Type: Species

About 2.45 lakh Olive Ridley sea turtles crawled ashore on the Nasi-II beach of the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary along the Odisha coast for laying eggs, marking one of the largest opening day arrivals of turtles at the site.

Olive Ridley Turtles

• The Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), also known as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a medium-sized species of sea turtle found in warm and tropical waters, primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
• In the Indian Ocean, the majority of olive ridleys nest in two or three large groups at Rushikulya rookery near Gahirmatha in Odisha.
• The coast of Odisha in India is the largest mass nesting site for the olive ridley, followed by the coasts of Mexico and Costa Rica.
• The species is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List, Appendix 1 in CITES, and Schedule 1 in Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

Special feature: Mass nesting

• They are best known for their behavior of synchronized nesting in mass numbers, termed Arribadas.
• Interestingly, females return to the very same beach from where they first hatched, to lay their eggs.
• They lay their eggs in conical nests about one and a half feet deep which they laboriously dig with their hind flippers.
• They hatch in 45 to 60 days, depending on the temperature of the sand and atmosphere during the incubation period.

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Neighbours of a golden langur habitat in western Assam’s Bongaigaon district have opposed a move by the State government to upgrade it to a wildlife sanctuary.

Kajoijana Bamuni Hill Wildlife Sanctuary

• The Assam Forest Department has issued a preliminary notification for converting the 19.85 sq. km. patch of forest into the Kajoijana Bamuni Hill Wildlife Sanctuary.
• It is one of the better-known homes of the golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) found only in Assam and Bhutan.

About Golden Langur

• Gee’s golden langur (Trachypithecus geei), also known as simply the golden langur, is an Old World monkey.
• It is found in a small region of Western Assam and in the neighboring foothills of the Black Mountains of Bhutan.
• Long considered sacred by many Himalayan people, the golden langur was first brought to the attention of the western world by the naturalist Edward Pritchard Gee in the 1950s.
• Adult males have a cream to golden coat with darker flanks while the females and juveniles are lighter.
• It has a black face and a long tail up to 50 cm in length.

Its habitat

• It lives in high trees and has a herbivorous diet of ripe and unripe fruits, mature and young leaves, seeds, buds and flowers.
• The average group size is eight individuals, with a ratio of several females to each adult male.
• It is one of the most endangered primate species of India and Bhutan.

Distribution

• Its habitat is bounded on the south by the Brahmaputra River, on the east by the Manas River, on the west by the Sankosh River, in Assam and on the north by the Black Mountains of Bhutan.

Conservation status

• IUCN Red List: Endangered
• CITES: Appendix I
• Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I

Try this question from CSP 2014:

 

Q. Which one of the following groups of animals belongs to the category of endangered species?

 

(a) Great Indian Bustard, Musk Deer, Red Panda, Asiatic Wild Ass

(b) Kashmir Stag, Cheetah, Blue Bull, Great Indian Bustard

(c) Snow Leopard, Swamp Deer, Rhesus Monkey, Saras (Crane)

(d) Lion Tailed Macaque, Blue Bull, Hanuman Langur, Cheetah

 

Post your answers here.

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A section of aquarists and ornamental fish breeders are surprised that the Denison barb (Miss Kerala), a native freshwater fish species commonly found in parts of Karnataka and Kerala, has been included in Schedule I of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1982 (amendment bill).

Miss Kerala

• Miss Kerala is also known as Denison barb, red-line torpedo barb and roseline shark.
• Its scientific name is Sahyadria denisonii.
• The fish is featured with red and black stripes on its body.
• It is found in the States of Kerala and Karnataka.
• It has been listed on the IUCN Redlist as Vulnerable, in 2010.
• This species is known to inhabit fast-flowing hill streams and is often found in rocky pools with thick vegetation along river banks.

Why included in Schedule I of WPA?

• Ironically, its beauty is the biggest threat to its survival, as it is highly sought-after in the international aquarium trade, constituting 60 – 65% of the total live ornamental fish exported from India.
• Its numbers are also decreasing owing to habitat degradation due to deforestation, mining, agriculture, urban expansion and hydro-electric projects.

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The Odisha Forest and Environment Department has completed its first-ever radio-tagging of the Indian pangolin in an attempt to standardize the rehabilitation protocol for the animal in the State.

Why radio-tagging?

• The radio-tagging aims to know its ecology and develop an effective conservation plan for it.
• The radio-tagging is part of a joint project by the department and non-profit, the Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) that also involves the species’ monitoring apart from other activities.

