VANISHING SPECIES II

Sunday Article: Vanishing Species - Forest Owlet

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 16 May 2010 03:27:00 +0000

Sunday Article by Mohan Pai

Forest Owlet

Athene blewitti

Sighted in the wild for the last time in 1884, it was rediscovered after 113 years in1997.

Only 100 breeding pairs survive in the wild.

The Forest Owlet, Athene blewitti, had not been seen in India last in1884. The last confirmed record- a specimen in Britain’s Natural History Museum - was collected in 1884. Believed to have been extinct for over a century, 113 years to be precise, it was rediscovered by Pamela C. Rasmussen, Ben King and David Abbott at Shahada near Taloda in the Nandurbar district of Maharashtra (Toranmal Reserve Forest) in India in November 1997.

How this rediscovery came about is a fascinating story, involving theft, fraud, and international espionage. In the course of working on a field guide to the birds of the Indian subcontinent, ornithologist Rasmussen became aware of irregularities in the records of Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, a World War I British spy and colorful character who early in this century owned what was generally considered to be the finest private collection of Old World birds in existence. Through painstaking research, she and her colleague, Nigel J. Collar of Birdlife International, were able to show that Meinertzhagen's specimen of a Forest Owlet--which he had supposedly collected in 1914, was a fraud and had been taken from an existing 19th-century collection.

The species epithet commemorates F. R. Blewitt, the collector of the first specimen that was obtained in December 1872 from Busnah-Phooljan near Basna on the Phuljar highway in eastern Madhya Pradesh. The specimen was sent to Allan Octavian Hume who described it in 1873.

The Forest Owlet is small (23 cm) and stocky. It is a typical owlet with a rather unspotted crown and heavily banded wings and tail. They have a relatively large skull and beak. Unlike the Spotted Owlet, the Forest Owlet has the fewer and fainter spots on the crown and back. The upperparts are dark grey-brown. The upper breast is almost solid brown and the sides are barred with a white central wedge in the lower breast that is sometimes unmarked, especially in males. The primaries are darker and distinct. The wings and tail are banded with white trailing edges. A dark carpal patch on the underwing visible in flight. The facial disc is pale and the eyes are yellow.

Distribution and habitat

Until its rediscovery in 1997, this owl was known from only seven specimens collected in the nineteenth century, in northern Maharashtra, and south-east Madhya Pradesh/western Orissa. In November 1997 a group of American ornithologists, including Pamela C. Rasmussen, rediscovered the species in foothills of the Satpura Range, north-east of Bombay. In 2000 a survey of 14 forest areas across its former range located 25 birds (using call playback) at four sites in northern Maharashtra and south-western Madhya Pradesh, including three pairs at Taloda Forest Range and seven pairs at Toranmal Forest Range. No birds were found in a brief survey of its former eastern range in Orissa. More recently survey efforts in the Satpura Range added another five sites. The species was also reported from the Chatwa and Padwa forests near Andhra Pradesh by K. S. R. Krishna Raju

The Forest Owlet has sightings from the Talda Forest Range, the Toranmal Forest Range, the Melghat Tiger Reserve, and the Khaknaar Forest Range, all in central India had dense to open deciduous forest.

Behaviour

These owls typically hunt from perches where they sit still and wait for prey. When perched they flick their tails from side to side rapidly and more excitedly when prey is being chased.. When nesting the male hunted and fed the female at nest and the young were fed by the female. The young fledge after 30–32 days

The peak courtship season is in January to February during which time they are very responsive to call playback with a mixture of song and territorial calls.

They appear to be strongly diurnal although not very active after 10 AM, often hunting during daytime. On cold winter mornings they bask on the tops of tall trees. Filial cannibalism by males has been observed.

They make several different calls. These include a hissing call of short duration. The song calls are short and mellow unlike those of most owls.

Status

The Forest Owlet remains critically endangered, and the current population has been estimated at about 100 breeding pairs. It is thought that this owl has always been rare. The original specimens were collected in dense jungle, and the recent sightings in more open forest may also represent a habitat. The forest in the plains in its range has been totally cleared, and there is pressure on the remaining forest resources.

Until recently, the best illustration of the Forest Owlet was the one above, which appeared in The Scientific Results of the Second Yarkard Mission, published in 1891. the illustration has several inaccuracies: the cheek patches are too dark and the breast is too barred; the belly, lower flanks, and undertail coverts should be completely white, not marked; the bands in the wing should be whiter; and the bill should be larger.

References: Wikipedia, Copperwiki, “Lost & Found” by Tim Gallagher.

Sunday Article:Vanishing Species - the Purple Frog

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 09 May 2010 05:58:00 +0000

Sunday Article by Mohan Pai

The Purple Frog

Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis

Pic courtesy: Sathyabhama Das Biju

100 million-year old species discovered in Idukki district of Kerala in 2003

The purple frog is a living fossil and was initially assigned to a new family of its own, Nasikabatrachidae, buthas been more recently assigned to the family Sooglossidae which is found on the Seychelles islands.

Being a member of the family Sooglossidae, the species' origins lie in close consort with the Seychelles islands where the family was previously solely known from. The origin of the disjunct distribution goes back to about 100 million years ago, during which time India, the Seychelles and Madagascar formed a single landmass which split due to continental drift.

The body of the Purple Frog is shaped similarly to that of most frogs, but is somewhat rounded compared to other frogs. Its arms and legs splay out in the standard anuran body form. Compared to other frogs, it has a small head and an unusual pointed snout. Adults are typically dark purple in color. The specimen with which the species was originally described was seven centimeters long from the tip of the snout to the tip of the urostyle. Also, its cry sounds more like one from a chicken.

The species was discovered in the Idukki district of Kerala by S.D. Biju from the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute in Palode, India and Franky Bossuyt from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels). However it was well known to the local people before and several earlier specimens had been ignored.

Earlier thought to be restricted to the Western Ghats south of the Palghat gap, new records have extended its known range further north of the gap.

The frog spends most of the year underground, surfacing only for about two weeks, during the monsoon, for purposes of mating. The frog's reclusive lifestyle is what caused the species to escape earlier notice by biologists.

Unlike many other burrowing species of frogs that emerge and feed above the ground, this species has been found to forage underground feeding mainly on termites using their tongue and a special buccal groove. They show inguinal amplexus (male clasping the female from behind) when mating afloat in temporary rainwater pools.

The scientific name derives from the Sanskrit word nasika (nose) referring to the pointed snout, batrachus Greek for frog, and Sahyadri as the local name of the mountain range where it was found - the Western Ghats.

Distribution

This species is endemic to the Western Ghats in India, and is known from only two localities in the Idukki District in the Cardomom Hills, Kerala at an altitudinal range of 850 - 1,000m above sea level. These two areas are Kattapana and near Idukki town. It might occur more widely, but it seems that other reported localities probably refer to currently undescribed species.

The purple frog is thought to be a rare species, although it is very hard to find which makes any population estimate difficult to determine. Only 135 individuals have so far been observed, and of these only three have been females. The plantation workers within the range of this species have reported that this frog is uncommonly found when they are cutting trenches during the monsoon period (June to October).

Status

The purple frog is listed as Endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species because its extent of occurrence is less than 5,000 km sq., all individuals found are in fewer than five locations, and there is a continuing decline in the extent and quality of its habitat in the Cardmom Hills, Western Ghats.The main threat to the purple frog is believed to be ongoing forest loss for coffee, cardamom, ginger and other species for cultivation.

Possible Indian odysseys: three models of the position of Africa 65 million years ago. a, India separated by large expanse of water b, limited land bridge between Africa and India c, connections between Africa, India, Asia and Madagascar.

Image courtsey Nature.

References: Wikipedia, Genome News Network.

Sunday Article: Pygmy Hog

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sat, 01 May 2010 06:04:00 +0000

Sunday Article by Mohan Pai

Hello friends,

Good morning. A number of my readers wrote asking why the Sunday Articles had stopped.

Unfortunately, I had to undergo an emergency cardiac surgery and hence this long intervening gap.

This Sunday, it's about the Pygmy Hog, a highly endangered species. In fact it is more endangered than the tiger ! Only about 150 animals survive in the wild only in Assam (Manas National Park).

When it comes to conservation, the flagship species like the tiger, rhino, etc. hog the limelight. The plight of the lesser vulnerable, critically endangered animals gets hardly any attention.

Very best wishes,

Mohan Pai

Pygmy Hog
Sus salvanius

The smallest pig in the world is also more endangered than the tiger !
Only 150 animals survive in Assam.

The Pygmy Hog is critically endangered with less than hundred and fifty thought to be left in the wild. Once native to India, Bhutan and Nepal, these little guys were thought extinct from the 1950s-60s, until a small population was discovered. They can now be found only in the northwest Assam region in India. The pygmy hog is notable as it is the only surviving member of the genus Porcula.

The pygmy hog is a small wild pig weighing about 8.5 kg (10 lb). It lives in dense, tall grassland, where it feeds on roots, tubers and other vegetable matter, as well as insects and other invertebrates. Nests are built and used by both sexes at all times of the year. The pygmy hog is apparently non-territorial. It lives in small family groups of about 4 - 5 individuals, comprised of one or more adult females and accompanying juveniles, and occasionally an adult male.

The pygmy hog formerly occurred throughout the Terai region of India, Bhutan and Nepal. It is now found only in northwest Assam, India. By 1993 it was reduced to only two known, isolated populations in northwest Assam - the Manas Wildlife Sanctuary and the Barnadi Wildlife Sanctuary.

The continuing decline of the pygmy hog is due to the modification and elimination of its limited habitat by human settlement, agricultural encroachment, overgrazing by domestic livestock, commercial forestry, flood control projects, and civil unrest among Assamese ethnic groups.
Pygmy Hogs are about 55 to 71 cm long and stand at 20-30 cm with a tail of 2.5 cm. They weigh 6.6 to 11.8 kilograms. Their skin is dark brownish black and the fur is dark. Piglets are born grayish-pink becoming brown with yellow stripes along the body length. The head is sharply tapered and they have a slight crest of hair on the forehead and on the back of the neck. Adult males have the upper canines visible on the sides of the mouth. They live for about 8 years, becoming sexually mature at 1-2 years. They breed seasonally before the monsoons giving birth to a litter of 3-6 after a gestation of 100 days. In the wild they make small nests by digging a small trench and lining it with vegetation. During the heat of the day they stay within these nests. They feed on roots, tubers, insects, rodents, and small reptiles.

The species was first described as the only member of the genus Porcula (Hodgson, 1847), but was then regarded as the closest relative of the Eurasian pig Sus scrofa and named Sus salvanius The resurrection of the original genus status and the species name Porcula salvania has been adopted by GenBank. The species name salvania is after the Sal forests where it was found.

Status

The pygmy hog is the sole representative of Porcula, making the conservation of this critically endangered species even more important as its extinction would result in the loss of a unique evolutionary branch of pigs. They used to be widespread in the tall, wet grasslands in the southern Himalayan foothills from Uttar Pradesh to Assam, through Nepal and north Bengal. However, human encroachment has largely destroyed the natural habitat of the pygmy hog by development, agriculture, domestic grazing and deliberate fires. Only one viable population remains in the Manas Tiger Reserve, but even there threats due to livestock grazing, poaching and fire persist. The total wild population has been estimated as less than 150 animals and the species is listed as "critically endangered" Their rarity contrasts greatly with the massive population of wild boars (Sus scrofa) in India.

Conservation

Conservation of the species has been hampered due to the lack of public support, unlike that for charismatic South Asian mammals like the Bengal Tiger or Indian Rhino. Local political unrest in the area has also severely hampered effective conservation efforts, but these conflicts have now ceased.

References: Wikipedia, Animal Kingdom, Zooillogix.

Sunday Article:Clouded Leopard

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 04:49:00 +0000

Sunday article by Mohan Pai

Clouded Leopard

Neofelis nebulosa

Clouded leopard is not a leopard but a relative of the extinct saber toothed tiger.

It has long been known that the clouded leopard has the longest upper canine teeth for its skull size of any modern carnivore, causing some people to compare the cat with the extinct saber-toothed cat.

Recent research into the skull characteristics of both living and extinct cats has revealed that the clouded leopard has a skull unlike any other cat today. In a number of respects it bears distinctive resemblance to the primitive saber-toothed cats.

The Clouded Leopard is a medium-sized cat found in Southeast Asia. It has a tan or tawny coat, and is distinctively marked with large, irregularly-shaped, dark-edged ellipses which are said to be shaped like clouds. This unique appearance gave the mammal both its common and scientific species name (nebulosus is Latin for "cloudy"). The Clouded Leopard was confusing to scientists for a long time because of its appearance and skeleton. It seemed to be a cross between a big cat and a small cat. The scientific name of the genus, Neofelis, originates from neo, which means "new", and felis, which means "small cat", so it literally means new kind of small cat.

The average Clouded Leopard typically weighs between 15 and 23 kg (33 to 50 lb) and has a shoulder height of 25 to 40 centimeters (10 to 16 inches).This medium sized cat has a large build and, proportionately, the longest canine teeth (2 in, about the same as a tiger's) of any living feline. These characteristics led early researchers to speculate that it preyed on large land-dwelling mammals. However, while remarkably little is known about the natural history and behavioral habits of this species in the wild, it is now thought that its primary prey includes arboreal and terrestrial mammals, particularly gibbons, macaques, and civets supplemented by other small mammals, deer, birds, porcupines, and domestic livestock.

Clouded leopard - Range map

As might be expected from the fact that some of its prey lives in trees, the Clouded Leopard is an excellent climber. Short, flexible legs, large paws, and sharp claws combine to make it very sure-footed in the canopy. The Clouded Leopard's tail can be as long as its body, further aiding in balance giving it a squirrel-like agility similar to the Margay of South America. Surprisingly, this arboreal creature can climb while hanging upside-down under branches and descend tree trunks head-first.

Behavior

Like all wild cats, clouded leopards are carnivores. They are thought to hunt a variety of prey including birds, squirrels, monkeys, deer, and wild pigs. It was once thought that clouded leopards hunted while climbing. Current thought, however, is that while some hunting may occur in the trees, most likely takes place on the ground. Trees are thought to provide resting habitat during the day.

Virtually nothing is known of the social behavior of wild clouded leopards. They are likely solitary, like most cats, unless associated with a mate while breeding or accompanied by cubs. Likewise, activity patterns are virtually unknown. Once thought to be exclusively nocturnal, evidence suggests that they may show some periods of activity during the day as well.

Reproduction

Clouded leopards are sexually mature around the age of 2 years. Mating can occur in any month, but in captivity most breeding occurs between December and March. The gestation period is between 85 and 93 days with 1 to 5 cubs produced per litter. Cubs are independent at approximately 10 months of age. Females can produce a litter every year.

