leopards or Panthers (Felis pardus) are common in this district. No man-eating Leopards have been reported, though maulings have been frequent due to the animals being wounded. The low rocky round Palkot and Biru are the favorite habitat of leopards. * In the next few lines, Hallet's 1917 reference quoted above is republished *
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
28
The Adivasis distinguish three types of leopards or panthers. The 'Dog-eater' or 'Kukur Khaia" the smallest of the trio lives and hunts round villages and is bold enough to enter even into huts." (Kumar 1970). The characteristics of the other two Leopard types described in the gazetteer viz. "Bija Phuliya" and "Pahar Chita" were almost the same as what the British used to call the "Tree Panther" and the "Grass Panther" respectively. Even though today there are no recognized sub-species of Indian Leopards, during the days of the Raj, almost all British Naturalists and hunters unanimously agreed that there were two types of Panthers or Leopards in India — the larger and stockier "Grass Panther" which had a brighter rosette coat, and the smaller & lighter "Tree Panther" which had a duller coat. However, I had never come across any reference to anything known as the "Rock Panther". Almost every standard natural history book of the British days says that the apart from the two types of Leopards, the only other spotted feline of the mainland i.e. the third 'Leopard' is the 'Hunting Leopard' or Felis jubata or the Cheetah. And, I for one am pretty confident that the "Kukur Khaia" of the Adivasis and Hallet's "Rock Panther" is the same animal, and this animal is nothing but the Cheetah itself. Apart from the nomenclature anomaly for the so called 'Rock Panther', that I've just explained, there are four other clues as well in the above two quoted texts that were critical to my conclusion. They are: # Hallett says that this 'Rock Panther’ is "smaller, spots more closer and without any resemblance to a finger-print, head bullet shaped and ears small and pricked". This description bears some resemblance to that of the Cheetah. I suppose what Hallett means by the words "finger-prints" is the "rosette spots" on a Leopard's body that look like finger-prints and serve the same purpose as well (as no two Leopards have the same rosette pattern). Cheetahs on the other hand don't have these rosette spots, the spots on their body being mere black round dabs. Moreover, by the words "spots more closer", Hallett, I suppose, meant the "density of spots". A Cheetah is more 'densely spotted' as compared to a Leopard; by densely spotted I mean the number of spots per unit area of a Cheetah's coat (ideally the flanks) will be more as compared to the number of rosettes in a correspondingly equivalent unit area of Leopard coat. And I believe it's because of these two reasons that Hallett calls this 'Rock Panther' as having "spots more closer and without any resemblance to a finger print". Hallett also writes that the 'Rock Panther's' head is "bullet shaped". To me, this sounded a typical description of the Cheetah's head/skull. However, to be on the safer side, I contacted M.K. Ranjitsinh, an eminent conservationist and a Cheetah expert. I asked him a simple query; " Between the Cheetah and the Leopard, which one according to you would fit this description - "Head bullet shaped" ? " His reply was short and sweet -" Cheetah, clearly." The most plausible reason why Hallett calls his 'Rock Panther' "smaller" than the ordinary Leopard could be the fact that the general appearance of the stockier and much more heavily built Leopard is always more imposing than that of the lean and lighter built Cheetah; and hence even though the two animals are almost of the same size (i.e. head to tail length), a lay man will describe the Cheetah's appearance as being smaller to that of Leopard. And the description of the "small and pricked" ears of Hallett's 'Rock Panther', somewhat matches the Indian Cheetah's general description in all natural history books right from Blanford (1888), Lydekker (1896) Sterndale (1884) and Pocock (1941). All would write that this feline had "Ears short and rounded". Perhaps Hallett's choice of the word "pricked" though was wrong for both Cheetah and Leopards have rounded ears. However, the use of the word "pricked" by Hallet to describe the 'Rock Panther's' ear-shape also throws up an intriguing comparison - the most common animal we see with "pricked ears" is the dog, and the Cheetah was infrequently also referred to as the "dogleopard" ! # The revised gazetteer says that the Adivasis' "Dog-eater" or "Kukur Khaia", just like Hallett's 'Rock Panther' is the "smallest of the trio" of spotted felines and "hunts around villages". Cheetahs
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
29
