Recognising unsung heroes of wildlife conservation

The 12{+t}{+h}Sanctuary Wildlife Awards on Thursday honoured some of the most passionate nature enthusiasts across different age groups as “India's Earth Heroes” here.

George Schaller, a well-known American scientist, was given the Lifetime Service Award.

“His path-breaking research on the Indian tiger in the Kanha National Park has become the gold standard for field biology across the world,” said a release by Sanctuary Asia, one of the organisers of the award ceremony.

The awards were given in five categories: one Lifetime Service Award, five Wildlife Service Awards, one Green Teacher Award, three Young Naturalists Awards and a ‘Wind Under the Wings' Award for an organisation that has supported one or more of its employees to be of service to nature.

Best in the field

“The awards have been constituted to recognise the best-in-the-field of wildlife conservation and to shine a spotlight on the unsung heroes who are defending the wilderness and thus the food and water security of the Indian subcontinent. The awardees are nominated by Sanctuary Asia readers and supporters from across the country,” the release stated.

The awards were given to diverse individuals for their contributions to wildlife protection. Shekar Dattatri was awarded for successfully using films to highlight disappearing wildlife and habitats.

S.D. Biju, a field biologist, was awarded for his contribution to the discovery of several amphibian species, including many in the Western Ghats.

Service to urban dwellers

Gerry Martin, another Wildlife Service Award winner, and founder and director of the Gerry Martin Project, helps urban dwellers to connect with wildlife issues far removed from their daily life.

Daulat Singh Shaktawat, a Range Forest Officer of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, was awarded for his continuous resolve to save the big cats despite having been attacked by them many a time.

He is the surviving tale of dedication despite adversities, the organisers said.

Chief Administrative Officer of Namma Sangha P. Suresha was awarded for working towards improving people's relationship with the Bandipur National Park, close to his house.

The Maharashtra government was given the ‘Wind Under the Wings Award' for “enabling and encouraging Praveen Pardeshi, Principal Secretary (Forests), to reinvigorate wildlife conservation in Maharashtra.”

Young Naturalist

Ramnath Chandrashekhar (award-winning wildlife photographer and activist), Aishwarya Sridhar (writer, poet and passionate conservationist) and Tengbat Sangma (skilled tracker, naturalist and budding field biologist) were awarded the Young Naturalist Awards.

A Joint Green Teacher Award was presented to Pournima and Rajendra Kerkar, who work as educators, conservationists and social workers to protect wilderness areas in Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Natural heritage

Bittu Sahgal, Editor, Sanctuary Asia , said: “Sanctuary Asia has consistently sought to network and unite different segments of society believing that nature conservation is the surest way to secure the food, water, climate and economic security of India's billion-plus population. For us the tiger, elephant, rhino and lion are metaphors for an ecologically secure planet and within us exists an unstoppable drive to safeguard this natural heritage for our children and their children.”

Paradise for birds

Pulicat Lake and Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary, located near Sullurpeta in SPSR Nellore district, are a virtual paradise for hundreds of species of birds.

It is a convenient breeding ground for rare and endangered species of lily grey pelicans, flamingos, painted storks, egnats, grey herons, little cormorants, open bill storks, spoonbills, white ibises and night herons.

For years, the arrival of these lovely creatures into Nellore district went unnoticed. However the sanctuary and lake, which are very close to Isro’s rocket launching centre, Shar, Sriharikota, became popular in recent years because of the initiative taken by the locals and authorities to organise a flamingo festival every year in winter.

The local villagers treat the birds with reverence believing them to be celestial creatures and accordingly protect them during their five-month stay. The sight of the magnificent flamingos as they set to flight is an experience that is overwhelming in its sheer beauty.

Villagers call them “Parrots of the Sea” or Samudrapu Ramachilakalu. Many winter migratory birds which fly in from countries such as Siberia, breed here and train the younger ones to fly so that they can return to their original habitat. Their winter home, Pulicat Lake adjacent to the Bay of Bengal, is the second largest brackish water lagoon in India spread over Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

The lake with a rich biodiversity and high biomass of fish, prawn, crustaceans, coelenterate and plankton, offers ideal food to the migratory birds and provides protection from predators.

Around 164 species visit the bird sanctuary during the winter.
In addition to these, members of a Hyderabad-based Birdwatchers Society spotted a rare bird, the grey-headed lapwing (vanellus cinereus) for the first time near Pulicat lake last winter. This species of birds breeds in Northeast China and Japan.

The wildlife wing of the forest department has established an environmental education centre at Nelapattu sanctuary, with a museum, library and auditorium with audiovisual equipment.

The tank bund of Nelapattu sanctuary is protected with chain links on both sides with a kind of trail for the visitors to view the birds. There are bund beaches and hideouts as well so that visitors can observe the birds at close range without disturbing them.