References, Wikipedia, S. H. Prater (The Book of Indian Animals), iloveindia.com

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Sunday Article: Indian Chameleon

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 02:52:00 +0000

Sunday article by Mohan Pai

INDIAN CHAMELEON

Chamaeleo zeylanicus

Photo courtesy Amrut Singh, Goa.

The Amazing Chameleon !

Apart from changing colours, it can focus each of the two eyes in different directions and observe two different objects simultaneously!

The Indian Chameleon, Chamaeleo zeylanicus is a species of chameleon found in India, Sri Lanka, and other parts of South Asia. Like other chameleons, this species has a long tongue, feet that are shaped into bifid claspers, a prehensile tail, independent eye movement and the ability to change skin colour. They move slowly with a bobbing or swaying movement and are usually arboreal.

The ability to change colours has made these lizards famous. Strangely, they do not choose the background colour and may not even be able to perceive colour differences. They are usually in shades of green or brown or with bands. They can change colour rapidly and the primary purpose of colour change is for communication with other chameleons and for controlling body temperature by changing to dark colours to absorb heat. Though many lizards can change colour, chameleons have made an art, and we see them go from brilliant yellow through shades of green and brown, all the way to dark purple.

There is only one species of chameleons found in the Indian subcontinent, scientifically known as Chamaeleo zeylanicus. The term 'chameleon' is a combination of two Greek words, 'Chamai', meaning 'on the ground/earth' and Leon, meaning 'lion'. Thus, 'chameleon' means 'earth lion'. The foot structure, eyes and tongue of all the chameleons are the same.

Physical Traits

The body of the chameleon lizard is covered with granular scales and measures upto 37 cm in length. Its feet are split into two main fingers, each of them attached with sharp claws that help in climbing trees. The bulging eyes are nearly covered by eyelids. The upper and lower eyelids of a chameleon are joined and there is a small pinhole through which the pupil can be seen. The chameleon can focus each of the two eyes in different direction and observe two different objects simultaneously.

One of the most interesting features of an Indian Chameleon is its extremely long tongue, which at times may exceed its body length also. The tongue is sticky at the end, which helps the reptile in catching prey. The moment the tongue of a chameleon hits a prey, it forms a small suction cup and draws the prey into the mouth. Chameleons do not have ears and vomeronasal (bone forming part of the middle partition of nose) organ.

Mating Behavior

The breeding season of the chameleon lizard falls around the month of October. Ten to thirty eggs are laid at a time and the gestation period is 3 to 6 weeks. Before laying eggs, the female chameleon digs a hole in the ground, between 4 to 12 inches deep, and deposits her eggs in that hole. The eggs hatch after a period of 3 months. Like all other lizards, they do not look after their young

Diet

Chameleon lizard survives on a diet of locusts, mantids, crickets, and other insects.

Geographical Range

Chameleons are seen inhabiting almost all the parts of south India and west of the Ganges. However, they are rarely seen in areas that receive heavy rainfall. Chameleons are mostly arboreal and are found in trees or on smaller bushes.

References: iloveindia.com, Wikipedia.

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Sunday Article: Pallas's Cat

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 01:59:00 +0000

Sunday article by Mohan Pai

Pallas's Cat

Octocolobus manul

Pic courtesy: Edinburgh Zoo

An exotic and rare feline, Pallas’s cat is a small size predator of Central Asian mountains, found only in the Ladakh region in India.

It is named after the naturalist Peter Simon Pallas, a German zoologist and botanist who worked in Russia who first described the species in 1776. Pallas's Cat is the oldest living species of the modern genus felis .

The pallas cat is a small, long tailed cat with a broad head, low forehead and short widely - separated ears. Pallas cat is small in size, weighing between 2 - 4.5 kg. and has a grey to ruddy grey coat. Its legs are short and striped. The forehead is spotted and the tail is bushy and striped. Pallas cats are adapted to cold, arid environments and have a wide distribution through Central Asia, but they are relatively specialized in their habitat requirements. Pallas cat is chiefly crepuscular and feeds mainly on pikes and rodents. Birds and insects also form part of its diet. Pallas cats are seasonal breeders, with most litters being born between April and May. Four to five kittens (sometimes up to 8) are born in a litter. Their gestation period is of 66 - 75 days. They are found in stony, alpine desert and grassland habitats but are generally absent from low land sandy desert basins except along river courses. They are found at altitudes up to 4,800 mts. Globally, its distribution spans the cold arid regions of the Central Asia. The northern cold desert region of Ladakh in India is its southernmost distribution

Range map of Pallas's cat

Pallas's Cat is the oldest living species of a clade of felids that includes the modern genus Felis. This feline, along with the extinct Martelli's Cat, were the first two modern cats to evolve from Pseudaelurus approximately 12 million years ago.

This cat has several features which distinguish it from other felines. Most strikingly, it has round pupils. Its legs are short, its rump is rather bulky, and its fur long and thick. The combination of its stocky posture and thick fur makes it appear especially stout and plushy. Its coat changes with the seasons: the winter coat is greyer and less patterned than the summer coat. The ears are set low and give the cat a somewhat owl-like appearance. Because of its relatively flat face, it was once thought that Pallas's Cat was the ancestor of the Persian cat breed.

Pallas's Cat inhabits the Asian steppes up to heights of 4000 m (13,000 ft). They are thought to be crepuscular hunters and feed on small rodents, pikas and birds.

The Pallas’ cat is similar in size to a housecat. A thick coat of shaggy fur and a long, bushy tail help combat extreme temperatures that reach lows nearing -60°F. Pallas’ cats take shelter in marmot burrows, caves, and rock crevices.

Fact File

Length: 1.5 to 2 ft Weight:2-4.5 kg Lifespan: 8 to 10 yrs in wild Habitat: Mountain regions, including grassland, woodland, and semi-desert Diet: Pikas, hares, and small rodents such as gerbils, voles, and young marmots Status: Species at Risk (IUCN—Lower risk/near threatened )

Pic courtesy: Zurich Zoo

References: Wikipedia.

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Sunday Article: Nilgai

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:51:00 +0000

Sunday article by Mohan Pai

Nilgai

Boselaphus tragocamaelus

India’s largest antelope

Hindi word Neelgai (Nilgai) refers to the bluish color of the adult male, and therefore Blue Bull is another name for the animal. Neelgai probably evolved in open, dry Indian forests during the Tertiary geological period. Nilgai are classified as bovids (family Bovidae), and with their close relative, the Four-horned Antelope Tetracerus quadricornis, are the only living representatives of the tribe Boselaphini.

Neelgai is the largest of the Asiatic antelopes. They have a life expectancy of 20 -30 years, most of which they prefer to spend in open jungles and scrubby grasslands. Adult bulls weigh about 220 kg, while the cows weigh about 180 kg and calves about 7 kg at birth. The blue-gray adult bulls have black legs, and some may be brown-tinged, particularly younger bulls. Cows and calves are fawn or pale brown. All have similar dark and white markings on their ears and legs. Only the males have horns, which are black-coloured, short (about 18 cm), sharp, and bi-curved. The hair of adults is thin in density, wiry, and somewhat oily. Their skin is thick, particularly on the chest and neck of the bulls, where it forms a dermal shield. The eyesight and hearing of Neelgai is quite good but their sense of smell less acute. They have good speed and endurance.

Neelgai make several low-volume vocalizations, including a short, guttural "bwooah" when alerted. Calves may bawl and may make a grunting sound while nursing. In India, Nilgai occurs from the foothills of the Himalayas southward to Mysore. They live on a variety of land types from hillsides to level ground with scattered grass steppes, trees, and cultivated areas, but not in thick forests. Their habitats are characterized by paths, water holes, defecation sites, and resting cover. Neelgai were common in India during
the 1880s and were hunted for sport by the British. Besides man, the tiger is their main predator. In the 1980s Neelgai had drastically declined because of shooting and loss of habitat.

Neelgai segregate into male and female groups except during the breeding season. Bulls do not maintain a fixed territory but defend a space around themselves. Fighting occurs between dominant bulls, and serious injury or death sometimes results. Neelgai make dung piles by defecating repeatedly on the same sites. The social and territorial significance of this habit is not known. Some breeding takes place year-round. At that time breeding groups of one dominant bull and one to several cows are found. The peak calving period is September through November. Neelgai breed at age two to three years, whereas males may not mature until their fourth year. The gestation period is approximately 245 days. Twins are common, and triplets occur occasionally.

Neelgai eats mainly woody plants supplemented by agricultural crops. Their diet includes herbs and plant parts (flowers, seeds, fruit, leaves, stem tips). In the absence of preferred food they readily alter their diet. In India they share certain diseases with livestock and wildlife. Perhaps the most universal of these are foot-and-mouth disease and malignant catarrhal fever.

Nilgai pursued by dholes, as drawn by Robert Armitage Sterndale in Denizens of the Jungles, 1886

Status

Nilgai antelope has been listed in the 'Low Risk' category by the IUCN. The estimated population of Nilgai in India is approximately 100,000. The main threat to the Neelgai is from the destruction of its habitat to accommodate the ever-swelling human population.

Tidbits

Blue bulls generally come to the same place to deposit their droppings.
Blue bull can survive for a long period of time without water.
Nilgai was introduced in Texas in 1920's.

In India, it is believed that the Nilgai antelope is a sacred animal (precisely a cow) and it is protected against hunting.

References: Wikipedia, iloveindia.com

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Sunday Article: Indian Jackal

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 02:07:00 +0000

Sunday article by Mohan Pai

The Indian Jackal

Canis aureus

Photo coutesy: S. Das

Tabaqui of Kipling’s Jungle book with an eerie howl.

Tabaqui, the jackal (Gidur-log) in Kipling’s Jungle Book is an opportunistic associate of Sher Khan, the lame tiger and he is also a mischief maker. Also known as Golden jackal, this animal features in many fables (Panchatantra, Hitopadesha, Jataka Tales) and generally projected as a sometimes conceited, sometimes foolish and sometimes greedy, cunning and shrewd creature.

Jackal’s long-drawn eerie howls at dusk or just before dawn are characteristic of the Indian countryside and jungle and has been subject of superstition about death and evil spirits. The other characteristics which makes the jackal infamous is the rabid jackal attacks on people. Just last month (November, 2009) jackals attacked over 50 people in Bargama and other villages of Samastipur, Bihar.

Fredrick Forsythe’s popular book “The Day of the Jackal” where Carlos is the professional assasin has also endowed this animal with some popularity.

Description:

Golden Jackal are 70- 85 cm long and weigh around 8 -10 kg. They are golden yellowish in colour with a reddish tail having a black tip. The tail itself measures upto 9 -14 inches. It has white mark on its throat and the back of the ears is darker in colour. Males are usually larger than the females.

‘Tabaqui’ of the Jungle Book

Distribution:

Golden Jackal are found throughout India. Jackals live in almost any environment, in humid forest country, or in dry open plains, or desert. They are found at higher altitudes in the Himalayas but greater number lives in the lowlands about towns, villages and cultivation. In Kodagu and Nilgiris their population appears to be declining. The total estimated population in India is around 80,000.

Diet : Golden Jackal are omnivorous. They feed on small mammals, insects, hares, fish, birds and fruits.

Reproduction: Gestation period rests for nine weeks. Females give birth to 3-6 pubs. During pregnancy males go out in search of food and the females rest at home. They weigh around 200 -250 g at birth. They open their eyes in about ten days. They are weaned in 4- 6 weeks. The females are sexually mature than in less than a year, the males closer to the two years.

Conservation status : Not threatened

Life span : Golden Jackal lives up to 14-16 years of age.

For centuries, golden jackals have made an impression on Middle Eastern civilisations. They feature in many fables, are referred to in the Bible several times, and Anubis, a god of ancient Egypt, was depicted as a man with the head of a jackal.

Anubis, the jackal-headed god of the dead

References: Wikipedia, Jungle Book, The Book of Indian Animals, S. H. Prater.

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Sunday Article: Peacock

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:42:00 +0000

Sunday article by Mohan Pai

PEACOCK

Pavo cristatus

The icon of beauty, love & romance

The male Indian peafowl is commonly called Peacock. This gorgeous and majestic bird Peacock, Pavo cristatus is the national bird of India. It’s a symbol of beauty, joy, grace and love. Indian tradition is full of references to this glamourous bird and it has been repeatedly used as popular art motif. Due to its close proximity to humans for thousands of years, the peacock is featured in ancient Indian stories, songs and poems as symbol of beauty & pose. In two epic poems of Kalidasa (Meghadutam and Kumarasambhava) the beauty of the peacock has been used as an ornate literary tool. The peacock is a prominent motif both in Rajasthani & Mughal schools of paintings. The lovelorn, pining Nayikas in Rajasthani miniatures have the peacock as a companion. The Jataka tales Mahamayur Jataka describes the earlier birth of Bhagavan Buddha as a golden peacock.

Hindu mythology describes the peacock is to be the vahan or the vehicle for Karthikeya also called Murugan, the brother of Ganesha, the goddess Saraswati, and the goddess Mahamayuri. Indian Peacock (called Mayura in Sanskrit) has enjoyed a fabled place in India since ancient times. In imagery Lord Krishna is always represented wearing a peacock feather tucked in his headband. Peacocks often live in proximity to humans. Ancient kings in India were said to have gardens to raise peacocks where guests were invited to see the famous male peacock dance during the mating season. Due to this close proximity to humans for thousands of years, they have entered ancient Indian stories, songs and poems as symbols of beauty and poise. As the mating season coincides with the onset of monsoon rains and the month of Shravan in the Hindu calendar, many songs of rains have peacock-dance mentioned in them. One possible origins of the name of the famous Maurya dynasty of ancient India is probably derived from the word Mayura as the ancestors of the Mauryas are thought to be peacock-keepers of a royal court in eastern India.

The main figure of the Kurdish religion Yezidism, Melek Taus, is most commonly depicted as a peacock. The Yezidi's claim Indian origins.

This colourful bird has a fan-shaped crest on its head, a white patch under its eye and a long-slender neck. The male of species is more beautiful with a gleaming blue breast and an iridescent blue-green coloured plumage. The train feathers have a series of eyes and are best seen when the elongated tail is fanned. When displaying to a female, the peacock erects this train into spectacular fan, presenting the ocelli(eye-spots) to their best advantage.

Physical Features

The peacock, is one of the most recognisable birds in the world. These large, brightly colored birds have a distinctive crest and an unmistakable ornamental train. The train (1.4-1.6 meters in length) accounts for more than 60% of their total body length (2.3 meters). Combined with a large wingspan (1.4-1.6 meters), this train makes the male peafowl one of the largest flying birds in the world. The train is formed by 100-150 highly specialized uppertail-coverts. Each of these feathers sports an ornamental ocellus, or eye-spot, and has long disintegrated barbs, giving the feathers a loose, fluffy look. When displaying to a female, the peacock erects this train into a spectacular fan, presenting the ocelli to their best advantage.