hunted in open tracts, and over the last century such open tracts were more often than not "around villages — the books by Mervyn Smith and a few others have narrated how Cheetahs which often loitered around in the open tracts on the village peripheries would pick up the village dogs from these areas. And this dog-eating Leopard of the adivasis was "bold enough to enter even into huts". Now, even though a Leopard is perfectly adapted to enter into huts, in light of all the other accompanying descriptions of this animal - that were more Cheetah-like than Leopard-like - the two names that immediately flashed-up as I read this description were "Braddon" and "Mervyn Smith". Braddon, as already narrated before in detail, had twice killed Cheetahs in Deoghar that had broken into huts in pursuit of village livestock; while Mervyn Smith had narrated how a Cheetah tunneled his way into a hut to seize a calf. However, it's extremely unlikely that Cheetahs had survived in Ranchi district by the time of this gazetteer's publication (i.e. 1970); most probably the content of this particular reference was a few decades old. # Nonetheless, the above two references leave room for ambiguities. However, it was these lines by Hallett that are unmistakably reminiscent of the classic description of Indian Cheetah's demeanor. "This animal is rarely dangerous and confines its depredations to goats, pigs and even fowls." wrote Hallett describing the 'Rock Panther'. A Leopard — even though it would happily go for Goats, pigs and fowls — would never "confine its depredations" to just these animals, which is evident when Hallett writes "the larger species is frequently a cattle-destroyer, and in the years 1911 to 1913 leopards were reported to have killed 1720 head of cattle". However, the Cheetah on the other hand, had always "confined its depredations" to exactly these small livestock viz. Goats, pigs and fowls (along with an occasional lifting off of a calf). Moreover, if Hallett's 'Rock Panther' was indeed a Leopard/Panther, he certainly would never ever be considered "rarely dangerous", especially during the days of the Raj when the district administration was hell bent on making their countries free of Leopards and Tigers. The only large-feline that has ever been given that honor of being "rarely dangerous" by the British is — yes, it's the Cheetah! This was because this gentle cat never attacked Humans and his depredations of the smaller livestock were almost negligible against - what the Sahebs would regularly term as - "the large-scale livestock damage caused by Tigers and Leopards". # And then finally, the area of "Biru Pahar and Palkot", which this small and rather harmless so-called 'Rock Panther' is said to have inhabited, is the exact area where a Cheetah was shot circa 1905, as I've already narrated in the section A Cheetah Shot in the erstwhile 'Greater Ranchi' District. And so everything perfectly added up, there were just too many similarities to ignore; and hence I arrived at my conclusion. I later consulted Divyabhunsinh Sir as well to get his views on this Rock Panther reference. And he agreed, this description seemed to be that of a Cheetah to him as well. Hence the puzzle of The "Mystery Panther" of Ranchi District has been finally solved, it seems. But does that mean that the "eight Leopards killed in a year" in the area of Biru Pahar and Palkot were actually Cheetahs? Unfortunately, it's impossible to determine the answer to this question; maybe all were Cheetahs, maybe some of them were and maybe none of them were. We shall never know.
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
30
Appendix IV --- Chronology of Cheetah's Extinction From Jharkhand DATE
LOCATION
REMARKS
SOURCE
c. 1875
Somij Village, Saranda Forests, West Singhbhum District, Jharkhand
Two Cheetahs killed
Smith, 1904
c. 1877
Erstwhile Hazaribagh District, Jharkhand
Cheetah or 'Dog-Leopard' occasionally found
Hunter, 1877b
c. 1880
Jaraikela Village, Cheetah makes-off with a pet Saranda Forests West deer Singhbhum District, Jharkhand
Smith, 1904
c. 1880
Bendee Village, Saranda Forests, West Singhbhum District, Jharkhand
Cheetah enters a village hut, kills and makes off with a calf
Smith, 1904
c. 1880-1882
Saranda, West Singhbhum District, Jharkhand
Cheetahs kill atleast 7 dogs belonging to Mervyn Smith
Smith, 1904
c. 1880
Erstwhile Palamau District, Jharkhand
Cheetahs shot in Palamow
Edward, 1886
c. 1880
Deoghar, Deoghar District, Jharkhand
Two Cheetahs killed
Edward Braddon, 1895
c. 1885
Deoghar District, Jharkhand
Cheetah skin obtained from a local shikari
Blanford, 1888
c. 1905
Palkot, Gumla District, Jharkhand
One Cheetah shot
Cobden-Ramsay, 1910
c. 1907
Erstwhile Palamau District, Jharkhand
Cheetah occasionally met with
O'Malley, 1907
c. 1910
Palkot and Biru Hills, Gumla District, Jharkhand
Cheetah or Hallett's 'Rock Panther" common ; 8 'Leopards/Panthers' (some of them Cheetahs?) obtained from this area in a year
Hallett, 1917
c. 1923
Nagar-Untari, Garhwa District, Jharkhand
Cheetah (?) carrying off children from the neighbourhood
Tallents, 1926
c. 1926
Erstwhile Palamau District, Jharkhand
Cheetah occasionally met with
Tallents, 1926
c. 1935
Erstwhile Palamau District, Jharkhand
Cheetah believed to survive in Palamau
Houlton, 1949
# The format of this Table is based on the Table published in Divyabhanusinh's book. The End of a Trail: Cheetah in India. # Inspite of numerous efforts, I could not find the current locations of Somij and Bendee villages. Though I will keep trying, it's possible that these villages have ceased to exist/ were shifted out during the settlement of Saranda Reserved forest/ had their names changed.