Binoculars are also provided to the visitors. Meanwhile, authorities of the district have planned the flamingo festival at Sullurpeta, tentatively between January 8 and 11, 2012. The annual festival attracts tourists from far and near to witness the migratory birds from close quarters, without disturbing their tranquillity.

It takes less than two hours by car to the bird sanctuary and the lake, which are 90 km away from Nellore as well as Chennai. One can reach Sullurpeta by train both from Chennai and Hyderabad. The station is between Chennai and Vijayawada.

There are also a number of buses to Sullurpeta from Nellore, as well as Chennai. There is a tourism
department guesthouse on the National Highway at Tada, 20 kmfrom Sullurpeta.

There are also some budget hotels in Sullurpeta. Restaurants all along the highway serve both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food.

Pit stop

Holy abode

Tourists visiting Pulicat Lake and Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary can also visit the historical Changala Parameswari temple at Sullurpeta. The goddess is the family deity for thousands of devotees not only in Andhra Pradesh, but also in neighbouring Tamil Nadu. The unique feature of the temple is there is no door to the sanctum sanctorum.

According to temple priests, the goddess herself instructed the temple sculptor, in his dream, not to fix any doors to her temple. It is widely believed that offering prayers at the temple will cure any kind of sickness among children. Annual Brahmotsavams are held during the Dasara festival.

Trivia

Fish delights

The most sought-after food item in the region is the White Prawn (Gaju Royyalu). All the popular non-vegetarian hotels in Sullurpeta region serve various dishes prepared with this prawn, which is available in Pulicat Lake only during winter months. The locals also love the Moyi fish, which is available in all the hotels around Sullurpeta.

Tigers in India

Appearance and Physical Characteristics
Though slim and elegant, tigers are immensely powerful. Their front legs and paws are tremendously strong: they can kill young elephants and rhino and drag prey weighing 200 kg. (5001 bs.) Or more. Tigers walk on the fore pads of their feet, which gives their stride suppleness and elasticity. They have flexible forelegs that can twist inwards, allowing them to grasp prey. Their claws remain retracted until they are needed in the final moments of attack.
Sight and Smell
Tigers are famed for their glowing amber eyes. Unlike most other cats, they have round pupils. Tigers have acute eyesight and the cells in their eyes are sensitive to color. They can perceive depth because their eyes face forwards, thus allowing direction and distance to be judged with extreme accuracy. Tigers, like all cats, have a special adaptation that gives them excellent night vision: a membrane at the back of the eye reflects light through the light sensitive cells of the retina. This effectively doubles the intensity of dim light. The same principal is used in the "cats' eyes" on our roads.

Scent forms the basis for territorial behavior. Tigers keep track of each other's movements by scent marking, which helps them to avoid conflict. To make the best use of information contained in a scent mark, the tiger has to hang out its tongue and draw back the lips, causing the eyes to close. This is called the flehmen response and it allows the tiger to pass the scent through two small holes in the upper palate behind the incisors in effect the tiger can "test" he scent. To human eyes, the expression looks like a grimace of disgust.

Habitat
Tigers inhabit many types of forests, from the mangrove swamps of Bangladesh to the coniferous forests of the Russian Far East. Dense vegetation, plenty of pre and minimum human interference are all requirements of good tiger habitat, as are pools for drinking and bathing. Tigers of the warmer climes love water and may even sleep with part of their body submerged. They are adept swimmers. Young tigers are agile enough to climb into trees but adults are generally too heavy. However, an angry tiger in Siberia was reported to have limbed into a tree in an attempt to swat the helicopter that was following it.

Predation
Tigers can kill prey that exceeds their own weight. A tiger can eat over 30 kgs (66lvbs ) of meat in a single night, though a large kill ma be needed only once or twice a week. In the meantime, snacks such a peacocks, crabs turtles, fish, lizards, small birds or even locusts will suffice. Tigers are not exclusively carnivorous and will sometimes eat jungle fruits. Their stomachs often contain earth, and his is probably ingested to aid digestion. In India, hog deer, chital (spotted deer), barking deer, sambar, nilgai and wild boar are the favorite prey, though tigers will also kill jungle ox and even young elephants and rhino of up to 450 kgs (1000 lbs ) in weight. Tigers will seek to porcupines, even though these prickly creatures have a nasty habit of backing into a pursuer in order to drive in their spines. Injuries form porcupines may fester and can even cause the death of a tiger. Tigers tend to hunt between dusk and dawn. They are less active during the day and may lie satiated in the shade or in a pool near the remains of a kill. Tigers often cover an unfinished meal with soil and leaves and return to it later. Even so, scavengers are quick to take advantage, though they risk annoying the owner of the kill. A tiger was photographed pouncing on a vulture in sheer exasperation and an irritable tiger will even chase away crows.