The more subtly coloured female Peafowl is mostly brown above with a white belly. Her ornamentation is limited to a prominent crest and green neck feathers. Though females (2.75-4.0 kg) weigh nearly as much as the males (4.0-6.0 kg), they rarely exceed 1.0 meter in total body length.

Plumage

The male (peacock) Indian Peafowl has iridescent blue-green or green coloured plumage. The so-called "tail" of the peacock, also termed the "train," is not the tail quill feathers but highly elongated upper tail coverts. The train feathers have a series of eyes that are best seen when the tail is fanned. Both species have a crest atop the head.

The female (peahen) Indian Peafowl has a mixture of dull green, brown, and grey in her plumage. She lacks the long upper tail coverts of the male but has a crest. The female can also display her plumage to ward off female competition or danger to her young.

The Green Peafowl is different in appearance to the Indian Peafowl. The male has green and gold plumage and has an erect crest. The wings are black with a sheen of blue.

Social Characteristics

Peacock or peafowl Large bird belonging to the pheasant family, in East Asia being its native region. The crested common peacock during courtship displays his elongated upper tail which converts into a magnificent green and gold erectile train adorned with green blue " eyes " before the duller plumaged peahen. The peacock is a ornamental bird and is of quarrelsome nature and does not mix well with other domestic animals.

Habitat & Diet

They are omnivorous, obtaining most of their food by scratching the leaf litter with their strong feet. Indian Peafowl do most of their foraging in the early morning and shortly before sunset. They retreat to the shade and security of the forest for the hottest portion of the day. Foods include grains, insects, small reptiles, small mammals, berries, drupes, wild figs, and some cultivated crops.

Peacock distribution

The peacock is widely found in the Indian sub-continent from the south and east of the Indus river, Jammu and Kashmir, east Assam, south Mizoram and the whole of the Indian peninsula. The peacock enjoys immense protection. It is fully protected under the Indian Wildlife Protection) Act, 1972.

Peacock Throne

The legendary ‘Peacock Throne’ (also known as Takht-e-Tavous) of Ml Emperor Shah Jahan is a wonder of Mughal Art. It was yet another example of Shah Jahan’s unparallel aesthetic sense and love of art. This is counted as the costliest single treasure crafted in the last thousand years. In fact, the Peacock Throne was twice as costly as the total cost of the Taj Mahal. The original Peacock Throne was built in the 17th century and it was placed in Delhi’s royal court known as Diwan-i-Aam.

It acquired its name from its unique shape. It had the figures of two peacocks standing behind it, their tails being expanded and the whole was inlaid with sapphires, rubies, emeralds, pearls and other precious stones of appropriate colors so as to represent life. As described by the French jeweler Jean Baptiste Tavernier, who visited Delhi in 1665, the throne as of the shape of a bed (a "takhta" i.e. platform), 6 ft. by 4 ft., supported by four golden feet, 20 to 25 in. high, from the bars above which rose twelve columns to support the canopy; the bars were decorated with crosses of rubies and emeralds, and also with diamonds and pearls. There were 108 large rubies on the throne, and 116 emeralds. The twelve columns supporting the canopy were decorated with rows of splendid pearls, and according to Tavernier, these were the most valuable part of the throne. Among the historical diamonds decorating it were the famous Kohinoor (186 carats), the Akbar Shah (95 carats), the Shah (88.77 carats), the Jehangir (83 carats) and the second largest spinel ruby in the world — the Timur ruby (283 carats). A-20 couplet poem by the Mughal poet-laureate Qudsi, praising the Emperor, was embedded in the throne in emerald letters.

Delhi was invaded by Nader Shah in 1738 and the priceless Peacock Throne was one of the rare treasures he plundered from India. The legendary throne was carried to Iran. It glorified the palace of Iran till it was destroyed in the chaos following the assassination of Nader Shah in 1747.

References: Wikipedia, wildlife-tour-india.com

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Sunday Article: House Sparrow

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:54:00 +0000

Sunday article by Mohan Pai

House Sparrow

Passer domesticus

...there’s a providence in the fall of a sparrow

-Hamlet (Shakespeare)

India’s foremost ornithologist Dr. Salim Ali published his autobiography in1985. He very aptly gave the title “The Fall of a Sparrow”.

Universally familiar in appearance, the widespread and once abundant house sparrow has become a mystery bird and is becoming increasingly rare all over the world. Perky and bustling, house sparrows have always been seen, mingling with finches in the fields in autumn and winter, but now weeks pass without a single one putting in an appearance.

They are vanishing from many big cities, but are still not uncommon in small towns and villages. India has seen a massive decline of sparrows in recent years and on the world map too. Once a commonplace bird in large parts of Europe, its numbers are decreasing. In the Netherlands, the House Sparrow is even considered an endangered species. Their recent decline has earned them a place on the Red List in the Netherlands. Similar precipitous drops in population have been recorded in the United Kingdom. French ornithologists have charted a steep decline in Paris and other cities. There has been an even sharper fall in the urban areas in Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Italy and Finland.

History

It is thought that the House sparrow originated in the Mediterranean and expanded into Europe with the growth of civilization. At the insistence of man did the sparrow make its way across the Atlantic to the United States in 1850.

The house sparrow is an intelligent bird that has proven to be adaptable to most situation, i.e. nest sites, food and shelter, so it has become the most abundant songbird in the world.

Sparrows are very social birds and tend to flock together through most of the year. A flock’s range covers 1.5-2 miles, but it will cover a larger territory if necessary when searching for food. The sparrow’s main diet consists of grain seeds, especially waste grain and live stock feed. If grain is not available, its diet is very broad and adaptable. It also eats weeds and insects, especially during the breeding season. The parasitic nature of the house sparrow is quite evident as they are avid seekers of garbage tossed out by humans. In spring, flowers (especially those with yellow colours) are often eaten crocuses, primroses and aconites seem to attract the house sparrow most. The birds also hunt butterflies.

Housing

House sparrows are generally attracted to buildings for roosting, nesting, and cover. They look for any man-made nook or cranny to build their nests. Other nesting sites are clothes line poles with the end caps open, lofts, kitchen garden etc. The sparrow makes its home in areas closely associated with human habitation.

The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) is a member of the old world sparrow family Passeridae. Some consider it to be a relative of the Weaver Finch Family. A number of geographic races have been named, and are differentiated on the basis of size and cheek colour.
Birds of the western hemisphere are larger than those in the tropical South Asian populations.

In India, it is popularly known as Goraiya in the Hindi belt. In Tamil Nadu and Kerala it is known as Kuruvi. Telugu language has given it a name, Pichhuka, Kannadigas call it Gubbachchi, Gujaratis call it Chakli where as Maharashtrians call it Chimani. It is known as Chiri in Punjab, Chaer in Jammu and Kashmir, Charai Pakhi in West Bengal, and Gharachatia in Orissa. In Urdu language it is called Chirya while Sindhi language has termed it as Jhirki.

Features

This 14 to 16 cm long bird has a wing span of 19-25 cm. It is a small, stocky song bird that weighs 26 to 32 grams. The male sparrow has a grey crown, cheeks and underparts, and is black at the throat, upper breast and between the bill and eyes. The bill in summer is blue-black and the legs are brown. In winter the plumage is dulled by pale edgings, and the bill is yellowish brown. The female has no black coloring on the head or throat, or a grey crown her upper part is streaked with brown. The juveniles are deeper brown, and the white is replaced by buff the beak is dull yellow. The House Sparrow is often confused with the smaller and more slender Tree Sparrow, which, however, has a chestnut and not grey crown, two distinct wing bars and a black patch on each cheek
The sparrow’s most common call is a short and incessant, slightly metallic cheep, chirrup.

Reproduction

The nesting sites are varied – in holes in buildings or rocks, in ivy or creepers, on houses or riverbanks, on sea-cliffs or in bushes in bays and inlets. When built in holes or ivy, the nest is an untidy litter of straw and rubbish, abundantly filled with feathers. Large well- constructed domed nests are often built when the bird nests in trees or shrubs, especially in rural areas.

The House Sparrow is quite aggressive in usurping the nesting sites of other birds, often forcibly evicting the previous occupants, and sometimes even building a new nest directly on top of another active nests with live nestlings. Eggs are variable in size and shape as well as markings. Eggs are incubated by the female. The sparrow has the

shortest incubation period of all the birds, 10 -12 days, and a female can lay 25 eggs each summer. The reproductive success increases with age and this is mainly by changes in timing, with older birds breeding earlier in the season.

Causes of Decline

There are various causes for dramatic decrease in their population, one of the more surprising being the introduction of unleaded petrol, the combustion of which produces compounds such as methyl nitrite, a compound which is highly toxic for small insects, which forms a major part of a young sparrow’s diet. Other being areas of free growing weeds, or reduction in number of badly maintained buildings, which are important nesting opportunities for sparrows. Ornithologists and wildlife experts speculate that the population crash could also be linked to a variety of factors like the lack of nesting sites in modern concrete buildings, disappearing kitchen gardens, increased use of pesticides in farmlands and the non- availability of food sources.

The widespread use of chemical pesticides in farmlands has resulted in the killings of insects on which these birds depend. Seed-eating birds like sparrows have to depend on soft- bodied insects to feed their young ones. The other possibility could be increased predation by crows and cats, while crows have grown in number as a result of garbage accumulation in the city. Changing lifestyles and architectural evolution have wreaked havoc on the bird’s habitat and food sources. Modern buildings are devoid of eaves and crannies, and coupled with disappearing home gardens, are playing a part in the disappearing act.

Today, one sadly misses the sight of sparrows hopping from branch to branch in the bushes outside one’s house and their chirping.

House Sparrow -Native range in dark green and introduced range in light green

References: House Sparrow - Declining Population by Kalpana Palkhiwala, Wikipedia

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Sunday Article: Seahorse - The Pregnant Male!!!

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:22:00 +0000

Sunday article by Mohan Pai

Seahorses

Hippocampus

The Pregnant Male !!!

Seahorses are among the only animal species on Earth in which the male bears the unborn young. Male seahorses are equipped with a brood pouch on their ventral, or front-facing, side. When mating, the female deposits her eggs into his pouch, and the male fertilizes them internally. He carries the eggs in his pouch until they hatch, then releases fully formed, miniature seahorses into the water.

When people first hear about seahorse male getting pregnant, the question that naturally follows is, “So what makes them male?” The simple answer is sperm. The distinction between scarce round eggs and prolific tadpole-like sperm is essentially all that separates woman from man.

This delicate, diminutive creature (size of a tea cup) has enchanted people for thousands of years. It was Aristotle, the Greek philosopher who first wrote about the unusual habits of the Syngnathidae family in the third century BC..

In ancient Rome, the people believed that when Neptune, the god of the ocean, traveled, he swished through the water in a chariot drawn by gigantic, enchanted horses who could breathe underwater. When fishermen first saw the minute sea horses, they thought that they must be the offspring of Neptune’s horses, and they were fascinated with the little creatures.

Now we know that sea horses are, of course, not horses at all, they are merely a unique kind of fish. But these petite sea creatures with the elongated snout still seem as magical to us as they were to the ancient Romans.They are playful and graceful, and divers often stop to watch these marvelous creatures frolic around in the depths of the sea.

Habits

Sea horses don’t have scales the way that many other kinds of fish do. Instead, they have bony plates underneath their skin, like a small suit of armor to protect them from harm. There are numerous different kinds of sea horses, and they come in varying colors and sizes. Sea horses can be very tiny, and some are no larger than the length of the fingernail on your pinkie finger. Many types of sea horses have a unique way to camouflage themselves and hide from their enemies. Some can change colors, and chameleon-like, blend in with their surroundings. Some sea horses look so much like their surroundings that it is difficult to see them unless one is looking closely, and this helps to hide them from predators. One kind of sea horse even grows hair-like skin extensions so that they will blend in with the plant life whose fronds wave gently in the water of the ocean. Seahorses have no teeth and no stomach. Food passes through their digestive systems so quickly, they must eat constantly to stay alive

Breeding

It is the male, not female, sea horses who are impregnated, and they can have up to 1500 babies at one time. Males have a special patch or pouch on their belly that provides incubation for the female’s eggs. The female transfers the eggs to the male’s pouch, and they then attach to the wall of the male’s pouch. After the male fertilizes the eggs, they are retained within the brood pouch to develop. When the young hatch, the male expels them from the pouch and they emerge looking like miniature versions of the adults. During the entire pregnancy, a mated pair of sea horses will dance in the water together every day just after the sun has risen. Scientists have speculated for years on the reason for this, but no one really knows why the sea horses execute this peculiar, beautiful greeting dance.

Seahorse distribution map

They are found in shallow, coastal, tropical and temperate waters from about 45°S to 45°N. They inhabit many ecologically sensitive aquatic habitats, including coral reefs, sea grasses, mangroves and estuaries, with most species in the Indo-Pacific and western Atlantic regions. Sea horses primarily occupy inshore habitats in narrow strips along the coast and prefer shallow waters (< 15 m depth), but have been encountered in shallow rock pools. Many temperate and tropical sea horse species inhabit sea grass meadows, while others inhabit mangrove ecosystems and coral reefs.

In medicine

Ironically, it is their very popularity that places them in danger, as they are sought in large numbers for use in traditional medicine, aquarium fish and curios (souvenirs).

Seahorses are used as an ingredient in traditional medicine, particularly in southeast Asia where traditional Chinese medicine and its derivatives (e.g. Japanese and Korean traditional medicine)are practiced and have been used perhaps for about 600 years. Seahorses are credited with having a role in increasing and balancing vital energy flows within the body, as well as a curative role for such ailments as impotence and infertility, asthma, high cholesterol, goitre, kidney disorders, and skin afflictions such as severe acne and persistent nodules. They are also reported to facilitate parturition, act as a powerful general tonic and as a potent aphrodisiac.

It was conservatively estimated that at least 20 million sea horses (more than 56 metric tonnes) were caught for the traditional medicine market. In addition, more than one million live sea horses are caught for aquarium trade, mostly destined for sale in North America, Europe, Japan and Taiwan. The value of sea horses is quite high; the price of dried sea horses in Hong Kong markets ranges from Rs 11,500 to 50,400 (US$ 275 to 1200) per kg depending on the species, quality and size. About 50 countries are involved in sea horse exploitation.

Medicinal seahorse

India is one of the largest exporters of dried sea horses globally, exporting at least 3.6 tonnes (~ 1.3million sea horses) annually, and contributes to about 30% of the global seahorse trade. There is also a significant trade in sea horses as aquarium fishes,

as supplements in some specialized cuisine and as curios. Sea horses are exploited both as an incidental catch (by-catch in trawl nets) and target catch, for export. Presently, the commercial exploitation of sea horses is being carried out from Tamil Nadu and Kerala coasts. Along Ramnad coast in Tamil Nadu, dried sea horse is used as a medicine to arrest whooping cough in children.