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
31
Chronology of Cheetah's Extinction From Jharkhand Map Š Raza Kazmi
Appendix V - Jharkhand Cheetah Distribution Map
Approximate historical range of the Cheetah in Jharkhand. All the Cheetah references originated from the yellow shaded area. Most of this area consisted of a mixture of open, scrubby, rocky or lightly forested (except Saranda) terrain Š Raza Kazmi
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
32
Appendix VI - Jharkhand's lone Caracal Reference: Hazaribagh Cheetah's habitat in Western, Central Indian and East-Central Indian Landscape almost completely overlapped with that of another elusive and little-understood wild cat - the Caracal or Siyah-Gosh, its Persian name by which it's commonly known in India. Back in the days when the sport of Coursing with Cheetahs was at its zenith, it wasn't uncommon to find the sport of Cheetah Coursing being accompanied by the another sport called "Hunting with Caracals", with the Cheetah's smaller sidekick - the Caracal -being the showstopper for this sport. Caracals just like Cheetahs could be easily trained. Apart from this, another possible reason for the sport of Hunting with Caracals being exclusively prevalent in those states that indulged in Cheetah Coursing, would be the fact that Caracals were sympatric with Cheetahs; and so it was easy for the Cheetawala Pardhis — the Cheetah trapping tribe that post-Cheetah's extinction became simply Pardhis, still notorious to this date for their involvement in illegal wildlife trade — to trap Caracals along with the Cheetahs. In the old district archival records right from the Kathiawar and Rajputana states in western India to Sambalpur in central Orissa, almost everywhere a mention of Cheetah's presence was accompanied with that of the Caracal or the Red Lynx - as the British naturalists of yesteryears used to call it - as well. And so, it was a surprise to me that I hadn't come across any Caracal references from Jharkhand during my research, inspite of the fact that the Cheetah habitats in Palamu, Gumla, Hazaribagh and Deoghar would have been ideal Caracal habitats as well. It was a long held view that Caracals didn't occur in Bengal. T.C. Jerdon while describing the Caracal in his book The Mammals of India published in 1874 had written:
"It appears to be quite unknown in the Himalayas and in Bengal, and the countries to the eastward." (Jerdon 1874). Almost all other British naturalists either concurred with Jerdon's view or remained mute on the cat's status in Bengal. O'Malley's Sambalpur Caracal reference of 1909 — which incidentally is the only confirmed Caracal reference from Orissa that I know of — finally demolished this long held view, even though one other reference by Ball (described below) also suggested of their presence in Bengal. While nearing the completion of this paper, I was randomly going through some old JBNHS papers on the Cheetah's mannerisms. And that is when I stumbled across what according to me is the first and perhaps the only Caracal reference from Jharkhand. This note had luckily been published just above the note on the Cheetah's voice, which I had planned on reading. This is the first and uptil today the only Caracal reference from Jharkhand that I'm aware of I am reproducing that note - published in 1959 in the Journal's 56th volume (Sen 1959) - here in toto:
THE PRESENT STATUS OF THE INDIAN LYNX Is the Indian Lynx (Caracal caracal) disappearing from our forests? Would your readers kindly enlighten me through your journal when and where this animal has been seen during the last 3-4 years? This animal was been seen by me in Hazaribagh National Park in Bihar in December 1957 and by Shri K. S. Sankhala, Divisional Forest Officer, Jaipur, in Sariska Game Sanctuary in Rajasthan on 31 October 1958. Two immature cubs were found in the Sariska Sanctuary. The cubs could not be kept alive and their carcasses were sent to the Zoological Survey of India for identification and preservation. Judging from the manner in which these cubs were abandoned by the parents it looks to me that the natural food of this animal is fast disappearing and therefore the mother not being capable of rearing the cubs abandoned them. They do not seem to have the habit of tigers and panthers of eating their cubs if food supply is difficult. JAIPUR, RAJASTHAN April 2, 1959
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
N. N. SEN, I.F.S., Chief Conservator of Forests
33
The Hazaribagh Wildlife Sanctuary is located almost at the centre of contemporary as well as Bristish-era Hazaribagh District. Now, Caracals couldn't have air-dropped themselves into Hazaribagh WLS. So, surely they would have (still do?) existed in the north Palamau, Shahabad, southern hills of Gaya, and maybe even Gumla, Deoghar and Chatra, for the forests of all these districts formed one contiguous belt. It's worth reiterating here that the Caracal was also shot by G.O. Allen, south of Mirzapur district which borders the erstwhile Greater Palamau and Shahabad districts. However, I would do great injustice if I failed to mention here the following snippet reference that confirmed the occurrence of Caracals in the British Chotanagpur Division - which today includes most of Jharkhand, as well as some neighbouring areas of Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Orissa. Mr. V. Ball, in a note titled "On the Avifauna of Chutia (Chota) Nagpur Division, S.W. Frontier of Bengal" published in 1874 in A.O. Hume's journal of Ornithology Stray Feathers, wrote this while describing the mammalian fauna of the division:
"The Lynx (Felis caracal) I have once seen. It seems to be extremely rare." (Ball 1874). W.T. Blanford caused some confusion when, while describing the Caracal in his book, he first writes: "Ball met with it in Chutia Nagpur." (Blanford 1888); and then in the very next line writes a contradictory statement: "Unknown in Bengal and the Eastern Himalayas". So it was V. Ball who first mentioned the presence of Caracal in the Chota-Nagpur region. However, the only reason I call Sen's note to be "Jharkhand's lone Caracal reference" is because Ball never mentioned the area within the Chota-Nagpur division where he came across the Caracal, and hence, even though most-probably he saw one in what is today the state of Jharkhand, there still is a faint possibility that the area where he saw a Caracal was outside the state in neighbouring districts. The present status of the Caracal in Jharkhand is unknown for there has been almost no species-research in this part of the country, and sadly the Forest Department, save for the big-game and larger ungulates, is largely ignorant of the presence or absence of other small and elusive species in their forests. It's quite possible that a thorough research of these forests might well throw up some amazing discoveries.
R.A. Sterndale's sketch of a Caracal from his book Natural History Of Mammalia Of India And Ceylon, 1884.
