“Lilting and poetic” — That is how environmentalist Suresh Heblikar describes the mating dance of the Great Indian Bustard. He is referring to the brown and white bird's graceful walk. “It resembles a small ostrich, is heavy, runs fast and is active in the mornings,” he adds.
The majestic bird of the Indian grasslands — the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) — locally known variously in northern and western India as Godawan and Maldhok is sadly endangered. It is estimated that their total number in India at present is not more than 250. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in its Red List 2011 of threatened birds classifies GIB as ‘Critically Endangered'. As per the criteria of IUCN, this is the highest level of threat. This bird which stands one metre tall and weighs about 15 kg, and once widespread across the grasslands of India and Pakistan, is now scattered across states such as Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
“They thrive in grasslands and feed on insects, worms, grasshoppers and lizards,” says Heblikar, who is known for his award-winning films. His film on the bustard shot in Sholapur in Maharashtra, Ranebennur in Karnataka and parts of Andhra studied the birds in their habitat. “While other birds have their niche habitat, the bustards are not confined to a place. They glide across hundreds of kilometres and whenever they find a suitable habitat they lay eggs, roost and nest,” he explains.
In India, the birds face great loss and fragmentation of grasslands, their natural habitat. Poaching is the other problem. Grasslands are routinely converted to agricultural lands or degraded by excessive cattle grazing. The dwindling numbers of GIB is an indicator of the threat.
The Asiatic cheetah went extinct from the Indian grasslands before independence. With the destruction of grasslands other members of the bustard family — Lesser Florican, Houbara Bustard and Great Bustard — and animals such as blackbuck, chinkara, Indian wolf, golden jackal, Indian fox and nilgai also face similar threats. Man-animal conflict is also on the rise.
The Bombay Natural History Society has been studying GIB for more than a decade. The Society's director Dr. Asad Rahmani, feels the urgent need to start Project Bustard on a long term basis. He also suggests that GIB conservation breeding programme should be started with the help of national and international experts.
Dr Leon Bennun, Bird Life's Director of Science and Policy, says: “In an ever more crowded world, species that need lots of space, such as the Great Indian Bustard, are losing out. However, we are the ones who lose in the long run, as the services that nature provides us start to disappear.”