Goa– Maharashtra coast also indicated a similar usage. Demand for medicinal purposes has increased 10-fold during the 1980s and continues to grow at an annual rate of about 8–10% in China alone, predominantly due to China’s economic boom which promotes increased consumer-spending on traditional medicines.

Today, sea horse populations face an unpredictable future. They are not as yet on the endangered list, or even the potentially threatened list, but scientists and other experts are worried. Fishermen are catching far too many of them, and more of their underwater habitats are destroyed each day by pollution and other human carelessness.

Population data for most of the world’s 35 seahorse species is sparse. However, worldwide coastal habitat depletion, pollution, and rampant harvesting, mainly for use in Asian traditional medicine, have made several species vulnerable to extinction.

In Mythology

The hippocamp or hippocampus in Greek and often called a sea-horse in English, is a mythological creature shared by Phoenician and Greek mythology, though the name by which it is recognised is purely Greek; it became part of Etruscan mythology. It has typically been depicted as a horse in its forepart with a coiling, scaly, fishlike hindquarter.

Hippocamp in Roman mosaic in the thermae at Aquae Sulis (Bath)

Homer described Poseidon, who was god of horses (Poseidon Hippios) as well as of the sea, drawn by "brazen-hoofed" horses over the sea's surface, and Apollonius of Rhodes, being consciously archaic in Argonautica describes the horse of Poseidon emerging from the sea and galloping away across the Libyan sands In Hellenistic and Roman imagery. However, Poseidon (or Roman Neptune) often drives a sea-chariot drawn by hippocampi. Thus hippocamps sport with this god in both ancient depictions and much more modern ones, such as in the waters of the eighteenth-century Trevi Fountain in Rome surveyed by Neptune from his niche above.

Poseidon's horses, which were included in the elaborate sculptural program of gilt-bronze and ivory, added by a Roman client to the temple of Poseidon at Corinth, are likely to have been hippocamp.

References: Wikipedia, National Geographic, essortment.com, National Institute of Oceanography, Goa.

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Coral Reefs - 'Living organisms'

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:55:00 +0000

Sunday article by Mohan Pai

Coral Reefs

"The Living Organisms"

Some of the biodiversity of a coral reef, in this case the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Called “rainforests of the sea”, coral reefs are living organism and the oldest, most productive ecosystems on earth.

Existing for more than 500 million years, Corals are marine organisms from the class Anthozoa and exist as small sea anemone-like polyps, typically in colonies of many identical individuals. The group includes the important reef builders that are found in tropical oceans, which secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.

A coral "head", commonly perceived to be a single organism, is formed from myriads of individual but genetically identical polyps, each polyp only a few millimeters in diameter. Over thousands of generations, the polyps lay down a skeleton that is characteristic of their species. An individual head of coral grows by asexual reproduction of the individual polyps. Corals also breed sexually by spawning, with corals of the same species releasing gametes simultaneously over a period of one to several nights around a full moon.

Although corals can catch small fish and animals such as plankton using stinging cells on their tentacles, these animals obtain most of their nutrients from photosynthetic unicellular algae called zooxanthellae. Consequently, most corals depend on sunlight and grow in clear and shallow water, typically at depths shallower than 60 metres (200 ft). These corals can be major contributors to the physical structure of the coral reefs that develop in tropical and subtropical waters, such as the enormous Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Other corals do not have associated algae and can live in much deeper water, with the cold-water genus Lophelia surviving as deep as 3,000 metres (9,800 ft). Examples of these can be found living on the Darwin Mounds located north-west of Cape Wrath, Scotland. Corals have also been found off the coast of Washington State and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.Corals coordinate behaviour by communicating with each other.

Globally, coral reefs are under threat from climate change, ocean acidification, overuse of reef resources, and harmful land-use practices. High nutrient levels such as those found in runoff from agricultural areas can harm reefs by encouraging excess algae growth.

Formations

Coral reefs can take a variety of forms, defined in following:

Fringing reef – a reef that is directly attached to a shore or borders it with an intervening shallow channel or lagoon.

Barrier reef – a reef separated from a mainland or island shore by a deep lagoon (Great Barrier Reef).

Patch reef – an isolated, often circular reef, usually within a lagoon or embayment.

Apron reef – a short reef resembling a fringing reef, but more sloped; extending out and downward from a point or peninsular shore.

Bank reef – a linear or semi-circular shaped-outline, larger than a patch reef.

Ribbon reef – a long, narrow, somewhat winding reef, usually associated with an atoll lagoon.

Atoll reef – a more or less circular or continuous barrier reef extending all the way around a lagoon without a central island.

Table reef – an isolated reef, approaching an atoll type, but without a lagoon.

Distribution
Coral reefs are estimated to cover 284,300 square kilometers, with the Indo-Pacific region (including the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia and the Pacific) accounting for 91.9% of the total. Southeast Asia accounts for 32.3% of that figure, while the Pacific including Australia accounts for 40.8%. Atlantic and Caribbean coral reefs only account for 7.6%.

Location map of coral reefs

Locations of coral reefs.
Although corals exist both in temperate and tropical waters, shallow-water reefs form only in a zone extending from 30°N to 30°S of the equator. Tropical corals do not grow at depths of over 50 m (165 ft). Temperature has less of an effect on the distribution of tropical coral, but it is generally accepted that they do not exist in waters below 18 °C., and that the optimum temperature is 26-27° Celsius for most coral reefs. The reefs in the Persian Gulf however have adapted to temperatures of 13° Celsius in winter and 38° Celsius in summer. Deep water coral is more still exceptional since it can exist at greater depths and colder temperatures. Although deep water corals can form reefs, very little is known about them.

Famous coral reefs and reef areas of the world include:

The Great Barrier Reef - largest coral reef system in the world, Queensland, Australia;

The Belize Barrier Reef - second largest in the world, stretching from southern Quintana Roo, Mexico along the coast of Belize to the Bay Islands of Honduras.

The New Caledonia Barrier Reef - second longest double barrier reef in the world, with a length of about 1500 km.

The Andros, Bahamas Barrier Reef - third largest in the world, following the east coast of Andros Island, Bahamas, between Andros and Nassau.

The Red Sea Coral Reef - located off the coast of Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Pulley Ridge - deepest photosynthetic coral reef, Florida

Numerous reefs scattered over the Maldives

Ghe Raja Ampat Islands in Indonesia's West Papua province offer the highest known marine diversity.

Anatomy of Coral Polyp

References: Wikipedia

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For some of my articles visit:

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http://biodiversity-mohanpai.blogspot.com/
For some key chapters from my book "The Western Ghats", please log on to:
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For detailed blog (6 Chapters from my book) on Mahadayi/Mandovi River Valley, please log on to:
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For the book 'The Elderly' please log on to:
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http://oldagecare-paimohan.blogspot.com/
You can also access my blogs on Sulekha and Wordpress
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http://mohanpai.sulekha.com/blog/posts.htm
For my book "The Flight of Gods - Hindu Temples & Shrines of Goa" please log on to:
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http://flightofgods.blogspot.com/
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(Traditional Hindu Central Courtyard Houses of Goa)

Mohan Pai’s email: mohanpai@hotmail.com

Sunday Article: The House Crow

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:47:00 +0000

Sunday article by Mohan Pai

The House Crow
Corvus splendens

Photo courtesy: J. M. Garg

In India, the crow is considered a spirit of the ancestors. During Shraddha or death ceremony pinda (food) is offered and is considered accepted only if a crow arrives and eats it.

The house crow is a widespread resident of India and has a special place in Hindu society. During death ceremonies (shraddha) and Pitru Paksha, the practice of offering food or pinda to crows is still in vogue since crows are believed to represent our ancestors.

The House Crow, also known as the Colombo Crow is a common bird of the Crow family that is of Asian origin but now found in many parts of the world, where they arrived assisted by shipping. It is between the Jackdaw and the Carrion Crow in size (40 cm in length) but is relatively slimmer than either. The forehead, crown, throat and upper breast are a richly glossed black, whilst the neck and breast are a lighter grey-brown in colour. The wings, tail and legs are black. There are regional variations in the thickness of the bill and the depth of colour in areas of the plumage.

Distribution and habitat

It has a widespread distribution in southern Asia, being native to Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Laccadive Islands, South West Thailand and coastal southern Iran. It has been introduced to East Africa around Zanzibar (around 1897[3]) and Port Sudan, and arrived in Australia via ship but has up to now been exterminated. Recently it has made its arrival in Europe, and has been breeding in the Hook of Holland since 1998. It is associated with human settlements in all of its range, from small villages to large cities.

Due to a human population explosion in the areas it inhabits, this species has also proportionately multiplied. Being an omnivorous scavenger has enabled it to thrive in such circumstances.

House Crow - distribution

The invasive potential for the species is great all over the tropics. It has as yet not established in the New World. This species is able to make use of resources with great flexibility and appears to be associated with humans and no populations are known to exist independently of human

Size: 42 cm Weight: 250-350 gm

Identification: Plumage is glossy black, except for the nape, sides of the head, upper back and breast, which are grey. Bill, legs, and feet also black. Sexes alike.

Food: Omnivorous. Diet includes seeds, fruit, grain, nectar, berries, bird’s eggs, nestlings, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, wide range of carrion.It is a highly opportunistic bird and given its omnivorus diet, it can survive on anything that is edible.

Call: Normal call a harsh qua qua or a nasal kaan kaan. It also has a couple of softer calls when resting or during courtship.

Habits: Highly vocal, gregarious birds, seemingly unafraid of humans. Aggressive, will attack and chase off any large bird of prey. Birds have been reported taking food from school children and killing chicks of domestic fowls. Breeding pairs will repeatedly dive bomb humans near the nest.

Habitat: Wholly dependent on human habitation; consequently found in villages, towns, and cities throughout its range. Resorts to altitudinal and seasonal local movements in colder northern areas in winter. Replaced by Large-billed Crows and Jungle Crows in mountains and forests respectively.

Breeding: Solitary nester except in areas of high population density. Will use trees, buildings, or other artificial structures for rough stick nest lined with coir or other fibre. Four to five pale blue-green eggs, speckled with brown. Breeding season March through July. Incubation 16–17 days; fledging 21–28 days.

Status: Not threatened. Abundant in its range to the point of being a pest and a threat to other bird species.

Photo courtesy Muhammad Mahdi Karim

References: Wikipedia, birding.in

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Sunday Article: Vanishing Species: Shark

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:38:00 +0000

Sunday Article by Mohan Pai

Shark

(Selachinmorpha)

The great predator.

Virtually unchanged for more than 400 million years, shark’s streamlined bodies and amazing sensory systems fit the mold of a perfect predator.

Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago, before the time of the dinosaurs. Sharks are found in all seas and are common down to depths of 2,000 metres (6,600 ft), and some live even deeper but they are almost entirely absent below 3,000 metres (9,800 ft). They generally do not live in freshwater, with a few exceptions such as the bull shark and the river shark which can live both in seawater and freshwater. They respire with the use of five to seven gill slits. Sharks have a covering of dermal denticles that protect their skin from damage and parasites and improve fluid dynamics so the shark can move faster. They have several sets of replaceable teeth. Well-known species such as the great white and the hammerhead are apex predators at the top of the underwater food chain. Their extraordinary skills as predators fascinate and frighten us, even as their survival is under serious threat from fishing and other human activities.

Extraordinary Sensory System

Sharks have sensory organs unlike any other creatures. Most sharks can:

* Pick up sound waves from more than 5 kilometers.

*Detect a single drop pf blood in an amount of water contained in an Olympic size swimming pool.

*Register the heightened body tension of a wounded or panic-stricken creature.

* locate prey in total darkness.

Unlike bony fish, sharks have no bones; their skeleton is made of cartilage, which is a tough, fibrous substance, not nearly as hard as bone. Sharks also have no swim bladder (unlike bony fish).

Size & Shape

There are many different species of sharks that range in size from the size of a person's hand to bigger than a bus. Fully-grown sharks range in size from 7 inches (18 cm) long (the Spined Pygmy shark), up to 50 feet (15 m) long (the Whale shark). Most sharks are intermediate in size, and are about the same size as people, 5-7 feet (1.5-2.1 m) long. Half of the 368 shark species are under 39 inches (1 m) long.

Sharks have a variety of body shapes. Most sharks have streamlined, torpedo-shaped bodies that glide easily through the water. Some bottom-dwelling sharks (e.g. the angelshark) have flattened bodies that allow them to hide in the sand of the ocean bed. Some sharks have an elongated body shape (e.g., cookiecutter sharks and wobbegongs). Sawsharks have elongated snouts, thresher sharks have a tremendously elongated upper tail fin which they use to stun prey, and hammerheads have extraordinarily wide heads. The goblin shark has a large, pointed protuberance on its head; its purpose is unknown.

There are about 368 different species of sharks, which are divided into 30 families. These different families of sharks are very different in the way they look, live, and eat. They have different shapes, sizes, color, fins, teeth, habitat, diet, personality, method of reproduction, and other attributes. Some types of shark are very rare (like the great white shark and the megamouth) and some are quite common (like the dogfish shark and bull shark). Sharks belong to the group of cartilagenous fish, the Elasmobranchii, that includes the sharks, rays, and skates.

Sharks play a vital role in our ecosystem as part of nature’s complex system of checks and balances. Known as apex predators, they are at the top of the food chain. Many sharks prey upon wounded and sick animals, keeping the populations of various species healthy and in balance, while others scavenge the ocean by feeding on dead animals or by filter feeding.

According to United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) approximately 100 million sharks are killed each year. This does not include those caught as bycatch (non-targeted animals caught unintentionally and wasted), which is largely unreported. Many sharks also fall victim to finning, the practice of cutting shark’s dorsal, caudal and pectoral fins, then discarding the still-living shark into the sea to die. Sharks play a vital role in our ecosystem as part of nature’s complex system of checks and balances. Known as apex predators, they are at the top of the food chain. Many sharks prey upon wounded and sick animals, keeping the populations of various species healthy and in balance, while others scavenge the ocean by feeding on dead animals or by filter feeding.

Most sharks have no predators, but biological characteristics such as slow growth, late sexual maturity and low number of offsprings make sharks susceptible to almost any fishing pressure. Most species are either fished to capacity or overfished worldwide and for products like shark meat, fins and cartilage contribute to their decline.

In India, the bull shark is often called the Sundarbans or Ganges shark and it is found in the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers of West Bengal and Assam in eastern India and adjoining Bangladesh.Sharks of the family Carcharhinidae are the most important group, dominating the fishery all over the world, and this applies equally in India.

