#WildlifeWeek is here. This week I will be sharing 7 #positive wildlife reintroduction stories from around the country. One story for each day. A small thread.
Day 1 - The return of Gaur in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve !!! 1/7
#Gaur the largest #bovine in peninsular #India, was previously found in three discreet populations in Southern India (Western Ghats and #Nilgiri plateau), Central India (#Vidarbha, southern MP, #Chhattisgarh and Eastern ghats in #Odisha) and North-East India.
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Gaur were historically found in #Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in small numbers. There were around 30-35 Gaur in BTR in the early 1990s, which had dwindled to just one individual in 1996 and zero in 1998.
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Fast forwarding to the year 2011, when with the fervent efforts of the then CWLW Mr. H.S Pabla, we saw the revolutionary #translocation of gaur at BTR. Fifty individuals were translocated from #Kanha Tiger Reserve using the 'boma' technique borrowed from #SouthAfrica
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12 individuals were also radio collared and studied extensively to map their feeding habits and home range. Extensive #grassland management and relocation of 2 villages provided much needed habitat as Gaur were mostly utilizing the relocated village sites for grazing.
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Measures were also taken to #minimize#disease spread from #livestock by erecting a fence around the core and vaccination of livestock in fringe #villages.
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Till date Twenty plus #calves have been born and the #population is growing despite tiger predation and today there are more than 100 individuals there, hence it can be called a #successful reintroduction experiment that reversed the local #extinction of Gaur in Bandhavgarh.
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Day 2 – Squeals return to the tall wet #grasslands of #Assam !!!
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Pygmy Hog is the tiniest, rarest and the most #endangered of all wild #pigs globally. In fact, phylogenetic analysis of the pygmy hog revealed that it belongs to a separate genus, Porcula. It is evolutionarily unique and completely different from #boars, #warthogs, and pigs.
2/13
Known to once thrive in the lush tall and wet grassland plains of the sub #Himalayas, they were feared to be extinct in the 1960's but were “rediscovered” in the year 1971.
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