Monkey Baat from Talakona

Our Talakona trip reacquainted me with all sorts of monkey business.  Bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata), everywhere in the camp, but not in the forests!  The forests belonged to the Grey Langurs.  It was fascinating to see this clear division between the omnivorous macaques and the leaf-eaing langurs.

In the same way. it was only MNS members of the Homo sapiens who seemed to go into the forests around - others stayed in camp!

It is the tuft of hair on the head that has led to their naming, I learnt. 

Photo by Baskar.  The Accommodation area, when serene and quiet, early in the morning or late in the evenings.  Through the weekend and the holidays, the whole area was packed with families and shrieking, excited homo sapiens, playing and bonding on the swings and slides in the play area.

 

 The macaque children also enjoyed the slides. 

Photo by Baskar.  It is a beautiful camp area, with a river running though it, and the tall riverine trees, so majestic!

Under these trees, we witnessed many an interesting macaque interaction.  As Tara walked along cheerfully chocolate in hand, a cheeky juevnile came and snatched at her hand, and as Bhuvanya told her to drop it, the monkey continued to pursue her...until chased away by the others, leaving Tara alarmed and shocked.

Photo by Baskar.  These were the rooms used by us ladies, all the balconies had grill protection from the monkeys, which emerged and swarmed the place when the tourists congregated.

It was like a regular jungle gym experience to see them clambering up and down the bars and stair cases.  Our dining area was also "caged" - we were within the cage, and the monkeys were out looking in on us.  They seemed especially fond of puris.  The morning when we had puris for breakfast, there were half a dozen monkey babies on the bars looking in, trying to make eye contact, make sad faces, cooing sounds, and actually beg for morsels.  I was so astonished to see this learned behaviour.  The bigger males, were on the roof, banging on the tin and making a god awful racket.  

On my return, I came across this article, which more or less sums up what we saw:  Novel ‘begging’ behaviour observed in bonnet macaques at Bandipur

Photo by Baskar.  The men's dorm was set back at the far end of the camp space, with lovely wooded walking trails behind it.

 

The little stream that was the life force of the area, and created the riverine ecosystem on either side. There were huge wild mango trees and Shorea species. Arjuna and Elephant apple as well.

The temperature in the camp under the tall trees was significantly lower than when we went say 500m away, where it became more scrub-like rocky, and dry.

I loved to sit on the benches by the side of the stream.  We saw a pair of Common Kingfishers one morning, while sitting on a bench.  They were on a fallen tree branch on the opposite side.  They called and bonded, fished and seemed to feed each other as well.  Such a lovely experience in the morning quiet.

Rajaram captured the kingfisher pair (Alcedo atthis), and the one with the orange lower mandible is likely the female.

Near the check dam, the cement wall was a favourite perch for the monkeys, they would sit and preen, sun bathe, meditate, groom, fight, love, beg, play and explore here. 

This Singapore cherry (?) was a favourite spot with the juveniles - they would sunbathe and pick fruits and play, all on its canopy, while the mother sat on the bund, appearing disinterested and meditative.

The Primate Conservancy site had this nice summary of their status and the human interactions we see. 

"Having learned to thrive in a wide range of habitats, the bonnet macaque (macaca radiata) is highly visible throughout India’s southern peninsula.  The scrappy bonnet macaque’s ability to live commensal with humans presents perhaps its greatest vulnerability: although the species appears abundant and at ease among humans, recent studies suggest its numbers may be declining faster than previously thought and conflicts with humans further plague this resourceful Asian monkey.

Diet

The bonnet macaque spends much of his time inhabiting temples and other urban places where he can readily consume human food. Although he prefers fruits and plant materials, he’s an omnivore and will resourcefully rummage for nourishment in nearby houses, food stalls, gardens, and trash piles. Sometimes, tourists will find entertainment in feeding the monkeys, making the foraging work all the easier. Pale-bellied bonnet macaques and other forest-dwelling bonnet macaques eat fruits, soil, insects, and sometimes small invertebrates and reptiles.