SHARK ATTACKS

When some sharks (like the Great White or the Gray Reef shark) turn aggressive prior to an attack, they arch their back and throw back their head. This places their mouth in a better position for taking a big bite. They also move their tail more acutely (probably in preparation for a chase). Sharks do not normally attack people, and only about 25 species of sharks are known to attack people. Sharks attack fewer than 100 people each year. Many more people are killed by bees or lightning.
The sharks that are the most dangerous to people are the great white shark, the tiger shark, the bull shark, and the oceanic whitetip shark. The bull shark is the most frequent attacker of people as it swims in very shallow waters where people swim and is a very plentiful shark. Some of the other sharks that are known to have attacked people include the gray shark, blue shark, hammerhead shark, mako shark, nurse shark, lemon shark, blacktip reef shark, wobbegongs, sandtiger, spitting sharks, and the porbeagle. Some people believe that sharks mistake people (especially people swimming on surf boards) for seals and sea lions, some of their favorite foods.

References: Wikipedia, enchantedlearning.com

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Sunday article: About Seashells

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:59:00 +0000

Sunday article by Mohan Pai

About Seashells

The Sacred Conch of Lord Vishnu

Lord Vishnu, is said to hold a special conch, Panchajanya, that represents life, as it has come out of life-giving waters.

In India the sound of the conch is associated with the sacred syllable AUM, the first sound of creation. Conches that spiral clockwise are said to symbolize the expansion of infinite space. These conches belong to Lord Vishnu, the preserver god. Conches that spiral counterclockwise are said to defy the "laws of nature," and belong to the destroyer/transformation god, Lord Shiva. The conch is one of the five principle weapons of Vishnu. Followers of Vishnu believe the conch shell was given to us to destroy all evil. Arjuna, the hero of India's epic Mahabharata, blew a particularly powerful conch as a battle horn.

A Shankh shell (the shell of a Turbinella pyrum, a species in the gastropod family Turbinellidae) is often referred to in the West as a conch shell, or a chank shell. This shell is used as an important ritual object in Hinduism. The shell is used as a ceremonial trumpet, as part of religious practices, for example puja. The chank trumpet is sounded during worship at specific points, accompanied by ceremonial bells and singing. The warriors of ancient India blew conch shells to announce battle, as is described in the beginning of the war of Kurukshetra, in the Mahabharata, the famous Hindu epic. Lord Vishnu, is said to hold a special conch, Panchajanya, that represents life, as it has come out of life-giving waters.

A Hindu priest blowing a Shankh (a shell of Turbinella pyrum) during a puja.

Shells are lovely natural objects, equals in beauty to any flower or butterfly, they are more than just pretty baubles found on beaches. They are the exterior skeletons (exoskeletons) of a group of animals called mollusks. The word "mollusk" means "soft-bodied;" an exterior skeleton is very important to these creatures, providing them with shape and rigidity, and also with protection, and sometimes camouflage, from predators.Mollusks are classified into major groupings according to the characteristics of their shells. Snails (Gastropoda) have a single shell which spirals outward and to one side as it grows. Most Cephalopoda (octopi and squid) have no shell, but the Chambered Nautilus of that group has a shell. This shell does coil, but it coils flatly, in a single plane. Tusk shells (Scaphopoda) also have a single shell, but it does not coil at all; it grows in a narrow and very slightly curved cone shape. Bivalves (Bivalvia), including oysters, clams, scallops and mussels, have two parts to their shells that enclose their tender bodies like the two halves of a hinged box. Chitons (Polyplacophora) are little armored tanks, with a row of eight overlapping plates protecting them. The Neopilina (Monoplacophora), are deep-sea "living fossils;" they have a single shell which hardly coils at all, but fits over their bodies like a protective cup.

While many sea animals produce exoskeletons, usually only those of molluscs (also spelt "mollusk") are normally considered to be "sea shells". The majority of shells are made of nacre, an organic mixture of outer layers of horny conchiolin (a scleroprotein), followed by an intermediate layer of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) as either calcite or aragonite in the form of platy crystals. Shells of the class Polyplacophora are made of a softer calcium carbonate compound called chiton. Mollusc shells (especially those formed by marine species) are very durable and outlast the otherwise soft-bodied animals that produce them by a very long time (sometimes thousands of years). They fossilise easily, and fossil mollusc shells date all the way back to the Cambrian period. Large amounts of shells may form sediment and become compressed into limestone.

1742 drawing of shells of the money cowry, Cypraea moneta

Shell money (money cowry)

Seashells have been used as a medium of exchange in various places, including many Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean islands, also in North America, Africa and the Caribbean.The most common species of shells to be used as currency have been Cypraea moneta, the “money cowry”, and certain tusk shells or Dentalium, such as those used in North Western North America for many centuries. The Dutch East India Company, a major force in the colonization of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, amassed a large portion of its vast fortune via trading shell money of the species Cypraea moneta and Cypraea annulus, in exchange for commodities such as spices, exotic animals, and gemstones, all of which were considered valuable in Europe at the time.

Seashells in personal adornment
Seashells have been used as jewelry or in other forms of adornment since prehistoric times. Mother of pearl was historically primarily a seashell product although more recently some mother of pearl comes from freshwater mussels.Shell necklaces have been found in Stone Age graves as far inland as the Dordogne Valley in France. Seashells are often used whole and drilled, so that they can be threaded like beads, or cut into pieces of various shapes. Naturally-occurring, beachworn, cone shell "tops" (the broken-off spire of the shell, which often has a hole worn at the tip) can function as beads without any further modification. In Hawaii these natural beads were traditionally collected from the beach drift in order to make puka shell jewelry. Since it is hard to obtain large quantities of naturally-occurring beachworn cone tops, almost all modern puka shell jewelry uses cheaper imitations, cut from thin shells of other species of mollusk, or even made of plastic. Shells have been formed into, or incorporated into pendants, beads, buttons, brooches, rings, and hair combs, among other uses. The shell of the large "bullmouth helmet" sea snail, scientific name Cypraecassis rufa, was historically, and still is, used to make cameos. Mother of pearl from many seashells including species in the family Trochidae, Turbinidae, Haliotidae, and various pearly bivalves, has often been used in jewelry, buttons, etc. In London, Pearly Kings and Queens traditionally wear clothing covered in patterns made up of hundreds of "pearl buttons", in other words, buttons made of mother-of-pearl or nacre.

Use of gastropod shells, specifically cowries, in traditional dress of the Kikuyu people of Kenya, Africa.

References: Wikipedia

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Sunday Article: The Fungi

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 02:03:00 +0000

Sunday article by Mohan Pai

The Fungi

Wild, edible mushrooms, especially the short-lived variety that blooms with the onset of monsoons is a much relished variety on the western coast.

The Fungi are large group of parasites and decomposers that include mushrooms, molds and yeasts. Fungi were once grouped along with plants but are now thought to be more closely related to animals and are treated as a separate kingdom.

A fungus is any member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. The Fungi are classified as a kingdom that is separate from plants and animals. One major difference is that fungal cells have cell walls that contain chitin, unlike the cell walls of plants, which contain cellulose. The discipline of biology devoted to the study of fungi is known as mycology, which is often regarded as a branch of botany, even though genetic studies have shown that fungi are more closely related to animals than to plants.Abundant worldwide, most fungi are inconspicuous because of the small size of their structures, and their cryptic lifestyles in soil, on dead matter, and as symbionts of plants, animals, or other fungi. They may become noticeable when fruiting, either as mushrooms or molds. Fungi perform an essential role in the decomposition of organic matter and have fundamental roles in nutrient cycling and exchange.

The fungi have long been used as a direct source of food, such as mushrooms and truffles, as a leavening agent for bread, and in fermentation of various food products, such as wine, beer, and soy sauce. Since the 1940s, fungi have been used for the production of antibiotics, and, more recently, various enzymes produced by fungi are used industrially and in detergents. Fungi are also used as biological agents to control weeds and pests. Many species produce bioactive compounds called mycotoxins, such as alkaloids and polyketides, that are toxic to animals including humans. Fungi can break down manufactured materials and buildings, and become significant pathogens of humans and other animals. Losses of crops due to fungal diseases (e.g. rice blast disease) or food spoilage can have a large impact on human food supplies and local economies.However, little is known of the true biodiversity of Kingdom Fungi, which has been estimated at around 1.5 million species, with about 5% of these having been formally classified.

Lichens are a symbiotic union between fungus and algae (or sometimes photosynthesizing bacteria). The algae provide nutrients while the fungus protects them from the elements. The result is a new organism distinctly different from its component species. Around 25,000 species of Lichens have been identified by scientists.

Medicinal mushrooms
The Kingdom Fungi includes some of the most important organisms, both in terms of their ecological and economic roles. By breaking down dead organic material, they continue the cycle of nutrients through ecosystems. In addition, most vascular plants could not grow without the symbiotic fungi, or mycorrhizae, that inhabit their roots and supply essential nutrients. Other fungi provide numerous drugs (such as penicillin and other antibiotics), foods like mushrooms, truffles and morels, and the bubbles in bread, champagne, and beer. Fungi also cause a number of plant and animal diseases: in humans, ringworm, athlete's foot, and several more serious diseases are caused by fungi. Because fungi are more chemically and genetically similar to animals than other organisms, this makes fungal diseases very difficult to treat.

Edible mushrooms

Edible mushrooms are used extensively in cooking, in many cuisines (notably Chinese, European, and Japanese). Though mushrooms are commonly thought to have little nutritional value, many species are high in fiber and provide vitamins such as thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, biotin, ascorbic acid. Mushrooms are also a source of some minerals, including selenium, potassium and phosphorusMost mushrooms that are sold in market have been commercially grown on mushroom farms. The most popular of these, Agaricus bisporus, is generally considered safe for most people to eat because it is grown in controlled, sterilized environments, though some individuals do not tolerate it well.

The button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus), one of the most widely cultivated mushrooms in the world.

At present 3 mushrooms are being cultivated in India. These are : the white mushroom (Agaricus bisporus), the paddy-straw mushroom (Volvariella vovvacea) and the oyster mushroom (Pleurotus sajor-caju). Of these, A. bisporus is the most popular and economically sound to grow and is extensively cultivated throughout the world

Hallucinogenic mushrooms

Some mushrooms possess psychedelic properties. They are commonly known as "magic mushrooms" "mushies" or "shrooms" and are available in smart shops in many parts of the world, though some countries have outlawed their sale. Because of their psychoactive properties, some mushrooms have played a role in native medicine, where they have been used in an attempt to effect mental and physical healing, and to facilitate visionary states.

Amanita phalloides accounts for the majority of fatal mushroom poisonings worldwide.

Poisonous mushrooms

Of the many thousands of mushroom species in the world, only 32 have been associated with fatalities, and an additional 52 have been identified as containing significant toxins. By far the majority of mushroom poisonings are not fatal, but the majority of fatal poisonings are attributable to the Amanita phalloides mushroom.

Famous poisonings

Roman Emperor Claudius is said to have been murdered by being fed the death cap mushroom. Pope Clement VII is also rumored to have been murdered this way. Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and Tsaritsa Natalia Naryshkina are believed to have died from eating the death cap mushroom. The composer Johann Schobert died in Paris, along with his wife and one of his children, after insisting that certain poisonous mushrooms were edible.

References: Wikipedia

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Sunday article: About EHA - A naturalist on the prowl

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 01:41:00 +0000

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Hello friends,

Good morning. This Sunday, I thought, I could introduce EHA to my readers. EHA belongs to another era but his delightful writings and pen-and-ink sketches on nature and wildlife is a sheer joy to the reader. I have attached two of his complete works: 1. Concerning Animals 2. The Common Birds of India. You can download PDFs of some of his books FREE. Please log on to:
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Aitken%2C%20Edward%20Hamilton%2C%201851-1909%22

Naturalist of the yore

Edward Hamilton Aitken (born 16 August 1851 in Satara, India, died 11 April 1909 Edinburgh was a humorist, naturalist and a writer especially on the wildlife of India. He was well known to Anglo-Indians by the pen-name of Eha. His higher education was obtained at Bombay and Pune. He passed M.A. and B.A. of Bombay University first on the list, and won the Homejee Cursetjee prize with a poem in 1880. From 1870 to 1876 he taught Latin at the Deccan College in Pune. He also knew Greek and was known to be able to read the Greek Testament without the aid of a dictionary.

He grew up in India and it was only later in life that he visited England for the first time and he found the weather of Edinburgh severe. EHA recorded his personal observations of the smallest creatures with a signature literary style. So remarkably absorbing were his descriptions that the great ornithologist Salim Ali says in his autobiography The Fall of a Sparrow, “Among my favourite and most admired naturalist writers are W.H.Hudson and E.H.Aitken (better known as EHA).” Salim Ali praises EHA for devoting extra attention to honing and polishing his “seemingly effortless essays.” Salim Ali also edited 3rd edition of his book The Common Birds of Bombay published as The Common Birds of India in 1915.

The finely tuned sense of humour and equally acute sense of drama in nature make the books a pleasurable read. The Sahib-style narrative lends a unique charm. EHA was undoubtedly a unique literary species himself. The little exaggerations quickly become unimportant, because there is an underlying charm to his stories. They contain the message of how much is happening around us, and how little we care to notice.

EHA’s books include:
The Tribes on my Frontier
An Indian Naturalist's Foreign Policy (1883)
Behind the Bungalow (1889)
The Naturalist on the Prowl (1894)
The Common Birds of Bombay (1900)

Very best wishes,
Mohan Pai

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Indian Spiders

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 01:55:00 +0000

Sunday article by Mohan Pai

Indian Spiders

Arachnids

Pic courtesy: Sandilya Theurkauf

Cobwebs of deception

In the gathering light of dawn, an orb-web spider sits motionless in the centre of its web. The web is one of nature’s most ingenious traps - woven from at least six types of silks and constructed with mathematical precision. But spiders are so short-sighted that they can barely see their webs. Instead they build them by touch, and instinct guides their every move. Weight for weight, spider’s silk is stronger than steel. Even so, webs soon get damaged and need to be repaired. When the damage gets too great, a spider instinctively knows to give up on repair work, and start afresh. It eats up the old web so that it can digest and recycle the silk. Each kind of spider always makes exactly the same kind of web.

‘Come into my parlour...’

Spiders are generally regarded as predatory. The best-known method of prey capture is by means of sticky webs. Varying placement of webs allows different species of spider to trap different insects in the same area, for example flat horizontal webs trap insects that fly up from vegetation underneath while flat vertical webs trap insects in horizontal flight. Web-building spiders have poor vision, but are extremely sensitive to vibrations. Females of the water spider Argyroneta aquatica build underwater "diving bell" webs which they fill with air and use for digesting prey, molting, mating and raising offspring. They live almost entirely within the bells, darting out to catch prey animals that touch the bell or the threads that anchor it. A few spiders use the surfaces of lakes and ponds as "webs", detecting trapped insects by the vibrations that these cause while struggling. Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing chelicerate arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae modified into fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms. Spiders are found world-wide on every continent except for Antarctica, and have become established in nearly every ecological niche with the exception of air and sea colonization. As of 2008, approximately 40,000 spider species, and 109 families have been recorded by taxonomists. However, there has been confusion within the scientific community as to how all these genera should be classified, as evidenced by the over 20 different classifications that have been proposed since 1900.

