If only one understands the ecological services of these carrion feeders, our respect for these pugnacious and filthy birds shall increase manifold
Amidst thelow-key Ganesh festivities in the bygone week and sagging spirit of the Indiancitizenry, we gleefully witnessed our Prime Minister feeding Pea Fowls in theportico of his sprawling official residence. Some exhilaration indeed for thecompulsive Indian ornithophiles, in times of lacklustre patronage to wildlifeby the economically driven political machinations.
Notwithstanding voices ofskepticism alleging that this peacock-feeding was a PR-intended choreographyaimed at image management of the Prime Minister; such display of care andcompassion by a leader towards the wild is reassuring and revitalizes theresolve of the conservation brigade.
WhileModi’s bonhomie with the Peacock (Pavo cristatus) brought it in public gaze,one must not forget that Ganesh is also worshipped as Mayureshwar, the peacockmounted deity; just as Goddess Saraswati the deity of knowledge has a peacocknamed Chitramekhala associated with her. But despite these mythologicalentrapments of Indian public psyche and statutory protection granted to thisbird and other wild ungulates of India, there is a mounting pressure toget many of these species declared as‘vermins’ and legalise their culling! This hatred stems particularly from theeconomic losses inflicted by these crop raiding animals in the Indianagro-sector.
Thethumb-rule that ‘the beautiful and distinguished attracts attention’ probablyworks in favour of the iconic and spectacular species of birds like thePeafowl, Siberian Crane and the Hornbills. However, a great number of birdspecies in this country have been ignored in spite of their precariousconservation status and their ecological indispensability, because they arevisually unimpressive and have seemingly abhorrent habits. Ignorance on theircritical ecological functions pushes them closer to anonymity and apathy.
Thevultures of India, of which there are 9 reported species is a good case inpoint for this disparity. Vultures owing to their large wing span, dark dirtyplumage, piercing eyes, long naked necks and scavenging habits coupled withsoaring circling flights and patient perch near dying animals; have always beenmisconstrued as ‘ugly, voracious raptors that feed on putrid carrion’.
TheEgyptian, Greek and Christian cultures have had their share in despising thesebirds, by using them metaphorically to imply death; but also recognized thebird for the services it offered by clearing the carrion, since touching a deadbody was a taboo. The antique Christian fear of vulture may also be attributedto this bird eating the improperly buried dead bodies that would deny thedeparted a place to ‘rest in peace’.
TheEgyptians had their ‘Vulture Goddesses’ Mut and Nekhbet, that best illustratethe duality of vulture attributes of maternity and mortality! While Mut is agoddess of maternity and means ‘Great Mother’, the word itself has etymologicalconnect with the Egyptian word Maat meaning mother! Nekhbet on the contrary isa goddess and bird of death that guarded souls in a dangerous transit to the nextworld.
Vulturesare a perfect testimony to the philosophy that the ‘kernel of Science’ issecured by the ‘shell of mythology’! If one can dispassionately understand andvalue the ecological role of these carrion feeding raptors, and the pricethey’ve had to pay with their own lives for this ‘gratis service’ of cleaningup and scavenging the rotting matter, our respect for these ostensiblypugnacious and filthy birds shall increase manifold.
In the 80sas a young student of Zoology, I remember my father’s narrative on vulturesthat he had seen crowding on the coconut-palm fronds of his native village ofDurbhat Wadi in Ponda. Thereafter my vulture curiosity was latent until adecade ago, when I got the opportunity to visit the Great Himalayan NationalPark on invitation from Dr Lalit Mohan, the then Principal Chief Conservator ofForests, Himachal Pradesh. In the frigid altitudes of snow capped mountains, Iwas fortunate to see several wakes of Himalayan Griffon vultures at closequarters, but of course the elusive Cheer and Kalij Pheasants too obliged me!
But mybest vulture sightings in India were made possible by Prof Anil Kumar Chhangania reputed Vulture Biologist of Maharaja Ganga Singh University of Bikaner inRajasthan, deputing his research scholar to accompany me to JorbeerConservation Reserve on the outskirts of the Bikaner city, and undoubtedlyIndia’s best wintering ground for vulture diversity. Walking through heaps ofbones and rotting offal; I positioned myself as close as possible to the vultures.The next couple of hours were a test of my endurance against the atrociousstench emanating from the putrid organic heaps, yet a rewarding experience witha large congregation of noisy vultures in a feeding frenzy oblivious to mypresence! I photographed the majestic but solitary Cinereous Vulture, densecrowds of Eurasian Griffon Vulture, small committees of the Egyptian Vultures;all at the same site!
In 2015 asan Invited Speaker at the European Congress of Conservation Biology in France,I got the opportunity to visit Cévennes National Park along with a fewglobally acclaimed Conservation Biologists. Here at Grands Causses limestoneplateaus, I studied one of the best examples of Vulture Conservation andReintroduction program alongside sustainable tourism with active communitysupport.
OmkarDharwadkar of Goa Bird Conservation Network confirms that only 4 species havebeen recorded in Goa in the last one decade. Currently the resident vulturepopulations in Goa are almost non-existent, except for sporadic sightings ofthe bird on wings. Across the world, the 23 species of this obligate scavengerbird have been unremittingly and unapologetically undervalued, and are fastlosing their imprint on the canvas of conservation; due to veterinary drug Diclofenacand deliberately poisoned cattle carrion, besides human persecution. With over95% of vulture population decline in Asia, there has been a cultural spinofffor Zoroastrians who now have to look beyond the bird aided excarnation oftheir dead, with the Dhakmas or ‘Towers of Silence’ having actually fallensilent sans the raptor’s hiss and grunts. Alas, the vultures do not have arainbow plumage that can be fanned out to grab eyeballs of the high and mighty!
