Survival International, which campaigns on behalf of tribal groups worldwide, has expressed very serious concern about "Human Safari Tours" in Andaman Islands. The group has identified eight travel groups in India promoting tours to see the indigenous Jarawa people and says this is threatening the very existence of Jarawas.
Jarawas were among the first people to migrate successfully from Africa to Asia. Presently the Jarawa number about 320 and live in the forests of South and Middle Andaman. They are nomadic, living in bands of 40-50.
It is pertinent to write here that the last speaker of "Bo", one of the 10 Great Andamanese languages, died in January at the age of 85. The threat to Jarawas can be easily ascertained from this incident.
Survival's director Stephen Corry says the Jarawa people lived successfully on their island without contact with outsiders for probably about 55,000 years, until 1998. In 1998, some Jarawa started coming out of their forest to visit nearby towns and settlements for the first time.
Have a look at the Survival International website here
As tourism booms in our wildlife reserves the places are becoming increasingly noisy. This is affecting the health and behavioral pattern of the wild animals. Animals depend on auditory cues to avoid predators, obtain food, and communicate. Auditory systems of some animals are very prone to physical damage from high decibel noise. Animal species that have evolved to take advantage of the quietest conditions in nature are the worst hit. Some human induced sound characteristics have been associated with suppression of the immune system and increased levels of stress-related hormones in animals. Research has demonstrated in unequivocal terms that human-induced noise pollution is one of many factors contributing to the decline of wildlife.
In India no serious research has so far been done on the effects of extraneous human made noise on wildlife. Even in western countries field research on effects of noise pollution is sparse. But they have obtained excellent data from labs which is enough to keep the alarm bells ringing. In a study published in April edition of the scientific journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, researchers in Colorado said that anthropogenic noise pollution affects wildlife around the world. They specifically mention the case of Colorado’s dwindling greater sage grouse. Human-created noise is interfering with the ability of male grouse to make their low-pitched mating calls audible to females.
The four ways in which wildlife is affected by sound are
1) Hearing loss that results when the noise levels is 85 db or greater;
2) Masking. Masking is the inability to hear important environmental cues and animal signals due to extraneous noise.
3) Physiological effects, such as increased heart rate and respiration and associated stress reaction
4) Abandonment of territory and lost reproduction associated with increased noise pollution.
I am enumerating below some examples that should make us sit up and take notice.
An exposure to a an average 85 db of noise for 8 months in Rhesus Monkeys in the lab have shown 30% increase in blood pressure.
Research on mice has shown that when exposed to 82-85 db of noise they become very susceptible to disease. Their ability to negotiate mazes goes down considerably. 40-100% resorption of embryos and 66% reduction in fetal weight was also reported.
Dr Mac Arthur has clearly demonstrated that energy which might otherwise be devoted to reproduction, will be expended in escape and through higher levels of arousal sustained afterwards.
Noise is making Great tits (Parsus major) to sing at higher frequencies. In their natural environment birds must be able to distinguish their own songs and those of other species against the backdrop of background noise. Calls play cardinal role in the isolation of species, pair bond formation, pre-copulatory display and territorial defense
Female grey tree frogs (Hyla chrysoscelis) exposed to the sounds of passing traffic take longer to locate and find calling males. Calls of European tree frogs (Hyla arborea) have gone down alarmingly in recent years.
Dr Clifford G Rice who has done extensive research on Nilgiri tahr says the impact environmental disturbances on a tahr population through reduced reproduction could exceed that of direct mortality.
Studies of Dr Bunnell et al and Dr Gladwin have very clearly shown that when certain bird species are flushed from nests in response to noise, eggs are broken and young are exposed to injury and predators.
In many areas we have been pushing ecotourism unmindful of long term effects of our inroads in to the pristine habitat of the denizens of the wild. So much hype has been created in the name of ecotourism. Sure ecotourism rakes in money for the tour operators and in some cases the local communities. But let us not forget that this goose that lays golden eggs has to be nurtured with a long term perspective and has to remain a sustainable proposition.
Yes, we have the danger signals. It is time we called a spade a spade and acted to rein in unbridled tourism in wildlife reserves. The symphony of natural sounds in our wildlife reserves is an important natural resource that is very critical to the ecological communities. Understanding the role of sound and acoustics in wildlife reserves is becoming increasingly germane in their management.
Long-term effects from medium to low level noise intrusion need much more study, with emphasis on threatened and endangered species
The latest issue of Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education has an excellent paper on forestry education and ways of improving it authored by Javier Arevalo, Barbara Jarschel, Sari Pitkänen, Liisa Tahvanainen, and Jorma Enkenberg.
