India, Abu Dhabi Join Hands To Save Two Endangered Birds - Great Indian Bustard And Lesser Florican
Last year in a major success story in the efforts to save the critically endangered Great Indian Bustards from extinction, for the first time authorities had successfully hatched them artificially.?
A total of nine chicks were born from the eggs that were collected from the Desert National Park in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan during the summer of 2019 were artificially incubated.The successful artificial incubation was a joint project of Rajasthan’s Forest Department, Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India and Abu Dhabi based National Avian Research Centre, which had expertise in breeding Houbara Bustard.?
Now the Abu Dhabi-based International Fund for Houbara Conservation (IFHC), the global leader in pre-emptive species conservation, has joined forces with the Wildlife Institute of India to save the Great Indian Bustard and Lesser Florican from extinction in India.?
In coordination with the Rajasthan Forest Department, the two entitles agreed to collaborate in conserving the Great Indian Bustard and the Lesser Florican, both of which are highly threatened.?
With just 160 birds estimated to remain in the wild in India, the Great Indian Bustard is listed as critically endangered and was chosen as the priority species for 2019 conservation efforts. With an estimated population size of about 1,500 in 2017, the Lesser Florican is classified as endangered.?
Under the terms of the collaboration, IFHC offered its expertise in species conservation to be the knowledge and technical partner of the Wildlife Institute of India in this programme. In particular, the IFHC scientific team brought support and expertise in tracking wild populations of the Great Indian Bustard in their natural habitat, in behaviour movements and habitat use, nests searching, wild eggs collection, transport and incubation and captive-breeding design and techniques.?
As part of providing scientific expertise to the initiative, IFHC is also playing an active role within the steering committee managing the conservation programme.?
IFHC’s collaboration also involved training Indian personnel. The training provided by IFHC was first-hand in its own houbara bustard facilities in UAE and then prolonged on site at the Great Indian Bustard breeding facility at Sam, in Rajasthan.?
This training entailed various aspects of the bustard’s breeding, from facility design to the incubation and rearing of chicks and was based on IFHC’s tremendous experience and achievements in the captive-breeding of the Houbara bustard.?
IFHC’s captive breeding programme has resulted in the breeding of more than 480,000 Houbara bustard with over 285,000 released to supplement wild populations over the past 20 years.?
“The Great Indian bustard and the Lesser Florican are symbols of Indian heritage and the threat of extinction is real. As the leader in global species conservation, we could not stand by and watch this happen. We praise the Wildlife Institute of India and the State of Rajasthan in recognising the need for pre-emptive action to preserve and protect these important species,” said His Excellency Majid Al Mansouri, IFHC Managing Director.?
Efforts will continue in 2020 to build a captive stock for the Great Indian Bustard, which will enable the production of suitable individuals in the future for reintroduction operations. Meanwhile, conservation actions for the Lesser Florican will start in 2020.? ?
Earlier this month?a tenth egg had hatched at an especially developed hatchery at the Desert National Park in Jaisalmer a week ago, has been named Corona.Corona, is the first GIB chick for the 2020 season. Other nine were hatched during the 2019 season, with first chick coming out of the egg in February 2019.Interestingly, Corona is born to the female GIB, collared with a satellite transmitter several months ago. Two females GIBs had been fitted with the device to ascertain their movement from one habitat to another, and to allow experts to study their behaviours.