Consuming high concentrations of fruits, plant materials, and certainly human foods can upset even the most robust of digestive systems, but the bonnet macaque appears to have a way to alleviate indigestion, nausea, and diarrhea. A study conducted in the Marakkanam Reserve Forest of southern India found that bonnet macaques ate the soils of termite nests, known as termitaria, which are rich in kaolin and smectite. The combination of these materials, when consumed, mimics the mineralogy of eko, an African remedy for stomach ailments, and Kaopectate™, a western anti-diarrheal preparation."

 This macaque is picking termites of the tree.   Another one, having ingested something it did not like, was making puking sounds. 

Their climbing skills are remarkable even at a young age. 
 

 Two Alpha Male incidents

Yuvan observed a grown man hand-feeding Madras mixture to a grown monkey.  The man had a pleased look, as he held out his hand with mixture, and the monkey picked it up and ate.  This went on for some time, as the man dug into the mixture pack and refilled his hand, and the monkey ate.  The man looked gratified and the monkey ate.  Until the mixture ran out.  At this point, the monkey slapped the man, and stalked off, leaving a shattered and disillusioned man, whose visions of a man-animal bond had just crumbled.

The other incident also involves this same Alpha Male.  Prologue - I did not enjoy this caged eating, and so used to take my cup (or rather thimble) of tea, and sit by the water and enjoy the moment.  It seemed like the monkeys did not care for tea, and all was peaceful to woman and animal.    

Until the time I encouraged Bhuvanya and Minni to also bring their tea cups out and sit on a bench.  So a little MNS session was in progress, when the said Alpha Male, came up to Minni on the extreme left and tapped her leg, in a not-very-gentle fashion.  Our own not-so-alpha Male Yuvan then stomped his foot in a symbolic gesture of "be off with you".  But the real Alpha Male was having none of it, and went up to Yuvan and bared his teeth and let out a growl, causing Yuvan to be taken aback, quite literally.  In this fracas, Minni slipped away into the Caged Dining area with her tea, I sat transfixed and Bhuvanya jumped out of her seat.  The Monkey Male then turned its attention on me, and I (not wanting to share my tea), quickly drank the last dregs, and also fled, with empty cup.  And so ended that monkey encounter.

Langur vs Macaque

I have been a bit obsessed about understanding the difference between the two, and Ravi Chellam pointed me to two major differences - The macaques are omnivrous and have cheek pouches and the langurs are herbivores and have sacculated stomachs.

The link on Old World Monkeys describes it well.  There are at least 78 species of Old World monkeys in two subfamilies---the Cercopithecinae (that includes Macaques) and the Colobinae (that includes langurs).

The macaques have cheek pouches - "cheeks that expand rather like those of hamsters to allow the secure temporary storage of food.  This is a useful trait for these omnivorous monkeys since they compete with each other for desirable foods and are not inclined to share.  Fruit and meat are particularly prized."

The langurs are all herbivores - "lack cheek pouches.  They also share in common the fact that they have sacculated click this icon to hear the preceding term pronounced stomachs.  That is to say, their stomachs have "saccules," or sack-like compartments, in which bacteria and unusual combinations of enzymes break down plant cellulose, thereby providing more useable calories.  Their stomachs also contain more acid than do those of other monkeys.  This speeds up digestion but results in delicate stomachs.  The Colobinae have unusually long intestines that increase the absorption of nutrients.  These are all adaptations to a predominantly low protein, fibrous leaf diet.  Not surprisingly, the Colobinae are also referred to as the "leaf-eating monkeys." "

To Feed or not? 

Why Feeding Monkeys is Bad for Forests provides an opinion for all sorts of animal feedng, city dogs inclued, and how adoption is the better thing than street feeding. And the problems from various places reflects the same behaviour we saw at Talakona. 

"a video from Lopburi, in Thailand, depicted a more apocalyptic scene. It showed hundreds of long-tailed macaques roaming the streets and chasing down any hapless human they could find, hoping to scavenge scraps of food. These monkeys were used to being fed by tourists, and a thriving “animal feeding” industry had sprung up around the temple ruins. With the pandemic-induced lockdowns and travel bans, these easy sources of food vanished. The monkeys, completely dependent on humans, literally took to the streets.......

Near the Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal, residents have expressed their woes about macaques’ looting’ shops and wreaking havoc in fields. These incidents started occurring mainly after the lockdown. Like in Lopburi, the Buxa macaques too were accustomed to being provisioned by tourists.....