Sight and sound, rather than scent, are used to locate prey. Tigers are too large and too heavy to run for long distances and therefore must patiently stalk their prey until they are close enough to make a final lunge for the neck. Effective camouflage is essential and in patches of sunshine and shade a motionless tiger is practically invisible. Despite being one of the most feared of the world's predators, tigers are often unsuccessful in catching their prey. Prey species have acute hearing and many run faster than a tiger. Some have alarm calls that warn all the animals in the vicinity to be wary. If the tiger fails in a hunting attempt it must move to another area or wait until the forest becomes calm again.

It is interesting to compare this technique with those used in more open habitats where there is not enough cover to conceal a stalking predator. In the African Savannahs, for example, cheetahs have developed unsurpassed speed and prides of lions have learnt to hunt cooperatively. The remains of a kill are also more difficult to conceal, and any left uneaten will be quickly finished off by scavengers. Cooperative hunters therefore share the kill amongst themselves, so that nothing is wasted on those animals who are looking for a free lunch. The development of different hunting strategies to suit habitat types is part of a process known as optimization.

Tiger behavior is flexible and the choice of prey, as well as the technique for catching in, will be influenced by how plentiful the prey is and how easily it is caught. Tigers in areas where the vegetation is less dense are more likely to hunt large prey cooperatively and to share their kill. This was the case in Ranthambore National Park during the 1980s. Up to nine tigers were seen lying together in a social group, just like a pride of lions. Tiger were observed sharing their prey not only with their young, but also with other adults. Rather than a strict hierarchy, it seems that the titer that makes the kill always gets the first meal, even if the other tigers present are larger.

Tiger Cubs
Tiger cubs are born blind and helpless, weighing only 1.5 kg (3/3lbs). The cubs' eyes open after one or tow weeks. Initially blue of blue green, the eyes will darken later to glowing amber.On average, there are three cubs in a litter, though an exceptional seven was once recorded. Tigresses are devoted mothers and when the cubs are young, she will move them to places of safety, carrying them gently one by one in her huge, powerful jaws. Cubs are very vulnerable to attack by passing predators and many perish before their first year is out. Jackals, hyenas, leopards and pythons, as well as other tigers, are all a potential threat. The tigress must choose a carefully hidden den and leave the cubs alone for as short a time as possible while she hunts. Grass fires, which are often started deliberately to improve grazing, kill many tiger cubs.

The cub remains in the den for four to eight weeks. They then venture into the outside world for the first time and receive their first taste of meat. They keep in single file behind the tigress, and it is thought that her striped tail and the large white spots behind her ears act as beacons for the cubs to follow. The runt of the litter, if it has survived to emerge from the den, is always the last in the line of cubs and is often picked off by predators.It is extremely rate that more than two cubs in a litter survive to maturity. Having said this, it is possible that the survival rate would be much giver given sufficient pry density. In the mid 1980's prey density in the Ranthambore National Park was so high that four cubs in the little survived to maturity in at least three cases. The ratio of male to female cubs born is about one to one, but more females survive into adulthood because the male cubs leave the family earlier and are more likely to perish because of their inexperience at hunting. Males can also suffer injuries in territorial disputes and may be more vulnerable to huntress, as they are less wary of baits.

In contrast with the careful nurturing received by wild tigers, cubs born in captivity are usually abandoned or eaten if not immediately removed by zoo keepers . Presumably the unnatural conditions are the root cause of this aberrant behavior.

Growing Up 
Tiger cubs are playful and their games together games together begin to teach them the skills necessary for survival. They stalk and pounce on leaves, insects, or even their mother's tail. At first, the cubs must hide in the undergrowth while the tigress hunts, but later they are allowed to watch and eventually join in. the young cash help the tigress by driving the chosen victim towards her. Learning to hunt is a difficult and dangerous process and many cubs are gored of trampled to death. Inexperienced cubs tend to grab the legs of the prey, leaving them vulnerable to retaliation. Sometimes the tigress will intervene. She can bring down the prey and then leave it for the cubs to kill. It takes many attempts before he cubs learn to kill efficiently by biting the throat or the nape of the neck. A mother tiger may allow her cubs to feed first . If she joins her young at a meal, she will withdraw if a cub protests and will go without meat to ensure that they have enough. The cubs have voracious appetites and by the time they are 14 months old , it is a strain for the tigress to capture enough prey. The runt is the last in queue at meals and if food is in scarce supply, it will starve to death.

Their lessons learned , young tigers must venture out in search of a territory. Male tigers leave their mothers at about 18-22 months old. Sub-adult males are often tolerated by other males, but this will change on reaching maturity. Each young male must then look for a vacant territory, or one where there is a chance of ousting an old or sick male. Females remain with their mothers for 24 to 28 months and will help in the capture of prey until they leave. When the tigress is ready to mate again, she might become aggressive towards her daughters. One daughter may be allowed to settle inside the mother's territory, but the rest must find space in the territories of neighboring males. Newly independent tigers lack haunting experience and a second's hesitation may leave them to go hungry.

The young tigers will become sexually mature at three to four years old and by this time are ready to found the next generation of cubs.