Spiders are abundant and widespread in almost all ecosystems and constitute one of the most important components of global biodiversity. Spiders have a very significant role to play in ecology by being exclusively predatory and thereby maintaining ecological equilibrium. Many spiders feed on noxious insects like houseflies and mosquitoes which are vectors of human diseases. A large number of spiders are found in agricultural fields and thus play an important role in controlling the population of many agricultural pests. Despite this importance, spiders are largely neglected mainly due to ignorance and fear and the subsequent dislike for them. Although more than 1400 species (quite a number is endemic) have been described from India (and many more to be documented), the study on the taxonomy, biology and ecology of Indian spiders remains neglected.

Anatomically, spiders differ from other arthropods in that the usual body segments are fused into two tagmata, the cephalothorax and abdomen, and joined by a small, cylindrical pedicel. Unlike insects, spiders do not have antennae. In all except the most primitive group, the Mesothelae, spiders have the most centralized nervous systems of all arthropods, as all their ganglia are fused into one mass in the cephalothorax. Unlike most arthropods, spiders have no extensor muscles in their limbs and instead extend them by hydraulic pressure.Their abdomens bear appendages that have been modified into spinnerets that extrude silk from up to six types of silk glands within their abdomen. Spider's webs vary widely in size, shape and the amount of sticky thread used. It now appears that the spiral orb web may be one of the earliest forms, and spiders that produce tangled cobwebs are more abundant and diverse than orb-web spiders. Spider-like arachnids with silk-producing spigots appear in the Devonian period about 386 million years ago, but these animals apparently lacked spinnerets.

True spiders have been found in Carboniferous rocks from 318 to 299 million years ago, and are very similar to the most primitive surviving order, the Mesothelae. The main groups of modern spiders, Mygalomorphae and Araneomorphae, first appear in the Triassic period, before 200 million years ago. Most known species are predators, mostly preying on insects and on other spiders, although a few large species also take birds and lizards. Spiders use a wide range of strategies to capture prey: trapping it in sticky webs, lassoing it with sticky bolas, mimicking the prey to avoid detection, or running it down. Spiders' guts are too narrow to take solids, and they liquidize their food by flooding it with digestive enzymes and grinding it with the bases of their pedipalps, as they do not have true jaws.Male spiders identify themselves by a variety of complex courtship rituals to avoid being eaten by the females. Males of most species survive a few matings, limited mainly by their short life spans. Females weave silk egg-cases, each of which may contain hundreds of eggs. Females of many species care for their young, for example by carrying them around or by sharing food with them. A minority of species are social, building communal webs that may house anywhere from a few to 50,000 individuals. Social behavior ranges from precarious toleration, as in the aggressive widow spiders, to co-operative hunting and food-sharing. Although most spiders live for at most two years, tarantulas and other mygalomorph spiders can live up to 25 years in captivity.While the venom of a few species is dangerous to humans, scientists are now researching the use of spider venom in medicine and as non-polluting pesticides. Spider silk provides a combination of lightness, strength and elasticity that is superior to that of synthetic materials, and spider silk genes have been inserted into mammals and plants to see if these can be used as silk factories. As a result of their wide range of behaviors, spiders have become common symbols in art and mythology symbolizing various combinations of patience, cruelty and creative powers.

References: Wikipedia, Spider information

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Vanishing Species: Indian Otters

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 02:29:00 +0000

Sunday article by Mohan Pai

Indian Otters

Mustelids

Photo: courtesy: K. Pichumani

Playful creatures, a group of Otters is called ‘romp’, being descriptive of their playful nature.

Otters are semi-aquatic, fish-eating mammals. The otter subfamily Lutrinae forms part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, polecats, badgers, as well as others. With thirteen species in seven genera, otters have an almost worldwide distribution. They mainly eat aquatic animals, predominantly fish and shellfish, but also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals.An otter's den is called a holt or couch. A male otter is a dog (otter), a female a bitch (otter), and a baby a whelp or pup. The collective nouns for otters are bevy, family, lodge or romp, being descriptive of their often playful nature, or when in water raft.

India is home to three species of otters: the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra), the smooth-coated otter (Lutra perspicillata) and the small-clawed otter (Amblonyx cinerous). Just 50 years ago, the smooth coated otter, also referred to as the smooth Indian otter, was widespread in the country while both Eurasian and the small clawed otter (earlier called the clawless otter) were absent from central India, but found in broad bands in the Himalayas and the ghats in the south. It is essentially an otter of cold hill and moutain streams and lakes. Today, these elegant creatures are confined only to protected areas and zoos. If there are any unknown pockets outside, they are unlikely to survive.What happened to otters was quite simple. Found in rivers, lakes and other wetlands, they competed with human beings for fish, their main diet, and lost. Pollution poisoned their food and habitat. Lakes and wetlands were drained for agriculture. In fact the trade of otter skins has been going on for hundreds of years in South East Asia. According to a wildlife trade survey done in Thailand, an otter skin can be sold for $90-$100 to leather factories and considered the best leather to make jackets. It is also believed that otter fat was good for rheumatism, and dried otter penis can fetch up to $50 per inch in Mandalay, and in Myitkyina in the Kachin state. A researcher from the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Bangalore, V. Meena, found nomadic tribal herb collectors from Haryana trapping otters in the Palani hills of Tamil Nadu to sell the oil and skin and of course, eat the flesh, while they were at it.

Characteristics

Otters have long, slim bodies and relatively short limbs, with webbed paws. Most have sharp claws on their feet, and all except the sea otter have long muscular tails.They have a very soft, insulated underfur which is protected by their outer layer of long guard hair. This traps a layer of air, and keeps them dry and warm under water.Many otters live in cold waters and have very high metabolic rates to help keep them warm. In summer, in the Himalayas many otters go up the streams and torrents ascending to altitudes of 12,000 ft or more. Their upward movement probably coincides with the upward migration of carp and other fish for purposes of spawning. With the advent of winter they come down to the lower streams.For most otters, fish is the primary staple of their diet. This is often supplemented by frogs, crayfish and crabs. Some otters are expert at opening shellfish, and others will feed on available small mammals or birds. Prey-dependence leaves otters very vulnerable to prey depletion.Otters are very active, chasing prey in the water or searching the beds of rivers, lakes or the seas. Most species live beside water, entering it mainly to hunt or travel, otherwise spending much of their time on land to avoid their fur becoming waterlogged. The sea otter does live in the sea for most of its life.Otters are playful animals and appear to engage in various behaviors for sheer enjoyment. Different species vary in their social structure, with some being largely solitary, while others live in groups – in a few species these groups may be fairly large.

Range map of Otters (IUCN)

Major Threat(s): The aquatic habitats of otters are extremely vulnerable to man-made changes. Canalisation of rivers, removal of bank side vegetation, dam construction, draining of wetlands, aquaculture activities and associated man-made impacts on aquatic systems are all unfavourable to otter populations (Reuther and Hilton-Taylor 2004). In South and South East Asia, the decrease in prey species from wetlands and water ways had reduced the population to an unsustainable threshold leading to local extinctions. The poaching is one of the main cause of its decline from South and South East Asia, and possibly also from the North Asia. (IUCN Red List)

References: Wikipedia, IUCN Red List, S. H. Prater (the book of Indian Animals), Aniruddha Mookerjee in the Hindu.

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Vanishing Species: Peregrine Falcon

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 04:58:00 +0000

Sunday article by Mohan Pai

Peregrine Falcon

Falco peregrinus

Nature’s dive-bomber that attains an incredible speed of 324 km per hour in its swoop.

Rocketing down to catch its prey, no other creature on earth can move as fast as the peregrine falcon. A peregrine stooping is not really flying; it’s coming out of the sky like 1 kg feathered rock. These falcons get higher than most before they dive, so they reach higher speeds. Presumably they need the altitude and resulting speed because their prey itself is so fast. Pigeons for example, a staple peregrine food, can have a cruising speed of 50 km/h and bursts of about 100 km/h which is the top speed for a cheetah.

Painting of subspecies babylonicusBy John Gould

The Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus), also known simply as the Peregrine, and historically as the "Duck Hawk" in North America, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It is a large, crow-sized falcon, with a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache". As is common with bird-eating raptors, the female is much bigger than the male. Experts recognize 17–19 subspecies, which vary in appearance and range; there is disagreement over whether the distinctive Barbary Falcon is a subspecies or a distinct species.

The Peregrine's breeding range includes land regions from the Arctic tundra to the Tropics. It can be found nearly everywhere on Earth, except extreme polar regions, very high mountains, and most tropical rainforests; the only major ice-free landmass from which it is entirely absent is New Zealand. This makes it the world's most widespread bird of prey. Both the English and scientific names of this species mean "wandering falcon", referring to the migratory habits of many northern populations.While its diet consists almost exclusively of medium-sized birds, the Peregrine will occasionally hunt small mammals, small reptiles or even insects. It reaches sexual maturity at one year, and mates for life. It nests in a scrape, normally on cliff edges or, in recent times, on tall human-made structures. The Peregrine Falcon became an endangered species in many areas due to the use of pesticides, especially DDT. Since the ban on DDT from the beginning of the 1970s onwards, the populations recovered, supported by large scale protection of nesting places and releases to the wild.

The Peregrine Falcon has a body length of 34 to 58 centimetres (13–23 in) and a wingspan of around 80 to 120 centimetres (31–47 in). The male and female have similar markings and plumage, but as in many birds of prey the Peregrine Falcon displays marked reverse sexual dimorphism in size, with the female measuring up to 30 percent larger than the male. Males weigh 440–750 g, and the noticeably larger females weigh 910–1500 g.

Peregrine range map

Ecology and behavior
The Peregrine Falcon lives mostly along mountain ranges, river valleys, coastlines, and increasingly in cities. In mild-winter regions, it is usually a permanent resident, and some individuals, especially adult males, will remain on the breeding territory. Only populations that breed in Arctic climes typically migrate great distances during the northern winter.

The life span in the wild is up to 15.5 years. Mortality in the first year is between 59–70%, declining to between 25–32% in adults. Apart from anthropogenic threats like collision with human-made objects, the Peregrine may be killed by large eagles or large owls. The Peregrine Falcon is host to a range of parasites and pathogens. The Peregrine Falcon feeds almost exclusively on medium sized birds such as doves, waterfowl, songbirds, waders and pigeons. Worldwide, it is estimated that between 1,500 and 2,000 bird species (up to roughly a fifth of the world's bird species) are predated by these falconsThe Peregrine Falcon hunts at dawn and dusk, when prey are most active, but in cities also nocturnally, particularly during migration periods when hunting at night may become prevalent. Nocturnal migrants taken by Peregrines include species as diverse as Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Black-necked Grebe, Virginia Rail and Common Quail. It requires open space in order to hunt, and therefore often hunts over open water, marshes, valleys, fields and tundra. It searches for prey either from a high perch or from the air Once prey is spotted, it begins its stoop, folding back the tail and wings, with feet tucked. The air pressure from a 200 mph (320 km/h) dive could possibly damage a bird's lungs, but small bony tubercles in a falcon's nostrils guide the shock waves of the air entering the nostrils (compare intake ramps and inlet cones of jet engines), enabling the bird to breathe more easily while diving by reducing the change in air pressure. To protect their eyes, the falcons use their nictitating membranes (third eyelids) to spread tears and clear debris from their eyes while maintaining vision. Prey is struck and captured in mid-air; the Peregrine Falcon strikes its prey with a clenched foot, stunning or killing it, then turns to catch it in mid-air. The Peregrine will drop it to the ground and eat it there if it is too heavy to carry. Prey is plucked before consumption.
Breeding
The Peregrine Falcon is sexually mature at the end of the first year of age but in healthy populations they breed after two to three years of age. The pair mates for life and returns to the same nesting spot annually. The courtship flight includes a mix of aerial acrobatics, precise spirals, and steep dives. The male passes prey it has caught to the female in mid-air. To make this possible, the female actually flies upside-down to receive the food from the male's talons. The Peregrine Falcon is territorial during the breeding season; nesting pairs are usually more than 1 km (0.6 miles) apart, and often much farther, even in areas with large numbers of pairs. The distance between nests ensures sufficient food supply for pairs and their chicks. Within a breeding territory, a pair may have several nesting ledges; the number used by a pair can vary from one or two to seven in a 16 year period. The pair defends the chosen nest site against other Peregrines, and often against ravens, herons, gulls and (in ground nest) mammals like foxes, wolverines, bears and wolves. Both nests and (less frequently) adults are predated by larger-bodied raptorial birds like eagles, large owls, or Gyrfalcons. Peregrines defending their nests have managed to kill raptors as large as Golden Eagles and Bald Eagles (which they normally avoid) that have come close to the nest.
Pesticides
The Peregrine Falcon became an endangered species because of the use of pesticides, especially DDT during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Pesticide caused to build up in the falcons' fat tissues, reducing the amount of calcium in their eggshells. With thinner shells, fewer falcon eggs survived to hatching. In several parts of the world, such as the eastern USA and Belgium, this species became extinct as a result.

Falconry
The Peregrine Falcon was used in falconry for more than 3,000 years, beginning with nomads in central Asia. Due to its ability to dive at high speeds, it was highly sought-after and generally used by experienced falconers. Peregrine Falcons are also occasionally used to scare away birds at airports to reduce the risk of bird-plane strikes, improving air-traffic safety, and were used to intercept homing pigeons during World War II.

Falconry in India.
The sport of falconry which spread throughout the world was especially popular with the Indian nobility. Falconry, a sport among kings, princes and nobles started way back in 2000 B.C. in China. It started not as a sport but simply out of a necessity for food. From China it spread to Japan, India, Persia, Arabia, Turkey and finally to Europe. By 700 A.D. falconry was well established as a sport. By the middle of the 18th century there were hawking clubs all over Europe. Many tapestries and paintings all over the world depict battle scenes of kings and nobles with their favourite falcons as falconry was also a form of relaxation during long battles. King Richard, Coeur de Lion, took his hawks with him to the crusades. The kings Frederic and Henry VIII of England and the Emperor Napoleon were all keen followers of this magnificent sport. Among the ladies, Mary Queen of Scots loved to be out hawking and Empress Catherine of Russia had her favourite falcon, Merlin.
The Mughals in India were also keen falconers. The sparrow hawk was the favourite of Emperor Akbar. He often used these remarkable birds for hunting. They also added splendour to his court. For them many mansabdars ( commanders), ahadis (single man) and other soldiers were employed. The birds were fed twice a day and towards the close of each day they were fed on sparrows.Falcons are birds of open country, solitary in habit and prefer to fly freely scouring the countryside with their acute sight and pausing in their majestic flight to stoop down at a hundred miles an hour on their unsuspecting prey. The peregrine falcon, the finest bird for training in India, migrates along the east coast of Bhavnagar in Gujarat on the boarder of the Gulf of Cambay. Other falcons found in Bhavnagar are the desert falcon known as the lugger and goshawk or baz which can be trained very successfully.In Bhavnagar, the royal family continued to cherish the sport of hawking till the 1940s. the late Maharaja, Shri Krishna Kumar Singh’s two brothers, Maharaja Nirmal Kumar Singh and Maharaja Dharam Kumar Singh were very enthusiastic sportsmen. They each had their own trainers and falcons. The falcons were caught off the coast of Bhavnagar or brought from Punjab. After it is caught the falcon is securely bound in a handkerchief and its eyes are sealed. This is done by slipping a needle through the lower edge of the eyelid and putting the thread over the head. Apparently the falcon shows no sign of pain. In this manner the eastern falconers seal the eyes of their hunting birds. This keeps them quiet for the rest of the training days and prevents them from becoming excited and scared. The bird also gets used to the human voice and touch. Buying a hawk is like buying a horse. The colour phases, marking, shape, size of beak and middle toe, spirit, age and weight are a few points worth considering. Indian falconers would never buy a falcon whose eyes were not sealed. Sealed eyes were an indication that the hawks had not been trained. The new hawk never leaves the gloved hand of its trainer for four to five days. Day and night they are handled carefully by speaking to them softly and stroking them gently and constantly for only then can these wild birds be trained.