Animals fed on high calorie-low nutrient human food such as bread usually are obese, have alopecia, and have increased physiological stress and parasitic loads....As for the macaques, they are far too ecologically resilient to need any help from us."

Earlier this year, the monkey business got so out of hand in Chandigarh that the city put a fine and even imprisonment for anyone caught feeding monkeys. 

In my aunt's home at Jayanagar in Bangalore, a large troop of monkeys reside in her garden, and the humn residents all stay within their home, caged and locked in.  I know that they used to feed earlier, and not any more.

It is in the wider interest then, for the AP Forest Department to actively discourage monkey feeding, either by disallowing eating and picnicking in their camp site in the outdoors, or by active monitoring and education of the visiting homo sapiens.

Cheetah misadventures - one year on

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/one-year-indias-cheetah-project-shows-spotty-report-card-8943750/

Ravi Chellam writes:

And here's what the "other" side has to say.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/travel/travel-news/preparations-underway-to-bring-south-african-cheetahs-to-gandhi-sagar-sanctuary/articleshow/103727764.cms

"India is planning on bringing another batch of cheetahs from South Africa by the end of this year. When that happens, the plan is to relocate them to the Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh. Apart from Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary, another site called Nauradehi is being prepared. 

As of now, with 15 cheetahs and a cub, Kuno National Park is almost reaching its carrying capacity of 20 cheetahs. New sites are being developed to accommodate the newcomers by the end of this year. "

"This year, authorities are going to take extra precautions to bring in cheetahs that do not develop thick winter coats. This is because, from last year’s lot, some of the cheetahs developed thick winter coats in the Indian summer and monsoon months, which caused severe infections and deaths. "

Day 7 - Experiencing Dehing Patkai

7th October 6am

We were originally to check out of Namdang in the morning, but the plan changed to an afternoon check out.  So it was a more relaxed morning start, meaning there was no need to pack and take our bags down.  We headed for the Suraipong range of this relatively newer National Park, I think from the Digboi Duliajan Road.

It was a beautiful morning, and the road was so picturesque, with lovely lily ponds and tall trees.

Before we reached the Park, Probinda brought the vehicles to a halt as he had spotted a family of Gibbons up on the kadamba tree, by the roadside.  What a lovely sighting.  And I remembered seeing them on the outskirts of Kaziranga as well.  We had also heard a couple of troops calling to each other on the Tiwarigaon road, in the Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary and also seen them brachiating at a distance.  Today, we saw them close enough to see their features, their eyebrows and their behaviour.  Their calls are a characteristic part of the NE forests.

The pictures taken of the Gibbons by Meera and Ramesh are in the main trip report.  We craned our necks as they were high in the canopy, hidden by the thick foliage.  The male was busy contemplating a Cadamba fruit in one hand, the female was keeping an eye on us.  Our excited murmurs and come here, go there caused one of them to brachiate upwards and inside.  Then someone saw the baby near the mother.

Probin had mentioned that the Gibbon males feed after the females and children finish.  Couples are monogamous, and they seem rather gentle and shy.

Photo by Ravi of the male gibbon contemplating the fruit.  Probin mentioned that they are very neat eaters, feeding gently and finishing off the fruit, rather than the messy eaters that Macaques generally are.

The forests and the land and the trees are their homes, and these sensitive creatures are under stress because of our activities.

This essay from Mongabay elaborates on their fragility.

"As an exclusively arboreal species that requires contiguous, closed-canopy forests for survival, the hoolock gibbon is particularly vulnerable to the massive ongoing deforestation across northeastern India.

“When a contiguous habitat is reduced to scattered smaller fragments, they become ‘habitat islands’ in an inhospitable sea of degraded habitat,” said Sharma. These conditions can lead to inbreeding, he adds. “The resultant offspring are often weak, sometimes sterile or may have little reproductive fitness.”

Hoolock gibbons rarely move between forest fragments; they may refuse to cross gaps even as small as 200 meters. On top of that, they’re extremely picky about their food, and a restricted home range means limited food options.

