Forest owlet may replace hariyal as Maharashtra state bird

Priya Ramakrishnan / DNA
Mumbai: The critically endangered forest owlet may soon take over from the green pigeon (Hariyal in Marathi) as the state bird of Maharashtra. The Bombay natural history society (BNHS) is in the process of recommending an elevation in the status of the bird to the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF).

The bird is an endemic species found in the Toranmal reserve forest and the Melghat tiger reserve in Amravati. For 113 years, the forest owlet was thought to be extinct, but was rediscovered in 1997 at the Toranmal forest.

“The last bird count in 2005 estimates its population between 100 and 250. It is now categorised as critically endangered. We are now looking for sponsors and funding to conduct a thorough bird count across the whole Satpura region,” said Raju Kasambe, project manager, important bird areas (IBA), BNHS.

“The green pigeon is found across India and has no special connection to Maharashtra. The forest owlet, by contrast, is found only in Maharashtra and we should be proud of this endemic species,” said Kasambe.

According to him, unlike other owls, forest owlet is diurnal, hunting only in daytime “This bird is on the verge of extinction because it requires a specific habitat at an altitude between 300 and 500 metres. The biggest threat to the bird is the encroachment and conversion of forest areas into agricultural land,” said Kasambe.

Ian Barber, international officer, Asia, royal society for the protection of birds (RSPB), who is working on the project along with BNHS, said, “We need to spread awareness about this unique bird and if it is made the state bird, it would garner more support from various organisations. It is currently facing threat from the tribal population spread across these areas.”

Mommy, where have all the birds gone?

Experts have noticed a sharp decline in the bird population. Some of the factors responsible for it are global warming, environmental pollution, cutting of the trees and illegal hunting.

OUR FOREFATHERS were very wise and generous men, who always respected and worshipped the elements of Mother Nature. They always abided the laws set by the nature and respected every living form. But unfortunately today, the cruel industrial world has affected the lifestyle of every single organism on earth.

The race for survival has made the man more selfish than ever. Man with his selfish ambitions has replaced the jungles with cemented monsters which have drifted the existence of birds toward extinction.The environmentalists have noticed a continuous decline in the diversity of various species of the birds. According to the study conducted by Stanford and Duke Universities, 12% of the existing species would disappear by the end of the century.

What experts say is that besides having natural predators against them, global warming, environmental pollution, cutting of the trees and illegal hunting are some other factors responsible.

Gradually many species have become prone to diseases like bird flu which is even a big threat to the human race.In the never ending list of extinct species: Dodos, Maus, Kangaroo Island Black Emu, Great Elephantbird, Hawaiian Drepanididae, Great Auk, Bonin Wood Pigeon, The Cuban Red Macaw, Guadeloupe Island Caracara, Mysterious Starling are some of the innocent victims of climate change.

The condition of birds in India:From the Trans Himalayan range to dense jungles India has been blessed with 1250 species of birds. Major attraction among them are Peacock, European Roller, "Alectoris chukar"Chukar (juvenile), The Indian Peafowl, Indian Roller, Common Kingfishers, Cuckoo- the Koel, Hill Myna, Racquet tailed drogas , tree pies jungle owlets, Minvets and Sarus Crane. The Indian Peacock is the national Bird of India because of its historical and religious significance since from the days of Rig Veda. Not only these, many Swans, Geese, Ducks, Terns, Swallows, Martins, Warblers and Siberian Cranes also travel India as a part of their seasonal migration. But how long can India preserve this species from disappearance is still a matter of big concern.

There was a time when India was considered as a paradise for bird watching. In India the long list of critically endangered bird species includes: White-backed Vulture, Long-billed Vulture, Jerdon's Courser, Forest Owlet, Sociable Lapwing, Pallas's Fish Eagle, Great Indian Bustard, Lesser Florican, Spot-billed Pelican, Greater Spotted Eagle, Darter, Painted Stork, etc. The deteriorating condition of birds can be traced everywhere in the metropolitan cities. They don’t have proper water to drink, food to eat and air to breath. One may not pay attention, but thousands of scavengers fed themselves on rotten and contaminated waste lying near the Ghazipur slaughter house at Delhi.

The large scale concretisation has drifted the bird population to other places also. Steps to be taken to protect these species:The distinction these common species share is the potential to become uncommon unless we all take initiative to preserve them. Every person can contribute in this process by just sitting at home like: individual energy conservation methods, emission cutting, planting tress and providing shelter in the form of bird house. Individuals can pressurise the Government for protecting the wetlands and forests through emails and creating awareness.

Jack Dumbacher (Curator of birds and mammals at California Academy of Sciences) has concluded that birds are an important component of our ecosystem, they eat rodents and insects which attack the agricultural crops. There are also evidences when birds go extinct then automatically the trees also go extinct. It's hard to imagine that the disappearance of bird species making much difference to human well-being. It is very important for humans to think differently on how they would interact with the animals around them. The need of the hour is maintenance of the eco system services for preserving the winged beauties.

Mimic 151 Different Types of Birds Sound World Record

For the last three years, Gautam Sapkota has been after birds and only birds. He follows birds in national parks, forests, nearby gardens and the central zoo in Kathmandu and spends his time imitating their sounds -- the way the birds communicate with each other in different situations. And it is hard to believe that within a span of three years, he has been able to mimic 151 different types of birds.

"I know the birds won't be here forever, they are being killed and getting extinct due to loss of habitat and human encroachment," he says. "Although I won't be able to save them, I will preserve their voices."

Although there are many exotic birds, crows are Gautam's best friends. He can communicate with the crows more efficiently. He opines that these birds use only a few basic sounds to communicate things like "come," "go," "run, there's danger," "let's gather, one of us is in danger" and a few others.