As soon as the hawks lose their fear and become docile, their eyes are unsealed and the training days begin. The trainer swings a lure at the end of a short stick and the falcon stoops but the bait is jerked away before the bird can strike. After 40 to 50 attempts the falcon is permitted to strike and bring the lure down to the ground. It is indeed a wonderful sight to see these hawks starting to respond to their trainers. After this lesson the birds are hooded and well fed. Before a contest or a hunt the birds are given secret Indian drugs to stimulate them to have the utmost powers of speed, courage and endurance. Falcons, being good hunters with keen eyesight, can bring down big birds like ibis, cranes, big heron and among animals, hares. When the game rises, the falconer throws the hawk to catch its prey just like an athlete hurls a goal forward. But vigorous training is absolutely necessary to teach the little fighters how to chase such a quarry. In game hunting, pointers and setters are used and not until the game is found the falcon is unhooded.
In India falcons and hawks constitute two thirds of all species of birds or prey. The uncommon goshawks and the perennial favourite, the peregrine span the Indian sub-continent.However, the sport of falconry has been fast losing popularity not only due to the expenses involved but also due to wide criticism and an increasing awareness of preserving nature and wildlife. There has been a dwindling of the species. In fact the king of falcons, the bullet-headed, steel grey peregrine became almost extinct due to excess DDT in the environment causing the bird to lay eggs with fragile shells leading to greater pre-hatch mortality. However, people were quick to champion this much loved bird and save it from imminent peril.

Peregrine in philately

References: Wikipedia, Falcon & Falconry

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Vanishing Species: Hanuman Langur

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 11:01:00 +0000

Sunday article by Mohan Pai

Hello friends,

Good morning. This sunday's article is about the Hanuman langur, a very bold and rowdy primate.
Hanuman langur is associated with Lord Hanuman of Ramayana and is revered by the Hindus, it is seldom molested and they have lost all fear of man. It's also known as the temple monkey. Considered as a single species earlier, 7 distinct subspecies are now recognised in India. Hanuman langur is widely distributed over the subcontinent.

Ms Sucheta Chatterjee (facebook) has provided link to a very lucid essay by Steven Weinberg: http://www.physlink.com/Education/essay_weinberg.cfm

Very best wishes,

Mohan Pai.

Hanuman Langur

Semnopithecus

One of the rowdiest primates, even the Indian Parliament is not out of bounds for them.

Hanuman Langur is believed to be one of the Old World monkeys, belonging to the Semnopithecus Genus. They comprise of 15 subspecies and are terrestrial in nature. Earlier, hanuman langurs were believed to comprise of a single species. However, now they are recognized as seven distinct species. Hanuman langur is also known by the name of Gray Langur, Entellus Langur and Common Indian Langur. Venerated by the Hindus and seldom molested, they have lost all fear of man.

This is the long-limbed, long-tailed, black-faced monkey, seen as much about towns and villages as in forests of India. Animals from the Himalayas are more heavily whiskered and coated, their pale almost white heads, standing out in sharp contrast to the darker colour of the body. The contrast is much less apparent in peninsular animals. Langurs living in the rain-swept hill regions of the Western Ghats are generally darker then those from the drier eastern zone.

Species list

Nepal Gray Langur, Semnopithecus schistaceus

Kashmir Gray Langur, Semnopithecus ajax

Terai Gray Langur, Semnopithecus hector

Northern Plains Gray Langur, Semnopithecus entellus

Black-footed Gray Langur, Semnopithecus hypoleucos

Southern Plains Gray Langur, Semnopithecus dussumieri

Tufted Gray Langur, Semnopithecus priam

In religion and mythology

Hindus revere the Hanuman langur as associated with Lord Hanuman, an ardent and loyal devotee of Shri Rama an incarnations of Lord Vishnu. An army of monkeys or the vanara sena under the leadership of Hanuman was instrumental in the defeat of Ravana by Lord Rama. Other notable vanaras who feature in the epic Ramayana are Sugriva , Vali and Angada.The Hanuman langur has a black face because according to the mythology, Hanuman burnt his hands and face while trying to rescue Sita. The langurs often live in and around Hindu temples, where they are fed by devotees. The Jakhu Hanuman temple in Shimla is a famous example. It is often referred to as the ‘monkey temple' because of the countless monkeys it houses.

Bold & rowdy

This is the one of the rowdiest relatives of mankind, at least in India. Hanuman langurs are experts at depriving you of your food. and those living near temples are particularly adept at this art. Not just temples, even the Indian Parliament is not out of bounds for them. For the past few years, the parliament has been losing a ‘few important files’, thanks to these simian creatures that react quite adversely if left unfed during the lunch hour. But when threatened, they retreat immediately.

Physical traits

The fur of the gray langur of India may be gray, dark brown or even golden in color. The face is black and the size varies from one subspecies to another. Male langurs grow to a length of 51 cm to 78 cm and weigh about 18 kg. The female langurs are smaller, with a length of 40 cm to 68 cm and weight of about 11 kg. The length of the tail is between 69 cm and 101 cm.
Diet

Common Indian langurs survive on a diet comprising of leaves, fruit, buds and flowers. The exact diet, however, changes from season to season. During winters, they survive on a diet of mature leaves. In summer season, they mainly survive on fruits. Insects, tree bark and gum also supplement their diet. Hanuman langurs can easily digest seeds with high levels of the toxins and can eat even soil and stones.
Natural habitat

Hanuman langurs are found inhabiting tropical, dry thorn scrub, pine and alpine forest as well as urban areas of the Indian subcontinent. They spent a major portion of their time on the ground, with the exception of their sleeping time. Presently, common langurs are found in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Burma.
Behaviour

Gray langur of India can usually be found living in large groups, dominated by a male langur. The membership of the group may be anywhere between 11 and 60. However, they hold the dominating position for a very short period only, which may stretch upto 18 months. Whenever a new male takes over the group, all the infants of the previous alpha male are killed. Entellus Langurs of India may form bachelor groups also.
Mating Behavior

Female langurs attain maturity at 3 to 4 years of age, while males achieve the same in 4 to 5 years. However, they start mating in the 6th or 7th year only. The gestation period is 190 to 210 days, after which a single infant is born. Only in very rare cases does a female langur give birth to two infants. Where there are a number of males in a group, only the high-ranking males can mate with any female. The other males get a chance to mate only if they manage to sneak by the high-ranking males.

The inveterate enemy of the Langur is the panther. The sight of one, or of a tiger that rouses suspicion produces the guttural alarm note which sends the whole troop bolting. Quite distinct is the joyous ’whoop’ emitted when bounding from tree to tree or otherwise contentedly occupied. An interesting relationship has been observed between herds of Chital deer and troops of the Northern Plains Gray Langur. Chital apparently benefit from the langur’s good eyesight and ability to post a lookout in a treetop, helping to raise the alarm when a predator approaches. For the langur’s part, the Chital's superior sense of smell would seem to assist in early predator warning, and it is common to see langurs foraging on the ground in the presence of Chital. The Chital also benefit from fruits dropped by the langurs from trees such as Terminalia bellerica. Alarm calls of either species can be indicative of the presence of a predator such as the Bengal Tiger.

Status

Common Indian langur is listed in the lower risk category by the IUCN

Pic Courtesy: Animal Diversity Web

References: S. H. Prater The book of Indian Animals), Wikipedia, Animal Diversity Web, iloveindia.com

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Vanishing Species - Chinkara - Indian gazelle

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 02:27:00 +0000

Sunday article by Mohan Pai

Hello friends,

Good morning. I am writing about the vanishing species after a gap of a month. Last three articles were on biodiversity (You may please read my blogs, in case you have missed them).This week's species is the Chinkara gazelle, a slender and graceful deer. Their population is mostly confined to north western and central parts of India. The threats for its existence are the common threats: indiscriminate hunting and habitat loss. They could be spotted in Bandhavgarh and Ranthambore National Parks.

IMPORTANT

I am grateful to Mr. Vinay Somani of Karmayog who has just sent the link to "State of Environment: India 2009" recently released by MOeF. It is important for every one of us to look at the report, especially Chapter 3 on Climate Change. The picture for India, I am afraid, is very, very grim! The Ministry of Environment and Forests recently released thecomprehensive report on the state of India's environment, 2009.

This is the online report

:http://www.envfor.nic.in/mef/State%20of%20Environment%20Report_2009.pdf

Cross-posted: karmayog

Very best wishes,

Mohan Pai

CHINKARA

Indian gazelle

(Gazella bennettii)

A small gazelle of slender, graceful build.

The Chinkara (Gazella bennettii) or Indian Gazelle is a species of gazelle found in south Asia. It lives in grasslands and desert areas in India, Bangladesh and parts of Iran and Pakistan. It is also known as the Indian Gazelle (Gazella gazella bennetti). A small, gazelle of slender graceful build it stands at 65 centimetres and weighs about 23 kilograms. There is the usual white streak down each side of the face, so chararacteristic of all gazelles and a dusky patch above the nose. Its summer coat is a reddish-buff colour, with smooth, glossy fur. In winter the white belly and throat fur is in greater contrast. The sides of the face have dark chestnut stripes from the corner of the eye to the muzzle, bordered by white stripes. The horns of the male appear almost straight when seen from the front; in profile they take lightly S-shaped curve with 15 to 25 rings and average 25-30 centimetres. Hornless females are not uncommon.It is a shy animal and avoids human habitation. It can go without water for long periods and can get sufficient fluids from plants and dew. Although most individuals are seen alone, they can sometimes be spotted in groups of up to four animals.Certain researchers consider the decline in the Chinkara population as the reason behind the extinction of the Asiatic Cheetah in India. Its population is on the decline due to it being hunted for game.

Distribution :

Chinkar are less gregarious than Blackbuck and live in smaller herds. The average size of group is 3 but occasionally herds of up to 25 animals are seen. .Chinkara is widely distributed in India. It is mostly found in Rajasthan, north western and central parts of India. They could also be spotted in the Bandhavgarh and Ranthambore National Park.

Reproduction:

Weaning: At about two months. Sexual Maturity: At two years of age. Life span: Unknown. Gestation Period: About five to five and a half months. Young per Birth: Generally 1, but twins have been reported quite frequently. The rut appears to occur in two seasons, one lasting from the end of monsoon up to early October and again in the late Spring from March to the end of April. The births occur mainly in April.Social Behavior: In its wide roaming habits, tendency to keep to small groups of two to three individuals and its general alertness, the Chinkara is very similar to the Goitered Gazelle. The Chinkara is almost wholly nocturnal in foraging activity, though they will emerge to start feeding before sunset.Diet: The food consists of grass, of various leaves, crops, and fruits such as pumpkins and melons and can go without water for days.

IUCN Data

Range covers much of western and central India, extending through Pakistan, south-western Afghanistan into north-central Iran. The Thar Desert of western India remains a stronghold. Distribution in Pakistan has been greatly reduced by overhunting and although still widespread, populations are scattered (Habibi 2001b). In Iran, distribution is also scattered extending to Kavir NP in Tehran Province (Hemami and Groves 2001)

Range map of Indian gazelle (IUCN)

Population:

Numbers in India have been estimated at more than 100,000 with 80,000 in the Tahr Desert (Rahmani 2001). Numbers in Pakistan have declined due to overhunting, but no current estimate is available (Habibi 2001b). Current status in Afghanistan is unknown but they are also believed to be very rare (Habibi 2001a). Around 1300 were estimated for Iran (Hemami and Groves 2001). Population Trend: Stable

Habitat and Ecology:

Inhabits arid areas, including sand deserts, flat plains and hills, dry scrub and light forest. Ranges to 1,500 m in Pakistan (Habibi 2001b). They are facultative drinkers, and so can live in very arid areas. They sometimes raid fields cultivated with rape seed and sorghum in desert regions (Habibi 2001b). Systems: Terrestrial

Major Threat(s):

Indiscriminate hunting has adversely affected gazelles in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan (hunted for meat and to a lesser degree for trophies). Habitat loss through overgrazing, conversion to agriculture and industrial development is also a factor.

Trouble for film stars

Aamir was accused of filming a Chinkara deer, a Schedule I animal under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, for commercial purposes without taking due permission, during the shooting of the movie Laagan, for which most of the shooting was held in Kutch in 2000.

The Bollywood actor Salman Khan was also accused of the alleged killing of chinkara gazelles in Kutch in 1998.

References: S. H. Prater “ The Book of Indian Animals, Wikipedia, IUCN Red List

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Bird Migration

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 02:09:00 +0000

An article by Mohan Pai

BIRD MIGRATION

Mystery of Nature

The Arctic tern flies a phenomenal round trip of 34,000 km per year from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back !

The longest known migratory journey is performed twice a year by the Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea) which from the Arctic winter travels south, right across the world to the Antarctic summer and back again - a distance of over 17,000 km each way.

Arctic tern

What is bird migration ?

Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. These however are usually irregular or in only one direction and are termed variously as nomadism, invasions, dispersal or irruptions. Migration is marked by its annual seasonality. In contrast, birds that are non-migratory are said to be resident or sedentary.

Indian Migratory Birds

Indian subcontinent plays host to a number of migratory birds in summers as well as winters. It is estimated that over hundred species of migratory birds fly to India, either in search of feeding grounds or to escape the severe winter of their native habitat. This is because winds usually prevail at higher altitudes and at the same time, the cold temperature at these altitudes helps them in diffusing the body heat, which is generated by their flight muscles. The timing of the migration is usually a mixture of internal and external stimulus.
Migrating birds start on a journey when they feel that they have put on enough fat to provide them energy throughout the journey. Then, the tendency to aggregate into flocks is another determinant of the time of migration. Even after the flock, which has to fly together, has gathered, the birds keep on feeding till the weather conditions become favorable. Thus, apart from the internal clock of the birds and their flock, it is also the availability of food and the weather conditions that play a role in the determination of the time of migration.