Wildlife biologist Kashmira Kakati, whose doctoral research at the University of Cambridge was on Assam’s hoolock gibbons, recalls a gibbon family she observed during her fieldwork. “An entire portion of their home range became inaccessible via the canopy because a single connecting tree was felled,” she says. “I witnessed severely emaciated juvenile gibbons — a phenomenon that occurs when they’ve to feed on leaves for prolonged periods in the absence of fruits.”"

The essay goes on to say that even the Mishmi Gibbons whom we encountered on our walks in Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary are under threat from "illegal logging, land encroachment and expansion of agriculture, notably oil palm cultivation."  Oil palm cultivation, in the NE!  How can planners be so visionless I wonder.

635 am and we see a board that says 6km to the entrance of the sanctuary - the Suraipong range.

However, there was still a roadblock, quite literally to cross. Efforts to move it failed and it was finally cut.  The drivers all banding together and taking turns with the "aruvaal".  

We walked on in the meanwhile - not that we went far - since every step led a discovery.  

Like this Crested Goshawk which I thought was a Kestrel.  Photo by Ravi

Anyways we meandered on and reached the entrance, and it was close to 8am already.  The original idea was to be in by 630, and do a short and quick walk, and return for breakfast to the entrance, and then head out again for a walk.

So, we started with breakfast then - sandwiches and boiled eggs and bananas - before moving on to our walk.

Photo by Gayathree.  Leech socks, water, binocs...and armed guards at the front and rear.  Supposedly there was an elephant that did not like humans much roaming these parts.  (I don't blame the elephant actually - not much to like about our species.)

Dehing Patkai, under threat from oil fires quite recently, was a name, a remote and wild place, and now here I was walking through it.  Yuvan had been a moving force in the #SaveDehingPatkai movement in Chennai, and it was a relief to note that the planned coal mining has been stalled, for the moment at least.

One of the few remaining rainforests and situated on the banks of the Dehing river, the forest also is in close proximity to the oil mining areas of Digboi.  In fact we saw some closed oil wells as well, as we walked by.  The condensation from oil pipes are subject to theft, and the leaks can lead to fires and flares.

As we walked through in humid and hot conditions, I was struck by the dipterocarps that broke though out of the canopy and formed the overstory.

Mushrooms of different shapes and sizes were everywhere.

A pair of great hornbills flew overhead.  The forest resounded with the temple bell sound of the green cicadas.  Soon, the MNS groups was strung across a wide swathe, despite the early admonitions to stay together.  Arun, Sekar, Ramesh and Arjun had marched ahead along with one armed guard - they were the leading pack.  I was in the middle examining the undergrowth and leaf litter, and exclaiming at every bloom and the beautiful dry leaves.

Dipterocarp seeds on the forest floor, 

as also Hingori, chestnut seeds, 

and were these wild balsam?

Bringing up the rear were Yuvan and co, as they photographed butterflies, herbs, fungi and tried to id the trees.

At some point the decision was made to turn back.  I was worried - no sign of Sekar, where had he reached?  (He usually marches along at a merry pace while I dawdle and malinger).  Anyways a guard was sent to call the leading pack back- the message being that we were returning and they were to turn back. 

We hung around and chatted, waiting for them to return.  Pralay of Help Tourism telling us about all the other spots from Siliguri which we definitely should visit.  

After a length of time, still no sign of the returning troops, Vijay gets restive and begins to mutter and pace.  Finally, Sekar, Arjun and Ramesh return, sans Arun.  Supposedly the message conveyed at the other end was that you guys are too old to make this trip, so let's return!  Chinese Whispers to the power of N!!

And so we dawdled back and into the cars, met up with the local children, and went back to Namdang for a rather nice lunch with excellent Baingan bharta filled with chillies and otenga curry.  The plan was to check out, land our luggage into the cars and then head back to Dehing, and then move on to Tinsukhia.

We headed back to Dehing and walked along the outer road where the guards were not required.

I gasped upon seeing the Sultan Tits - goodness what colours.  A lifer for me.  They were like flashes of sunshine in the canopy, flitting about here and there.  I could not get enough of them, and also it was a challenge to see the whole bird as they moved so quickly and the canopy was so thick.  

