GREAT INDIAN BUSTARD

Only four Female Great Indian Bustards (GIB) are left in Gujarat. According to a 2018 count, India has fewer than 150 GIBs, of which 122 are mainly in Rajasthan.

About Great Indian Bustard

• The Great Indian Bustard is a bustard native to the Indian subcontinent. Bustards are large terrestrial birds found in dry grasslands and steppe regions.
• Also known as the Indian Bustard, it is among the heaviest flying birds in existence, standing at about 3.3 ft tall.
• Weighing about 15 kgs, the Great Indian Bustard is easily recognizable by its black cap over a pale head and neck.
• The male is deep sandy buff coloured and its breast band turns black during the mating season. The female is smaller compared to the male.
• It is the State bird of Rajasthan and is considered India’s most critically endangered bird.
• The Great Indian Bustard is considered the flagship grassland species, representing the health of the grassland ecology.
• Its population is confined mostly to Rajasthan and Gujarat. A small population is also found in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh.
• Three of the four bustard species are found in India, namely the Great Indian Bustard, the Lesser Florican, and the Bengal Florican. The fourth one Houbara is a migratory species.

[Note: Only 350 Bengal Floricans are left in the country. It was once widely distributed in the Gangetic and Brahmaputra plains, now confined to a few pockets of Uttar Pradesh, Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh. IUCN STATUS: Critically Endangered]

[Lesser Florican smallest of the Bustard family was found throughout the country and now less than 2500 survive in the world, confined to Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Western Madhya Pradesh. IUCN STATUS: Endangered]

Threats and issues in Conservation:

• The bird is under constant threat due to collision/electrocution with power transmission lines, hunting (still prevalent in Pakistan), habitat loss and alteration and widespread agricultural expansion, encroachment of wetlands and grasslands, widespread overgrazing of grasslands, etc.
• Apathy of people and government, the Maharashtra Government decided to reduce the size of the Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary in the Sholapur district.
• Similarly, encroachment by the local people in the Karera Bustard Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh led to the extinction of the species in the region.

• Central government lack of financial, and technical support to the critically endangered bustards as is given under Project Tiger, Project Elephant that has helped save the species, their habitat, and associated species.

Protection Status:

• International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List-Critically Endangered
• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) -Appendix I
• Convention on Migratory Species (CMS)- Appendix I
• Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972- Schedule 1

Measures taken to protect the Bustards:

• Species Recovery Programme: It is kept under the species recovery programme under the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats Scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to protect all the species of bustards found in India.
• National Bustard Recovery Plans: It is currently being implemented by linking local livelihood with bustard conservation. The core breeding areas are identified by the state government and kept inviolate from human disturbance, restricting land use diversion for roads, intensive agriculture etc. Includes incentivizing the local farmers to start breeding birds on their land.
• Conservation Breeding Facility: MoEF&CC, Rajasthan government and Wildlife Institute of India (WII) have also established a conservation breeding facility in Desert National Park at Jaisalmer in June 2019.

The programme aims to build up a captive population of Great Indian Bustards and to release the chicks into the wild for increasing the population.

• Project Great Indian Bustard: It has been launched by the Rajasthan government to construct breeding enclosures for the species and develop infrastructure to reduce human pressure on its habitats.
• Eco-Friendly Measures: Task Force has been created for suggesting eco-friendly measures to mitigate the impacts of power transmission lines and other power transmission infrastructures on wildlife including the Great Indian Bustard.

A proper Centrally Sponsored holistic approach with necessary policies and action to conserve grasslands, with the involvement of local communities is much needed for the conservation of the bustards.

Great Indian Bustard

The Wildlife Institute of India proposed to put all power transmission lines passing through Great Indian Bustard (GIB) habitat underground. GIB, a bird native to India and Pakistan, is the State Bird of Rajasthan. The largest population is found in Rajasthan.

Quick FACTS

• The GIB is one of the heaviest flying bird endemics to the Indian subcontinent.
• They are primarily terrestrial birds.
• The GIB lays one egg every 1-2 years and the success rate of these eggs is 60-70 per cent.
• However, this rate has been reduced to 40-50 % due to predators like foxes and dogs.
• Today less than 150 individuals are left in India.
• They have a poor frontal vision.
• Maximum numbers of GIBs are found in Jaisalmer and the Indian Army-controlled field firing range near Pokhran, Rajasthan.
• Other areas where they are found in less than 10 in number are Kutch district in Gujarat, Nagpur and Solapur districts in Maharashtra, Bellary and Koppal districts in Karnataka and Kurnool district and Amravati in Andhra Pradesh.

The sanctuaries that shelter or conserve

1. 1. Desert National Park, Rajasthan
   2. Kutch Bustard Sanctuary, Gujarat
   3. Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary or Jawaharlal Nehru Bustard Sanctuary, Maharashtra
   4. Rollapadu Wildlife Sanctuary – Andhra Pradesh
   5. Karera Wildlife Sanctuary– Madhya Pradesh

Protection status of GIB:

1. 6. IUCN Status is Critically Endangered
   7. Appendix I of CITES
   8. Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection)Act, 1972

Threats include agriculture; energy production & mining; transportation; human intrusions, and invasive and other problematic species.

IUCN Red List

• The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has updated its Red List of Threatened Species.
• Now, Ganga, Amazon, Indus, and Irrawaddy species of freshwater dolphins are “threatened with extinction” on the IUCN Red List.
• Tucuxi species (Sotalia fluviatilis) of freshwater dolphins are moving from ‘data deficient to ‘endangered’.
• IUCN also declared 31 species as extinct which include 15 freshwater fish species endemic to Lake Lanao and its outlet in the Philippines; three Central American frog species; Lost Shark.
• Also, three Macadamia species of protea (a genus of South African flowering plants) family; 9 Asian oak species.
• The European bison has moved from Vulnerable to Near Threatened.