Why birds migrate?

Food, water, protective cover, and a sheltered place to nest and breed are basic to a bird's survival. But the changing seasons can transform a comfortable environment into an unlivable one -- the food and water supply can dwindle or disappear, plant cover can vanish, and competition with other animals can increaseMost wild animals face the problem of occupying a habitat that is suitable for only a portion of the year. Fortunately, however, nature has provided methods for coping with the situation. One method, known as hibernation, involves entering a dormant state during the winter season. The other method, known as migration, involves escaping the area entirely. Because of the powers of flight, most birds adapt to seasonal changes in the environment by migrating. How they do it ? Some birds make the long journey in easy stages, stopping to rest on the way. Others fly great distances without pausing to rest and feed. Some fly by day, some both by day and by night, but most of them speed on their way through darkness after the sun has set. Birds usually travel in flocks. The V-shaped formation of cranes and geese attracts much attention as the bird's speed across the sky. Swallows, flycatchers, warblers, shore birds and water-birds being to gather in flocks- each with its own kind-and, after a great deal of excited fluttering, twittering and calling, they rise up into the air and away they go. Usually the male birds go first to their breeding grounds in bachelor parties and the female birds follow them in a few days!

Griffon Vulture

The movement of birds with the changing seasons was known from the earliest times, but people had strange ideas as to why the birds traveled, or where they went. To explain their absence from a place in a particular season, they said that the birds buried themselves in the mud and slept there throughout the winter! Later, detailed studies of migration started. Information was gained by directly observing the habits of birds, and also by ringing. Bird movements are also studied by creating artificial conditions and studying their effects on birds. Today, most of the information on migration has come from ringing young and adult birds. Ringing is done by capturing a bird and putting on to its leg a light band of metal or plastic. The band bears a number, date, identification mark, and the address to which the finder is requested to return the ring. The bird is then set free. The place where such a bird is shot captured or found dead gives clue to the direction and locality to which the bird has migrated.

Bird Sanctuaries in India

Among the most famous bird sanctuaries in India are, the Keoladeo Ghana National Park in Bharatpur, the Corbett National Park and the Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary, part of Project Tiger. These sanctuaries offer wide variety of bird species.

Keoladeo Ghana National Park is one of India's pioneer wildlife conservation centers. Considered to be the best sites for bird watching in the world, the sanctuary annually hosts thousands of visitors who come to view the spectacular wildlife Spread over an area of 30 square km of marshy swamp, kadam forests, woodland and shallow lakes, the sanctuary offers habitat to both nesting indigenous birds as well as migratory water birds. An amazing number of more than 330 species of birds have been spotted and identified in the sanctuary. The Siberian Crane, the finest and rarest of migratory birds, are the cynosure this sanctuary and are regular visitors.Siberian Crane is believed to have existed in this world for over one million years. However it is of great concern that only 125 pairs of these pure white, crimson-billed cranes estimated to survive worldwide. Profusion of marine vegetation, frogs, fish, insects and mollusks, as well fine setting for migratory birds go a long way to make Keoladeo Ghana National Park an ideal place for pelicans, storks, herons, egrets and kingfishers. Breeding females stay in peaceful co-existence and it is of no surprise that one tree can have nests of different birds. The sanctuary is know to have been the best breeding ground for more than a thousand species of birds. Migratory birds start arriving in the month of October. They include a variety of Geese, Ducks, Raptors, Geese, Warblers and Waders.

Extending over an area of 800 sq km, the Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the forest hills of the Aravalli ranges in the state of Rajasthan. It provides habitat to more than 200 species of birds including the Gray Hornbill, Crested Serpent Eagle, Black/Red Headed Bunting, Wryneck Woodpecker Babbler, White Breasted Kingfisher, Little Brown Dove, Small Minivet, Golden Oriole, Great Gray Shrike, Pale Harrier and Tailor Bird. An example of typical dry deciduous forest, the sanctuary remains lush and green during the monsoons and dry during the rest of the seasons.

Other place is the Pong Dam reservoir is 65 km Pathankot and 115 km from Dharamsala. Nestled in the sylvan surroundings of the Kangra valley, the sprawling Pong Dam wetland has emerged as a major habitat for migratory birds in the country as also an attraction for bird watchers. The most common bird species that have arrived and often visit this lake every year include ruddy-shell ducks (surkhab), bar-headed geese, mallards, coots, pochards and pintails besides rare red-necked grebe and gulls. These species come from as far as China, Siberia, Central Asia, Pakistan and Ladakh. According to a census, more than one lakh migratory birds visited the lake last year.

Apart from being home to the tiger, Corbett National Park is also noted for the bird watching. Considered to be one of the best bird watching sites in the world, the park is home to some 600 species of birds. This number exceeds the total number of bird species found in Europe and is about one fourth of the diversity found in India. A case in point is that out of the 69 species of raptors found in India, 49 can be seen in Corbett. Spreading out on an area of 520 sq km, the Corbett National Park is a hot destination for bird-watchers. Bird-watchers from across the world make a beeline to this park during winters when the bird diversity is at its zenith.

Painted Storks - Pic by Geeta Shankar

Threats and conservation

Human activities have threatened many migratory bird species. The distances involved in bird migration mean that they often cross political boundaries of countries and conservation measures require international cooperation. Several international treaties have been signed to protect migratory species including the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 of the US and the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement.The concentration of birds during migration can put species at risk. Some spectacular migrants have already gone extinct, the most notable being the Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius). Other significant areas include stop-over sites between the wintering and breeding territories. A capture-recapture study of passerine migrants with high fidelity for breeding and wintering sites did not show similar strict association with stop-over sites.Hunting along the migratory route can also take a heavy toll. The populations of Siberian Cranes that wintered in India declined due to hunting along the route, particularly in Afghanistan and Central Asia. Birds were last seen in their favourite wintering grounds in Keoladeo National Park in 2002.Structures such as power lines, wind farms and offshore oil-rigs have also been known to affect migratory birds. Habitat destruction by land use changes is however the biggest threat and shallow wetlands which are stopover and wintering sites for migratory birds are particularly threatened by draining and reclamation for human use.

Refereces: Salim Ali ‘The book of Indian Birds’, Wikipedia, Indian Wildlife.htm, HSBC’s Environment Forum

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Vanishing Species - The Lynx

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 04:46:00 +0000

An article by Mohan Pai

The Eurasian Lynx

Lynx lynx isabellina

This cat appears in India only in the far north, bordering Tibet. Its recent records are only from Ladakh, where the species may not survive for long.

The Lynx, which occurs within our limits in the upper Indus valley, in Gilgit, Ladakh, and Tibet, is a race of the Lynx of northern Europe and Asia. It is distinctive in its pale sandy-grey or isabelline colouring, hence the racial name Isabellina.
The long erect tufts of hair on the tips of its ears distinguish the Lynx from other cats; From the carcal the Lynx is distinguished by its short tail reaching only half way to the hocks, and by distinct ruff or fringe of pendant hairs framing its face. In summer its coat shows a sprinkling of spots which may persist, but which usually disappear in the heavier winter coat.

Postage Stamp from the Soviet Union 1988

Habits
The Lynx shelters in the dense cover provided by willow scrub patches of reeds, and tall grass. It hunts such animals and birds as it can overcome, hares, marmots, partridges, pheasants, and takes its toll from flocks of sheep and goats. In summer it covers a wide range of altitude having been seen at levels between 9,000 (2,745 m) and 11,000 feet (3,355 m).
Its keen eyesight and hearing is proverbial. It is said to have 2-3 young, the mother usually hiding her litter in a cave or a hole among rocks. Half grown cubs have been seen in August.

Range map of the Lynx (IUCN)

It is a medium-sized cat. The Eurasian lynx is the biggest of the lynxes, ranging in length from 80 to 130 cm (32 to 51 in) and standing about 70 cm (28 in) at the shoulder. Males usually weigh from 18 to 30 kg (40 to 66 lb) and females weigh 18.1 kg (40 lb) on average. The Eurasian lynx is mainly nocturnal and lives solitarily as an adult. Moreover, the sounds this lynx makes are very quiet and seldom heard, so the presence of the species in an area may go unnoticed for years. Remnants of prey or tracks on snow are usually observed long before the animal is seen.

Threats

While China and Russia had annual commercial exports of thousands of skins in the 1970s and 1980s, this trade has ended in recent years. However, illegal skin trade remains the leading threat to the species, together with habitat loss and prey base depletion.

References: S. H. Prater (The Book of Indian Mammals), Wikipedia, IUCN.

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Vanishing Species - Fireflies

noreply@blogger.com (paimohan) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 04:01:00 +0000

An article by Mohan Pai

FIREFLIES

Lampyridae

Fireflies, also called “glowworms” or “lightning bugs” are actually flying beetles and not true flies.

What are fireflies?

Fireflies are actually beetles! Fireflies are not really "flies" as entomologists know them, but are beetles in the family Lampyridae. "Flies" have one pair of wings (like houseflies) while all other winged insects have two pairs of wings, or, four wings altogether. In general, when the common names of insects contain the word "fly" as part of a one word common name such as firefly, dragonfly or scorpionfly, the insects are not true flies and belongs to another order of insects. When the word "fly" is hyphenated or follows the first word of an insect common name, it is most likely a true fly (and by definition, has only two wings.)

Lampyridae is a family of insects in the beetle order Coleoptera. They are winged beetles, and commonly called fireflies or lightning bugs for their conspicuous crepuscular use of bioluminescence to attract mates or prey. Fireflies are capable of producing a "cold light", containing no ultraviolet or infrared rays. This chemically-produced light, emitted from the lower abdomen, may be yellow, green, or pale red in color, and has a wavelength from 510 to 670 nanometers.

There are more than 2,000 species of firefly found in temperate and tropical environments around the world. Many species can be found in marshes or in wet, wooded areas where their larvae have abundant sources of food. These larvae can also emit light and are often called "glowworms", particularly in Eurasia. In the Americas, "glow worm" also refers to the related Phengodidae.

Japanese Firefly - pic courtesy: y. Furukawa

Why do fireflies glow ?

Light production in fireflies is due to a type of chemical reaction called bioluminescence. This process occurs in specialised light-emitting organs, usually on a firefly's lower abdomen. The enzyme luciferase acts on luciferin, in the presence of magnesium ions, ATP (adenosene triphosphate), and oxygen to produce light.

The behavioral function of the larval light has received considerable speculation and several plausible theories have been proposed. However, the most generally accepted hypothesis is firefly larvae use their luminescence as a warning signal that communicates to potential predators that they taste bad because they have defensive chemicals in their bodies. These larvae also increase both the intensity and frequency of their glow when disturbed.
Not all firefly species are bioluminescent as adults, but of the species that are, one or both sexes use a species specific flash pattern to attract a member of the opposite sex . These bioluminescent signals can take the form of anything from a continuous glow, to discrete single flashes, to “flash-trains" composed of multi-pulsed flashes.

In most species of North American fireflies, during a certain time of night, males fly about flashing their species specific flash pattern. Females of the same species tend to be perched on vegetation, usually near the ground, and if a flashing male catches a female's fancy, she will respond at a fixed time delay after the last male's flash. A short flash dialogue may ensue between the male and female as the male locates her position and descends to mate. The courtship patterns of Japanese fireflies seem to show many variations of this type of communication system, as well as courtship behaviors that include pheromones as well as photic signals. It is generally assumed that most non-luminous North American fireflies locate mates through the use of pheromones.
Aspects of male flash patterns are also thought to be affected by sexual selection. Female fireflies have been shown to prefer certain characteristics of a male's photic signal (such as increased flash rate) and respond preferentially to males that possess these "sexy" signal components.

Unidentified species from India, dorsal (left and ventral aspect).

Habitat and range

Most firefly larvae are found in rotting wood or other forest litter or on the edges of streams and ponds at night. Some Asian species are fully aquatic (due to the presence of tracheal gills) and live underwater, feeding on aquatic snails. The larvae of several tropical firefly species in the genus Pyractomena are strictly arboreal, feed on arboreal snails and pupate while hanging under living leaves - similar to a butterfly chrysalis.
Adult fireflies are found in the same general habitats as their larvae. Generally speaking, the highest number of firefly species are found in warm, humid areas of the world. Some species, however, are found in very arid regions of the world. In these arid regions, larvae and adults can be readily found following rains. The greatest number of firefly species (highest species diversity) are found in tropical Asia and Central and South America.

Natural history and behavior

Firefly Larvae are predaceous and have been observed feeding mostly on earthworms, snails and slugs. Larvae can detect a snail or slug slime trail, and follow it to the prey. After locating their future meal, they inject an anesthetic type substance through hollow ducts in the firefly's mandibles into their prey in order to immobilize and eventually digest it. Multiple larvae have also been observed attacking large prey items, such as large earthworms. Other observations suggest larvae sometimes scavenge dead snails, worms and similar organic matter.
Adult Fireflies also have mouth parts suggestive of predation (long sickle-shaped mandibles). Although it is widely known that fireflies of a few species mimic the mates of other species in order to attract and devour them, observations of adults feeding on other prey items are practically non-existent. It is likely however, that adults might feed on plant nectar in order to sustain their energy requirements in the adult stage, which can last several months or longer.

Aggressive Mimicry

Aggressive mimicry is a phenomenon where one organism (a mimic) tricks another organism (the dupe) into thinking it is another (the model), with the result being a negative outcome for the dupe, as well as the model. In the case of aggressive mimicry in fireflies, mated females that belong to a few species in the genus Photuris mimic the female responses of other fireflies in the same area in order to attract males of the mimicked species. When these males are tricked (or duped) into landing near these mimics to mate, they are pounced upon and eaten! Recent evidence also suggests that these female mimics are not only acquiring food but also defensive chemicals from their prey, which they themselves do not produce in large quantities.

References: Wikipedia, Firefly facts.htm.

MY BLOG LIBRARYFor some of my articles

visit:

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http://mohanpaisarticles.blogspot.com/

http://biodiversity-mohanpai.blogspot.com/
For some key chapters from my book "The Western Ghats", please log on to:http://westernghats-paimohan.blogspot.com/

For detailed blog (6 Chapters from my book) on Mahadayi/Mandovi River Valley, please log on to:http://mohan-pai.blogspot.com/

For the book 'The Elderly' please log on to:http://oldagecare-paimohan.blogspot.com/
http://omashram.sulekha.com/blog/posts.htm
You can also access my blogs on Sulekha and Wordpress:
http://mohanpai.sulekha.com
http://mohanpai.wordpress.com/

For my book "The Flight of Gods - Hindu Temples & Shrines of Goa" please log on to:
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