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
34
Appendix VII - List of Hitherto Unrecorded Cheetah References used in this Paper 1. Raoul: Madhupur village, West Bengal Cheetah reference. 2. W.W. Hunter: Hazaribagh Cheetah reference. 3. Mervyn A. Smith: Two Cheetahs killed around Somij village in Saranda. 4. M.G. Hallett: Palkot & Biru Hills Cheetah ('Rock Panther') reference. 5. L.S.S. O'Malley: Palamau District Gazetteer, 1907 Cheetah reference. 6. P.C. Tallents: Palamau District Gazetteer, 1926 Cheetah reference. 7. Sir John Wardle Houlton: Palamau Cheetah reference. 8. V. Ball: Cheetah reference from Sambalpur. 9. L.S.S. O'Malley: Sambalpur District Gazetteer Cheetah reference. 10. L.S.S.O'Malley: Orissa Cheetah reference (in his book Bengal, Bihar, Orissa & Sikkim).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank Mr. Divyabhanusinh - one of India's most respected conservationists - his expertise on the Indian Cheetah and the Asiatic Lion is unparalleled and unmatched. Divyabhanusinh has been an eternal source of encouragement and help. His seminal work on the Indian Cheetah in the form of his book The End of Trail: Cheetah in India is and will always be the most comprehensive work on the subject. It was his book that inspired me to find more about the Cheetah's life and death. And it was indeed a great honour for me to have this paper reviewed by him. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude towards Mr. Vinod Rishi, I.F.S., A.D.G. Wildlife (Retd.) who originally suggested that I write a paper narrating my new findings and references on the Cheetah. A treasure-trove of knowledge and a doyen of the fast vanishing clique of wildlife-oriented field officers, he has been a great mentor to me and among the most helpful and humble people I've come across. Dr. M.K. Ranjitsinh, an authority on the Cheetah and one of India's foremost conservationists, promptly responded to my queries with his typical short, crisp and to-the-point answers. And it was a privilege for me to have this paper reviewed by him as well. I can never thank enough the man to whom I owe whatever little knowledge I have of India's flora and fauna and the issues that afflict India's wildlife - my father, S.E.H. Kazmi, I.F.S. He has and will always be my inspiration; I could never have authored this paper without his encouragement, help and support. I'm grateful to Aamir Kazmi, my cousin, for his encouragement and humorous ways that always kept me in good spirits. Last, but by no means least, I would like to thank my mother Sanjida Kazmi and sister Zehra Kazmi for all their love and support. Raza Kazmi Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh Nov. 7th, 2011
ZOO's PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
35
REFERENCES Allen, G.O. (1919). ‘Caracal (Felis caracal) and Hunting Leopard (Cynaelurus jubatus) in Mirzapur, U.P.’, Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 26: 1041. Baldwin, J.H. (1876). The Large and Small Game of Bengal and the North-Western Provinces of India. London, Henry S. King & Co. Ball, V. (1874). ‘On the Avifauna of Chutia (Chota) Nagpur Division, S.W. Frontier of Bengal’, Stray Feathers: A Journal of Ornithology for India and its Dependencies; Vol. 2, p. 369. Calcutta, Calcutta Central Press Company Ltd. Ball, V. (1880). Jungle life in India: Or, The Journeys and Journals Of An Indian Geologist. London, Thos, De La Rue & Co. Behura, B.K. & G.B. Guru (1969). Wildlife of Orissa. Prakruti - Utkal University Journal. Science 6(2). Blanford, W.T. (1888). The Fauna of British India Including Ceylon and Burma: Mammalia. London, Taylor & Francis. Bombay, W. Thacker & Co.
Jerdon, T.C. (1874). The Mammals of India: A Natural History of All the Animals Known to Inhabit Continental India. London, John Wheldon & Co. Kumar, N. (1970). Ranchi District Gazetteer. Patna, Government of India. Lister, E. (1917). Bihar and Orissa District Gazetteers: Hazaribagh. Patna, Superintendent Government Printing, Bihar and Orissa. Lothian, A.C. (1951). Kingdoms of Yesterday. London, John Murray. Lydekker, R. (1896). A Handbook To The Carnivora, Part 1: Cats, Civets, and Mongooses. Llyod’s Natural History, London, Edward Lloyd, Ltd. Lydekker, R. (1900). The Great And Small Game Of India, Burma, & Tibet. London, Rowland Ward, Ltd. Mukerji, N.G. (1915). Handbook of Indian Agriculture (Third Edition). Calcutta, W. Thacker Spink & Co.
Braddon, E. (1895). Thirty Years of Shikar. Edinburg & London, William Blackwood & Sons.
O’Malley, L.S.S. (1907). Bengal District Gazetteers: Palamau. Calcutta, The Bengal Secretariat Book Depot.
Cobden-Ramsay, L.E.B (1910). Bengal District Gazetteers: Feudatory States of Orissa. Calcutta, The Bengal Secretariat Book Depot.
O’Malley, L.S.S. (1909). Bengal District Gazetteers: Sambalpur. Calcutta, The Bengal Secretariat Book Depot.
Divyabhanusinh (2006). The End of A Trail: The Cheetah in India (Third edition). New Delhi, Oxford University Press.
O’Malley, L.S.S. (1910). Bengal District Gazetteers: Santal Parganas. Calcutta, The Bengal Secretariat Book Depot.
Drake-Brockman, D.L. (1911). District Gazetteers of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, Vol. XXVII: Mirzapur. Allahabad, W.C. Abel, Office of the Superintendent, Government Press.