Probin then took us down a  path where the Trogon is usually sighted.  We were shushed and excited.  It was sighted through the canopy!  Shh - there's the head - can you see that long tail, wait wait come here, you can see the full bird.  We strained and peered and finally, all of us in that group managed to piece the bird together, bit by bit!

And then we went and excitedly told the others when Yuvan shared this picture.

Red headed Trogon - Pic by Yuvan.  The bird gave him a good Darshan, sitting on the branch out in the open.  How blessed he was!  Harpactes erythrocephalus - another lifer for me.

And he also saw the Khalij Pheasant as did several others, but not me.

Another group had wandered down a third path where they were accosted by what looked like some guards - not Forest - who wanted to know their precedents and antecedents.  And so they left from that road.

The sun was beginning to set, and we set out from Dehing to Tinsukhia.

The last rays of the day were catching the tops of the Dipterocarps

and there was this lovely glow on the bucolic scenery. Everything looked so idyllic, even as I realised that there are hardships and tensions aplenty. 

The legendary Margherita as well.

630 pm - we were checked in at the Aroma Residency, and welcomed with some hot tea and biscuits,

and a Rhino matchbox

to boot!

More rain, Maguri Beel and Dibru Saikhowa awaited us.

Not two, only one species of hoolock gibbon in India: study

Not two, only one species of hoolock gibbon in India: study

Not two, only one species of hoolock gibbon in India: study

Sahana

Fourteen years after reports noting that India has two separate species of the gibbon – the hoolock gibbon and the eastern hoolock gibbon – a latest genetic analysis has now proved that there is only one species of ape in India.

Hoolock gibbon (Hoolock hoolock) is the only gibbon (apes in the family Hylobatidae) found in India, according to the analysis. Earlier, northeastern India was said to be home to two species: eastern (Hoolock leuconedys) and western hoolock (Hoolock hoolock) gibbons. A study led by Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad scientists states that there is no separate species of eastern hoolock gibbon in northeast India, debunking earlier research that had suggested a separate species (the assumed eastern hoolock gibbon) based on coat colour.

The CCMB research team was led by G. Umapathy; the other members of the team were Mihir Trivedi, Shivakumara Manu, Sanjaay Balakrishnan, Jihosuo Biswas, and N. V. K. Asharaf.

“These two populations are kept separately in the zoos and not allowed to breed, now they can be allowed to breed as they belong to single species. Further, a slight coat colour change in any species does not make a separate species. One has to examine genetic characteristics before describing a species,” G. Umapathy, Group Leader, Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES), CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, told Mongabay-India.

“We estimate that gibbon divergence from a common ancestor occurred 8.38 million years ago and that the split between H. hoolock and H. leuconedys occurred 1.49 million years ago,” the authors said.

Hoolock gibbon was described first in 1834, in the erstwhile kingdom of Assam by American naturalist R. Harlan. Previously eastern and western hoolocks were considered as sub-species but were later classified as species in 2005. The first distribution record of eastern hoolock gibbons in India was published in 2006.

Western hoolock gibbon is distributed all over northeast India, south and east of Brahmaputra river; along with Bangladesh and Myanmar. The eastern hoolock gibbon (termed as Mishmi hills hoolock in the paper) is distributed between Nao-Dehing, Lohit and Dibang rivers in Arunachal Pradesh. IUCN states that the presence of H. leuconedys in India is uncertain. In 2013, primatologist Anwaruddin Choudhury proposed H. hoolock mishmiensis, a sub-species of western hoolock gibbon found in the Mishmi hills.

Study co-author Jihosuo Biswas said the genetic analysis was necessary to clear the confusion between two physically different hoolock gibbon populations. The scientists collected blood, tissue, and faecal samples from various populations of H. hoolock and the Mishmi Hills gibbons in the wild, zoos, and rescue centers in northeast India. The study could not find any genetic differences between H. hoolock and the assumed eastern hoolock gibbon population in the region between the Lohit and Dibang rivers in northeast India.

The study suggests that the Mishmi hills hoolock is not a subspecies of H. hoolock but a population that was recently separated from the main H. hoolock population by the Barak river. The population of gibbons in Southern Assam, Mizoram and Bangladesh constitutes a “meta-population”. Metapopulations are populations of subpopulations within some defined area, in which dispersal from one local population (subpopulation) to at least some other habitat patches is possible.