It was his long study and experience that allowed him to call a conference of crows during the auspicious festival of Kag Tihar (the first day of the Hindu festival of Deepawali, when people worship the crow, the messenger of Yama, the god of death). Hundreds of crows came, responding to his calls at the Open Theater in Kathmandu.

"They are my friends, and they come to me when I call them," says Gautam. "They know that their friend needs their help and flock to me."

Once hounded by the media, he has been surviving on the presentations that he holds everyday in different schools. So far, he has visited more than 6,500 schools in 45 districts of Nepal, interacting, entertaining and educating the kids about birds, their habitats, their ways of life and their calls.

When asked what inspired him to take up this hobby, he says, "When I was a little kid, I wondered how people imitated animals. … When I grew up, I realized that I could mimic a lot of different sounds, so I started my journey and the beautiful birds became my friends."
He can also imitate other animals. Following and studying the monkeys of Swayambhunath stupa and Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, he has learned their sounds, too. He can initiate a brawl between two or more monkeys. And if you really pester him, he can arrange for all the monkeys to attack you at once in a gang.

You would never get bored with his bird calls. However, to entertain students better he has composed songs in different bird voices. An album of popular Nepali folk songs remixed in the voice of different birds (particularly the heron's voice) is on the offing.

Although born in a lesser-known Gadhi village of Makwanpur district in central Nepal, he is aspiring to record his feat with Guinness World Records. He is in correspondence with its officials and they are positive about recording this extraordinary feat.

PETA - Indian Animal Rights Organisation enter in Limca Book of Records

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has entered the Limca Book of Records as the largest animal rights organisation. According to a release issued here today, PETA India's chief functionary Anuradha Shawney said, ''to be recognised by the Limca Book of Records is a great honour. Animal rights is a movement whose time has come and the support and recognition that our organisation has garnered shows that people are ready to make this a kinder world for all beings.'' PETA, since its inception in 2001, has been actively involved in grassroot awareness, policy making and has played a crucial role in the recognition of animal welfare.

In its strive to keep animals safe, it had organised a campaign that led to a ban on elephants entering various cities in 2007. It was also responsible for the ending of animal experiments by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education in 2008.

The organisation has also rescued a number of exploited animals from the circus and exposed the cruel laboratory conditions at the National Institute of Virology Pune. It had also organised a petition drive along with many Bollywood stars to prohibit bullocks from pulling heavy oil tankers in Mumbai.

Leptotyphlops - Worlds Smallest Snake in Guinness Book

A snake that's as thin as a spaghetti noodle with a body small enough to rest comfortably on a U.S. quarter has just been identified as the world's smallest snake, according to a paper published today in the journal Zootaxa .

The newly identified species, Leptotyphlops carlae, measures just 3.9 inches long and was found under a rock on the western Atlantic island of Barbados. Two other extremely small snakes, L. bilineatus from Martinique and L. breuili from Saint Lucia, were identified nearby, suggesting that the world's three smallest snakes are all Caribbean threadsnakes.

Blair Hedges, who made the finds, told Discovery News that "determining the smallest (snake) is not simple."

Hedges, an evolutionary biologist at Penn State University, previously identified the world's smallest frog and lizard on Caribbean islands. He explained that the process of naming the smallest requires measuring adult individuals -- ideally at least one male and one female -- and then comparing the average size to all other known species.

He determined the Barbados threadsnake is the smallest of more than 3,100 known snakes. The snake may even be as miniscule as nature could go for snakes since, if it were any smaller, he believes its young would have nothing to eat. As it stands, Hedges thinks it primarily consumes the tiny larvae of termites and ants.

Females of this smallest species produce just one slender egg. In contrast to larger species that may lay up to 100 eggs in a single clutch, with each egg measuring just a fraction of the mother's body, this snake produces a single hatchling that is half its mother's size.

"The fact that tiny snakes produce only one massive egg -- relative to the size of the mother -- suggests that natural selection is trying to keep the size of hatchlings above a critical limit in order to survive," he explained.

Hedges added that, because of the snake's small size, "almost anything could be a predator, including centipedes and spiders."

Already the species appears to be in grave danger.

"My (two collected) animals were found next to a patch of forest, so I surmise that they require a forest (habitat) like most other native organisms," he said. "The islands were completely covered with forest originally, and now there is almost no forest remaining."

If Barbados residents continue to engage in habitat destruction by replacing forest lands with buildings and farms, the threadsnake could, he said, go extinct "because these animals live on islands, they have nowhere to go when they lose their habitat."

The island isolation likely explains many animal size extremes, both big and small, since species over time evolve to fill ecological niches unoccupied by other organisms. On land, for example, an insect might replace the smallest snake's spot in the food chain but, on water-surrounded Barbados, the snake evolved to fill that spot. Information on other snake size extremes may be found here.

Robert Henderson, curator of vertebrate zoology at the Milwaukee Public Museum, told Discovery News that he agrees with the findings, saying that "the West Indies harbor the smallest species of frog and lizard; may as well have the smallest snake too."

Herpetologist Robert Powell, who is a professor of biology at Avila College, also supports the new research.

"What I find most exciting is that we are seeing how nature pushes the lower size limits of body size," Powell told Discovery News. "I remember as a student being fascinated by the smallest known frog, lizard and snake -- marveling at how all of the necessary parts fit and worked."

"Since then," he added, "those size limits, which we then thought were immutable, have been extended again and again. Dr. Hedges seems to think that this time, nature has run up against a real wall, and that body size for a snake couldn't get any smaller, but I wouldn't bet against him finding a smaller species next year."

Story by http://dsc.discovery.com