O’Malley, L.S.S. (1914). Bengal District Gazetteers: Murshidabad. Calcutta, The Bengal Secretariat Book Depot.
Edward B.B. (1886). Sport in Bengal and How, When, and Where to Seek It. London, Ledger, Smith & Co. Finn, F. (1929). Sterndale’s Mammalia of India. Calcutta, Thacker Spink & Co.
O’Malley, L.S.S. (1917). Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, Sikkim. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Pocock, R.I. (1941). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma: Mammalia Vol. I. London, Taylor & Francis Ltd.
Fraser, T.G. (1881). Record of Sport and Military Life in Western India. London, W.H. Allen & Co.
Raoul (1893). Reminiscences of Twenty Years’ Pigsticking in Bengal. Calcutta, W. Thacker Spink & Co.
Hallet, M.G. (1917). Bihar and Orissa District Gazetteers: Ranchi. Patna, Superintendent Government Printing, Bihar and Orissa.
Sen, N.N. (1959). ‘The Present Status of the Indian Lynx’, Journal of Bombay Natural History Society 56: 317.
Hindustantimes (2011). http:// www.hindustantimes.com/We-inhale-clouds-of-redash-say-villagers/Article1-755089.aspx
Seshadari, B. (1969). The Twilight Of India’s Wildlife. London, John Baker Publishers.
Houlton, J.W. (1949). Bihar, the Heart of India. Bombay, Orient Longmans Ltd.
Singh, L.A.K. Senior Research Officer (Retd.), Similipal Tiger Reserve: personal communication.
Hunter, W.W. (1877a). A Statistical Account of Bengal; Vol. 12: Districts Of Gaya And Shahabad. London, Trubner & Co.
Smith, M.A. (1904). Sport And Adventure In The Indian Jungle, With Illustrations from Original Drawings and Photographs. London, Hurst And Blackett Ltd.
Hunter, W.W. (1877b). A Statistical Account of Bengal; Vol. 16: Districts Of Hazaribagh and Lohardaga. London, Trubner & Co.
Sterndale, R.A. (1884). Natural History of The Mammalia of India and Ceylon. Calcutta, W. Thacker Spink & Co. London, W. Thacker & Co.. Tallents, P.C. (1926). Bihar and Orissa District Gazetteers: Palamau. Patna, Superintendent, Government Printing, Bihar and Orissa.
ZOO’s PRINT, Volume XXVII, Number 4, April 2012
36
Magazine of Zoo Outreach Organisation ZOO’s PRINT Publication Guidelines
Publication Information
We welcome articles from the conservation community of all SAARC countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other tropical countries if relevant to SAARC countries’ problems and potential.
ZOO’s PRINT, ISSN 0973-2543 Published at: Coimbatore Owner: Zoo Outreach Organisation, 96, Kumudham Nagar, Vilankurichi Road, CBE 35
Type — Articles of semi-scientific or technical nature. News, notes, announcements of interest to conservation community and personal opinion pieces.
Editor: Sally R. Walker Associate Editors: R.V. Sanjay Molur and Daniel B. Ayyachamy Managing Editor: Latha G. Ravikumar Editorial Assistant: R. Marimuthu
Feature articles — articles of a conjectural nature — opinions, theoretical, subjective. Case reports: case studies or notes, short factual reports and descriptions. News and announcements — short items of news or announcements of interest to zoo and wildlife community Cartoons, puzzles, crossword and stories Subject matter: Captive breeding, (wild) animal husbandry and management, wildlife management, field notes, conservation biology, population dynamics, population genetics, conservation education and interpretation, wild animal welfare, conservation of flora, natural history and history of zoos. Articles on rare breeds of domestic animals are also considered. Source: Zoos, breeding facilities, holding facilities, rescue centres, research institutes, wildlife departments, wildlife protected areas, bioparks, conservation centres, botanic gardens, museums, universities, etc. Individuals interested in conservation with information and opinions to share can submit articles ZOOS’ PRINT magazine. Manuscript requirements: Articles should by typed into a Word format and emailed to zooreach@zooreach.org. Avoid indents, all caps or any other fancy typesetting. You may send photos, illustrations, tables. Articles which should contain citations should follow this guideline: a bibliography organized alphabetically and containing all details referred in the following style: surname, initial(s), year, title of the article, name of journal, volume, number, pages. Editorial details: Articles will be edited without consultation unless previously requested by the authors in writing. Authors should inform editors if the article has been published or submitted elsewhere for publication.