The paper is based on a study of a 5-year Brazilian undergraduate programme in forestry. The study found that what students perceive as important, change as they progress through program. The authors suggest that this could act as pointers to improve forestry curriculum and create more attractive forestry programs to reverse the global decline in forestry student enrollment.
The most frequent concern among first-year students was conservation, but later-year students were speaking about production, sustainable management forest legislation and policy.
The authors suggest that since beginner students perceive conservation as an important concern, conservation-related issues should be incorporated into first-year studies to leverage maximum benefit from the education. The subjects taught later on could tailored as per the preference of the students, to get maximum benefit.
The importance of excelling academically decreased across study years, while the importance of having a good social life increased across study years. According to the authors this may signal dissatisfaction or de-motivation linked to a perception that academic achievement is not appropriately compensated
While the majority of students at the beginning of their studies preferred to continue for master programs at the same university, later on they tend to prefer the same university, a different university, or studying abroad. This also could act as pointers to sort out deficiencies in the system.
The findings from this study offer new insights into the perceptions of forestry education and shows ways of improving the content of the syllabus for forestry education.
Amidst depressing news of poaching of Rhinos here comes some happy news. My contracts in Kaziranga National Park inform me that the forest guards have put up a spirited show against poachers on Friday.
A six member team of forest guards was on routine patrol of the park when they heard gunshots. The poachers were targeting an adult rhino near the Mihimukh range. Seeing a band of six the poachers the forest guards gave a chase and a gunfight ensued. In the encounter that lasted nearly 30 minutes four poachers were killed. Two managed to escape in the melee. A rifle and large quantity of ammunition was also recovered.
This is the second major success for the frontline staff this week. On Tuesday, seven poachers were arrested while they were on their way to sell a rhino horn to an international smuggling syndicate.
Well done frontline staff of Kaziranga National Park.
Dr S S Bawaskar, a young veterinarian of Nagpur zoo has come up with a brilliant idea to stop marauding tigers from entering villages.
Ranmangli village near Nagpur in Maharashtra was frequented by a tigress and two sub-adult cubs. The tigress had already killed a woman last month sending panic across the region. The forest officials of the region were a harried lot.
Tigers spray urine on trees and shrubs or scrape and deposit urine on the ground to mark their territories. The scent lasts for several days and sends a clear message to other tigers. When fresh, it is easily detectable by humans also up to 2-3 m away (Smith et al. 1989). A tiger coming across a scent mark usually sniff, leap back and snarl. Dr S S Bawaskar thought why not give this a shot. He suggested spraying urine in areas frequented by the marauding tigress.
Taking cue from Dr S S Bawaskar Nagpur forest division officials collected urine of captive tigers in the city’s Maharajbagh zoo and sprinkled it near the spots frequented by tigers. After the spraying tigers have stopped coming to the village.The officials are keeping their fingers crossed to see whether this proves to be permanent solution.
Munnar has been voted as the second best destination in Asia by Tripadvisor’s 2010 Traveller’s Choice Destination award. It is good news. Tourism Principal Secretary Dr Venuis is reported to have said “Millions of travellers rely on Tripadvisor for travel inspiration. So we are thrilled and humbled that Munnar has been honoured by travellers this year,’’
We have full respect for the hard work being done by Dr Venu for making Kerala a preferred international destination for tourists. At the same time we have a feeling that in Munnar you are doing an overkill. Have you carefully looked at the environs as you travel from Neriamangamlam to Munnar?. The evidences of unregulated tourism are visible everywhere. There are mountains of refuse left by the tourists.The most appalling part is the plastic litter
The other day Mr Mohan Varghese, the chairman of HRWEPA was narrating to me an incident that happened near Naeriamangalam. The monkeys were picking up the vomit thrown out by tourists and gobbling it along with the plastic bags. Makes you puke just reading about it.
So venu Saab have a thought for the delicate mountain ecosystem of Munnar. Very strict guidelines have to be chalked out for tourists visiting Munnar.They should not remain on paper. They have to be put in place ruthlessly. We wish you the very best.
Panna has the dubious distinction of a wildlife reserve where the tigers have disappeared. Panna had more than 30 tigers four years ago. All of them had disappeared. When authorities planned reintroduction there were many doubting toms. The prophets of doom have been proved wrong.
Two tigresses- one from Bandhavgarh and another from Kanha were translocated to Panna on March 6 and March 9. The government has plans to relocate four more tigers.
It is happy tiding in Panna right now. The tigress, translocated from Bandhavgarh has given birth to three cubs. It is the first time that a translocated tigress has given birth in India.
Conservationists are elated at the latest developments in Pana. All is not yet lost. There is hope on the horizon.