“Our findings will help establish the species identity of the gibbons and can be used to create an effective gibbon conservation breeding program that will be undertaken by many Indian zoos and also aid translocation programmes,” Biswas of Primate Research Centre Northeast India, Guwahati told Mongabay-India.

Known for their vigorous vocal displays, gibbons are unique small apes, with 20 species, all of them endemic to south and southeast Asia. Gibbons play an important role in seed dispersal, which contributes to maintaining the health of the forests they call home, and benefit the communities that also use forest resources, states the International Union for Conservation of Nature, adding that globally, gibbons are one of the most threatened families of primates.

Gibbons are pair-living, usually with a monogamous mating system, and the adult male and female of a group sing prolonged duets. Hoolock gibbon adults exhibit distinct sexual dimorphism in pelage colouration, the males are black overall and the female becomes varying shades of brown and fawn at maturity, the study states. Both H. hoolock and H. leuconedys infants are born with a pale brown natal coat (infants are nearly white) similar in colouration to that of adult females. Infants of both sexes turn black.

Scientists say the identification of species and their distributions is crucial for successful conservation and understanding speciation. Phylogenetics plays an important role in recognising species and understanding their relationships with other taxa. Although new species have been declared based on distribution and morphology, phylogenetic studies are an integral part of describing and delineating a species through integrative taxonomy. In addition to assisting in situ conservation efforts by assessing the phylogenetic diversity of a taxon, phylogenetics is also useful for conservation breeding and captive management strategies and directly affects decisions regarding which individuals to breed, to prevent hybridisation and to maintain genetic diversity.

Primatologist Dilip Chetry who is not associated with the study said there is scope for more research in this direction by taking the samples from higher altitudes from Mishmi hills as well as from plain areas of Sadiya, Wakro, Kamlang and other areas from the north bank of Noadehing river.

Divya Vasudev, a senior scientist with Conservation Initiatives who is not associated with the study said, “The paper is critical for our understanding of the evolution, ecology and conservation status of both the eastern and western hoolock gibbon. We know now that there are populations of the western hoolock gibbon – a highly endangered species – and habitat for the species in Arunachal as well.” Divya has worked in Garo Hills in Meghalaya on gibbons.

“This also emphasises how important community-based conservation is for the western hoolock gibbon. The threats to the species remain though, and this understanding will only support on-ground conservation efforts for gibbons” she added.

Read more: Communities join hands to keep alive the hoolock gibbon’s song

A Dugong reserve announced

Better late than never: Experts on Tamil Nadu’s decision to go ahead with dugong reserve in Palk Bay

While India may be late, a conservation step such as this one is always welcome, they said

Marine biologists have welcomed the Tamil Nadu government’s recent decision to go ahead with the establishment of a conservation reserve for the elusive dugong (Dugong dugon), a sirenian species native to parts of the Indian littoral.

The Tamil Nadu government had announced September 3, 2021 that a dugong conservation reserve would be established in the Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay between India and Sri Lanka, for the conservation of the animals.

“The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden has submitted a concept note towards establishment of a Dugong Conservation Reserve,” a note released by the Tamil Nadu government February 15, 2022, said.

“The Government, after careful examination have decided to accept the above concept note of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden for creation of Dugong Conservation Reserve in Palk Bay,” it added.

The note directed the PCCF to send the draft notification of the proposal for obtaining the concurrence of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

00:05 01:01  

The TN government also accorded administrative approval for a sum of Rs 25 lakh for the preparation of a detailed project report and carrying out baseline field studies.

Vardhan Patankar, marine biologist, Wildlife Conservation Society-India, told Down To Earth:

It is definitely a late step because dugongs are on the verge of extinction. In the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, their population is less than 100. There are very few left in the Gulf of Mannar. In the Gulf of Kutch, there are very few sporadic records. They were present in Lakshadweep but now are locally extinct. We are too late in the light of all this. But it is good that we are taking steps at least now to conserve the species.

Sajan John, head of marine projects, Wildlife Trust of India, called it a heartening step as the proposal has come from the government. “Most governments are pro-development and conservation takes a backseat,” he said.