About Pangolin

IUCN status: Endangered

• India is home to two species of pangolin.
• While the Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) is found in northeastern India, the Indian Pangolin is distributed in other parts of the country as well as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
• Both these species are protected and are listed under Schedule I Part I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
• Commonly known as ‘scaly anteaters’, the toothless animals are unique, a result of millions of years of evolution.
• Pangolins evolved scales as a means of protection. When threatened by big carnivores like lions or tigers they usually curl into a ball.
• The scales defend them against dental attacks from predators.

Pangolin in China

• Pangolin meat is considered a delicacy in China and Vietnam.
• Their scales which are made of keratin, the same protein present in human nails — are believed to improve lactation, promote blood circulation, and remove blood stasis.
• These so-called health benefits are so far unproven.

What makes pangolins the most trafficked animals in the world?

• Their alleged health benefits in traditional Chinese medicines prompted a booming illicit export of scales from Africa over the past decade.
• Officials quote the trafficking price of Pangolin and its scale anywhere between Rs 30,000 and Rs 1 crore for a single animal.
• Conservation of pangolins received its first shot in the arm when the 2017 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) enforced an international trade ban.

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Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh was all prepped to welcome the African cheetahs — a project that has been a decade in the making — this year. The project has now been postponed, as the new coronavirus variant of concern omicron prompted travel restrictions.

Confused over Leopard and Cheetah?

The most common difference between these two animals is the patterns on their coat. At first glance, it may look like they both have spots, but in actual fact, a leopard has rosettes which are rose-like markings, and cheetahs have a solid round or oval spot shape.

About Asiatic Cheetah

• Cheetah, the world’s fastest land animal was declared extinct in India in 1952.
• The Asiatic cheetah is classified as a “critically endangered” species by the IUCN Red List, and is believed to survive only in Iran.
• It was expected to be re-introduced into the country after the Supreme Court lifted curbs for its re-introduction.
• From 400 in the 1990s, their numbers are estimated to have reached to 50-70 today, because of poaching, hunting of their main prey (gazelles) and encroachment on their habitat.

Why reintroduce Cheetahs?

• Reintroductions of large carnivores have increasingly been recognized as a strategy to conserve threatened species and restore ecosystem functions.
• The cheetah is the only large carnivore that has been extirpated, mainly by over-hunting in India in historical times.
• India now has the economic ability to consider restoring its lost natural heritage for ethical as well as ecological reasons.

Why was the project halted?

• The court was worried whether the African cheetahs would find the sanctuary a favorable climate as far as the abundance of prey is concerned.
• Those who challenged the plan argued that the habitat of cheetahs needed to support a genetically viable population.

Try this PYQ:

Q. Consider the following:

1. Black necked crane

2. Cheetah

3. Flying squirrel

4. Snow leopard

Which of the above are naturally found in India?

(a) 1, 2 and 3 only

(c) 2 and 4 only

(b) 1, 3 and 4 only

(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

 

Post your answers here:

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Gharial ( Gavialis gangeticus ) have been successfully reintroduced the in the Beas River of Punjab where it had become extinct half a century ago.

One may often get confused between the Mugger, Gharial and the Saltwater Crocodile. Note the differences about their IUCN status, habitat (freshwater/saltwater) etc..

Gharials

• The Gharial is a fish-eating crocodile is native to the Indian subcontinent. They are a crucial indicator of clean river water.
• Small released populations are present and increasing in the rivers of the National Chambal Sanctuary, Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, Son River Sanctuary.
• It is also found at the rainforest biome of Mahanadi in Satkosia Gorge Sanctuary, Orissa.
• Gharials are ‘Critically Endangered’ in the IUCN Red List of Species.
• The species is also listed under Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

Into the wild

• A major chunk of gharials in India is found in the Chambal River, which has about 1,000 adults.
• The Ghaghara acts as an important aquatic corridor for gharials in Uttar Pradesh. The river is a major left-bank tributary of the Ganges.
• Like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar too is releasing gharials in the Valmiki Tiger Reserve as part of restocking the wild population. Unlike crocodiles, gharials do not pose any danger to humans.

Ambitious project in Punjab

• The gharial reintroduction in the Beas Conservation Reserve is an ambitious programme of the Punjab government.
• The reptiles were commonly sighted in the Beas River till the 1960s but later became extinct.

Back2Basics:

Mugger

• The mugger is a marsh crocodile which is found throughout the Indian subcontinent.
• It is a freshwater species and found in lakes, rivers and marshes.
• IUCN Status: Vulnerable

Saltwater Crocodile

• It is the largest of all living reptiles.
• It is found along the eastern coast of India.
• IUCN Status: Least Concerned

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