Zoo Outreach Organisation Trust Committee and Sr. Staff Managing Trustee: Sally R. Walker Chairman Trustee: R. Nandini Executive Director Trustee: R.V. Sanjay Molur Finance Director Trustee: Latha G. Ravikumar Scientist: B.A. Daniel Researcher: R. Marimuthu Other staff: B. Ravichandran, R. Pravin Kumar, K. Geetha, S. Radhika, Arul Jagadish, K. Raveendran, S. Sarojamma ZOOs’ PRINT magazine is informal and newsy as opposed to a scientific publication. ZOOS’ PRINT magazine sometimes includes semi-scientific and technical articles which are reviewed only for factual errors, not peer-reviewed. Address: Zoo Outreach Organisation Post Box 5912, 96, Kumudham Nagar, Vilankurichi Road Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641 035, India Phone: +91 422 2665298 Fax: +91 422 2665472 E-mail: zooreach@zooreach.org Website: www.zooreach.org, www.zoosprint.org
Announcements
The 2012 International Aquarium Congress (IAC) is now just 10 months away. Your host, the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, South Africa, looks forward to welcoming you to our shores from 9 to 14 September 2012.
Call for papers Prospective presenters are now invited to submit their abstracts for papers or posters to be presented at the 8th International Aquarium Congress (IAC) in Cape Town, South Africa from 9 to 14 September 2012.
The IAC, which takes place every four years, is the most important and prestigious event for the public aquarium industry. It has been held in several countries, but 2012 marks the first year that the congress will take place in the Southern Hemisphere and on African soil.
Click here to learn about our themes and submission guidelines: http://iac2012.co.za/ congress/call_for_papers/
Click here to view the provisional 2012 IAC programme: http://iac2012.co.za/congress/ preliminary_programme/congress_programme/ Click here to register now: http://iac2012.co.za/ congress/register/ Keynote speakers announced We are delighted to announce the three guest speakers who will be delivering keynote addresses during the opening ceremony of the 2012 IAC on 10 September 2012. Dr Camille Parmesan was ranked by Reuters ISI Web of Science as the second most highly cited author in the field of climate change in 2010. Read more: http:// iac2012.co.za/blog/entry/ dr_camille_parmesan_to_speak_at_2012_international_ aquarium_congress/ Dr Elin Kelsey will deliver a keynote for the 2012 IAC that positions "hope" as an emerging narrative for aquariums around the world. According to Kelsey, "Aquariums have a unique ability to engender emotional connections between people, animals and environments." Read more: http://iac2012.co.za/blog/ entry/ dr_erin_kelsey_brings_hope_to_2012_international_aqu arium_congress/ Emeritus Professor George Branch is a world-renowned authority on the southern African marine environment. His passionate and entertaining lectures inspire a huge appreciation and understanding of the marine world. Read more: http://iac2012.co.za/blog/entry/ professor_george_branch_to_explore_two_oceans_at_2 012_international_aquariu/
Sponsor and exhibit At the 2012 IAC, you will have the opportunity to meet with key decision makers in exhibitory, conservation, sustainability and education fields. Top management personnel from aquariums from around the world are expected to attend. We offer a unique opportunity to exhibit to leading industry professionals from around the world. Click here to learn more about our exhibition options: http://iac2012.co.za/exhibit/ We also have a number of sponsorship and exposure opportunities to suit your budget and requirements, from top-end endorsements to green initiatives, as well as a host of advertising and advertorial opportunities. Click here to learn more about our sponsorship opportunities: http://iac2012.co.za/sponsor/ About the Two Oceans Aquarium The southern tip of the African continent is the meeting place of two mighty and bountiful oceans, the Indian and the Atlantic. The Two Oceans Aquarium on the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town is ideally positioned to showcase the incredible diversity of marine life found in these two oceans. The Aquarium is one of the top tourist attractions in Cape Town and over 3000 living sea animals, many of which are endemic to southern African waters, can be seen in this spectacular underwater nature reserve. Visit the Two Oceans Aquarium website for more information: http://www.aquarium.co.za/