But he said one would have to wait and watch as to how this would actually translate into conserving the species.

“We have already declared dugongs as a Schedule I animal under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Legally, it was given the highest protection. It is hard to say right now as to how designating a conservation reserve just for dugongs will translate on the ground for their conservation,” he said.

Indeed, the implementation of the government’s order is going to be tough.

Declaring an area as ‘protected’ means there will be no human interference in there. “In forested landscapes, this is easy. There may be some tribal communities dependent on non-timber forest produce. But usually, fringe villages may not be that dependent,” John said.

“But in case of marine reserves, the sea is a type of commons. And coastal communities are highly dependent on it. By designating a protected marine area, you are literally denying the resources to such people. That is why there are community and conservation reserves. This will be a conservation reserve and it will be co-managed. But it still takes time for a management plan to be put in place,” he added.

Also, what next in dugong conservation in India? Patankar said massive awareness was needed about the dugong as very few people knew about them even in the Andamans where they are the state animal.

“The main cause of mortality for dugongs is accidental entanglement. They are marine mammals and have to surface every four minutes to breathe. Fishermen use gilnets and dugongs get trapped and killed in them unintentionally. This must be stopped,” he said.

This could be done through incentive programmes which many institutes already offer, Patankar said.

“For instance, if a dugong gets captured and is released by fishermen, they get Rs 5,000 if they provide photo documentation of the act. If the government ensures that every dugong release is celebrated it can work wonders,” Patankar noted.

Fishing communities should also decide to shift to other sources of food rather than hunt dugongs for meat if they want their future generations to see dugongs, he added.

“Also, dugongs are protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 which means they have the highest level of legal protection under Indian law. But very few people have been arrested, imprisoned or prosecuted for poaching dugongs. The enforcement of the law needs to be strengthened if you want to conserve the species,” Patankar said.

For John, the next step in dugong conservation is the preservation of the threatened seagrass ecosystem. “Ultimately, if there is no seagrass, dugongs will perish,” he said.

Assam Day 5 - Seeking the dolphins, encountering the Osprey - the gigantic Brahmaputra

 Continued from here.

15th Jan 2020

On to Kaziranga, from Mangaldoi, today.  But first, we were to stop at the Brahmaputra and take in a river cruise as we searched for the Gangetic dolphins.

We were headed west, staying north of the Bramhaputra, a 3 hour journey.

We stayed on NH15 for the most part, the highway was in good shape.  As we reached Tezpur, there was more military presence and large, walled military compounds.  I learnt that Tezpur is one of the old cities of Assam, and there is a lot to see here, but we were not stopping.  The British made it into an army Headquarters for the region.  

Aparna wrote this in our trip report:

The place Tezpur was named for the rivulets of blood that flowed there. Legend has it that this was the place where the war between Banasura, who was King of the area, and Krishna took place. Banasura’s daughter, Usha, dreamt of Anirudh, the grandson of Krishna. Her friend Chitralekha drew his portrait and through her magical powers brought him to Usha. Banasura refused to give his consent for the marriage. That is when Krishna went to war. The war was actually fought between Shiva and Krishna as Banasura was a devotee of Shiva. And much blood was shed.  It is said that Brahma had to intervene to stop the fight. However Shiva gave in to the reason of Krishna and relented.  

We drove on to the river bank, close to the Kalia Bhamora bridge that spans the river over here.  

We walked across the fine river sand to the boats with colourful canopies.  It was close to 11am and the sun was blazing through, but the river was a vast expanse of a still dull, muddy colour.  To me, at that moment it felt like this large, silent, somewhat sullen, sleeping beast.  The currents were strong but one wouldn't guess it, due to the vastness of the river.

As we chose our boats, there was a sudden commotion, with everyone telling Shuba not to move.  She was startled but complied to the urgent orders.  On her ghamsa-covered head was what looked like a little colourful brooch! 

The butterfly brooch - Delias descombesi, the redspot Jezebel

Chinese fishing nets.  I read somewhere that the river supports some 222 species of fish! Tezpur is one of the important fishing centres on the river.  But the fish population is greatly depleted, due to human activity (of course, what else).

I think Pranjal mentioned Grey throated Sand Martins flitting along the river banks - but I did not see them (as usual).  

On returning, I did some reading on the sedimentation and turbidity of the river.  A 2017 NDTV article mentioned that the turbidity measure at Tezpur was 195 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Unit), as against a permissive level of NTU5!  Aparna, who collects river waters, dipped a bottle in, and I was quite surprised - the water was clear, not turgid as I expected. The heavy sedimentation adversely affects fish life as also the Gangetic Dolphin, that we were out looking for.

That's us - adding colour to the river.  Picture by R Shantharam

The Brahmaputra river system is one of those huge carriers of sediment, and this sediment forms sand banks and islands - chapori - which can support a lot of bird life.  

You could also get small grassy islands in the middle - so vast is the river.

The Gangetic Dolphin (Platanista gangetica)

Several of our group had already gone on this boat ride on their last trip to Arunachal and they asked us to keep our eyes peeled.  We were warned that it would not be like some NatGeo movie where it would gently, gracefully and in slow motion arc out of the water and show itself to you. It will be in and out in the blink of an eye. A grey shadow in the water. And that's exactly what it was. 

We had a lot of these fleeting 'darshans' of the greyish brown snouts of these endemic, poor eyesight river Dolphins, which are highly ecologically stressed. They are on the IUCN red list

We were in two boats with a canopy that shaded us from the sun.  The boat engines created a hell of a racket, and he would cut the engines every now and then, and we would drift. Those were the best moments. The river was a dull grey brown and placid.  The whole scene was tinged in grey and brown.

They spend an average 107.3 seconds under water and 1.26 seconds above water. Once, the most commonly sighted aquatic mega-fauna in the Brahmaputra river system, it now faces extirpation from most of the major tributaries of the Brahmaputra and restricted to a few pockets in the mainstream.

Unregulated rise in human activities is causing serious degradation in dolphin habitats in the Brahmaputra. Acoustic vision being the primary mode of perceiving the environment for these animals, increasing noise levels and industrial activities cause major disruption in their perception of biologically critical sounds.

Scientists find conservation efforts of river dolphins in the Brahmaputra have largely ignored the aspect of Acoustic Habitat Degradation.

2019 North East Now

I didnt realise - dams on the river have isolated dolphin populations.  There are supposedly more than 50(!!) dams of different sizes on the Brahmaputra, fragmenting these populations, making them in-breed, disturbing the availability of their food.  So, not only on land are forests being isolated, but even in the water.  

The Osprey encounter

What I managed to photograph...

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) - have seen them before, but this was a thrilling experience to see this one so close, and then take off and glide lazily through the sky.  Pranjal had said that we would most probably see one of these fish eating raptors over the waters, and yes his prediction was right.  

.

Photo by Elumalai - as it sat, an emperor of all it surveyed, or a masked bandit?  The Osprey is supposed to be the only raptor with all toes being equal in size.  interesting, did not know this.  Does that make a difference in how it perches?

Photo by Elumalai - All set to take off, possibly disturbed by our outboard motor.  Rounded talons and a reversible outer toe means that it can catch those slippery fish with two toes in front and two behind.  

Photo by Venkatesh, as it took to the air, showing us the "fingers" on its wing feathers, and its spread out short tail.

Photo by Venkatesh - the white breast and the golden brown upper wings - what a magnificent sight it was!

Photo by Venkatesh - we gawked at the wingspan - a good 4-5 feet, as it flapped them in slow succession  and moved away from us.

This photo by Suresh - of the brown upper parts and those four long finger-like feathers, with the fifth being a bit shorter.  The drooping hands are a characteristic flight posture of this piscetarean.

We chugged along back now under the bridge and what seems like the new Brahmaputra bridge coming up alongside.

Mountains of concrete, as Man looks to overcome natural "obstacles"?

Add caption

Do we need another?

Off the boat, and we found little "loo huts".  

A group picture and some tea and potato biscuits, before we set off for lunch and then Kaziranga.

Very tasty!  A new discovery.  Potato "biscuits".  They were so yummy, I brought a couple of packets back home.

Tree sparrows

A reminder of what was going on in the country.

We were coming across to the southern bank of the mighty river, and turning east, to Kaziranga.