Context: Adityanath allays razing fears of families living in ‘marked’ houses on Kukrail floodplain.
Kukrail Reserve Forest explained
Location and History
- Established: Planted in the 1950s as an urban plantation forest near Kukrail Pul, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
- Purpose: Originally intended as the city's green lungs and a picnic spot.
Flora
- Species: Teak, peltophorum, acacia, prosopis juliflora, mango, eucalyptus, holoptelea integrifolia, Dates, Ficus infectoria, peepal, neem, and various other plant species.
- Nurseries: Includes herbal, medicinal, and sapling nurseries; provides saplings for afforestation across the state.
Fauna
- Birds: Over 200 species, including local and migrant birds; best bird watching season from March to April.
Conservation Efforts:
- Gharial Conservation:
- Initiative: Started in 1978 due to dwindling gharial population.
- Facility: Kukrail Gharial Rehabilitation Centre, known for successful captive breeding.
- Impact: Released over 5,410 gharial juveniles into various rivers, aiding in species recovery in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and beyond.
- Collaboration: Managed by Uttar Pradesh Forest Department in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Forests, India.
Research and Conservation Activities:
- Gharial Breeding Program:
- Breeding Stock: Includes 4 resident females and 2 resident males.
- Egg Collection: Eggs collected from rivers like Ramganga, Suheli, Girwa, and Chambal; artificial hatching and rearing of young crocodiles.
- Release: Young gharials released into rivers such as Chambal, Sharda, Ghaghra, Girwa, Ramganga, and Ganges.
- Scientific Research:
- Tagging: Juveniles tagged with color-coded and VHF radio tags for monitoring.
- Biologging: Studies on underwater behavior using lightweight cameras attached to gharials, collecting data on diving depths, swimming speeds, etc.
Mugger Rehabilitation and Turtle Conservation
- Mugger Rehabilitation: Rescued crocodiles treated and rehabilitated before release back into rivers.
- Turtle Conservation: Collaboration with Turtle Survival Alliance under the Ganga Action Plan, focusing on endangered softshell turtles.
Indian Softshell Turtle
Conservation status:
- IUCN: Endangered
- IWPA: Schedule I (Part II)
- CITES : Appendix I
- U.S ESA : Not listed
Distribution:
Indian softshell turtle’s distribution is restricted to the Ganges, Indus, and Mahanadi River systems in Northen India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Southern Nepal.
Characteristics, Habitat, and Behaviour:
- Appearance:
- Indian softshell turtle has a prominent, tube-like snout and an incredibly flattened shell.
- Shell (carapace) is smooth, round to oval, olive or green in colour with a yellow border.
- Limbs are green, underside of the shell is grey to cream.
- Broad head with black stripes running from the centre towards the sides.
- Adaptations:
- Long neck and snorkel-like snout allow it to extend its nose out of water to breathe.
- Compressed shell facilitates streamlined swimming, making it a fast swimmer.
- Habitat:
- Inhabits deep rivers, streams, large canals, lakes, and ponds with mud and sand bottoms.
- Prefers turbid water conditions.
- Behaviour:
- Omnivorous diet includes mollusks, insects, fish, amphibians, waterfowl, carrion, and aquatic plants.
Major Threats:
- Habitat Loss:
- Pollution of water bodies.
- Closure of canals.
- Introduction of dams and tidal barrages.
- Channelization of rivers.
- Drainage of floodplains.
- Commercial Exploitation:
- Professional fishing.
- Meat consumption.
- Reduction of Fish Stock:
- Overfishing leading to depletion of prey species.
Mugger
Taxonomy:
Conservation status:
- IUCN : Vulnerable
- IWPAA : Schedule I
- CITES : Appendix I
- U.S. ESA : Not listed
Species Distribution:
- Countries: India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, and possibly Bangladesh.
- Westward Range Extension: Extends into eastern Iran.
Population Status:
- Local Extinction:
- Extensive across its historical range.
- Viable populations now confined to Protected Areas.
Major Populations:
- India:
- Present in 15 states.
- Significant populations in:
- Middle Ganga region (Bihar and Jharkand).
- Chambal River basin (Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh).
- Gujarat.
- Characteristics, Habitat, and Behavior:
- Size and Appearance:
- Mugger crocodiles are medium to large, with adult males reaching up to 4.5 meters (18 ft) in length and weighing about 450 kg (1000 lbs).
- They resemble alligators the most among all crocodile species.
- Juveniles are light tan with black cross-banding, while adults are generally gray to brown.
- Reproduction and Nesting:
- Mugger crocodiles are hole-nesting species.
- Females reach sexual maturity at approximately 1.8-2 meters.
- They lay 25-30 eggs during the annual dry season.
- Nests are found in various habitats, including inside their burrows.
- In captivity, some females can lay two clutches in a single year, though this is not observed in the wild.
- Incubation period ranges from 55 to 75 days.
- Size and Appearance:
- Diet and Feeding Habits:
- Muggers are opportunistic predators, utilizing a wide range of food resources.
- They prefer fish but also feed on crustaceans, insects, small fish, amphibians, reptiles (especially snakes and possibly turtles), birds, and mammals (such as monkeys).
- Large adults have been documented preying on larger animals like deer and buffalo.
Major Threats:
- Habitat Destruction:
- Agricultural and industrial expansion leading to loss of natural habitats.
- Entanglement and Drowning:
- Accidental entanglement in fishing equipment leading to drowning.
- Illegal Activities:
- Egg predation by humans for consumption.
- Illegal poaching for their skin and meat.
- Use of body parts in traditional medicine.
- Human-Wildlife Conflict:
- Increasing incidents of conflict due to human encroachment into the natural habitats of mugger crocodiles.
Gharial
- Scientific Name: Gavialis gangeticus
- Length: 3-6 meters (Male), 2.5-4 meters (Female)
- Weight: 150-250 kg
- Population: Approximately 800
- Status: Listed in Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and as Critically Endangered on IUCN Red List
Characteristics
- Gharial derives its name from "ghara," an Indian word for pot, referring to the bulbous knob (narial excrescence) at the end of their snout.
- It is the only visibly sexually dimorphic crocodilian species due to this knob.
- Gharials are largely piscivorous (fish-eating) among all extant crocodilians.
- They possess a strongly attenuated (narrowed) snout, rows of uniform sharp teeth, and a relatively long, well-muscled neck, making them efficient fish catchers.
Conservation Issues
- Habitat Alteration: Dam construction, barrages, and water abstraction convert suitable river habitats into marginal or unsuitable lakes, affecting the quantity and quality of water downstream.
- Entanglement in Fishing Nets: Gharials, with their long, toothy rostrum, are highly vulnerable to getting trapped underwater in fishing nets, leading to drowning or injury. They are often killed or mutilated while trying to disentangle.
- River Bed Cultivation: Cultivation on river beds disrupts gharial habitat, alienating them from essential terrestrial components and forcing them to migrate or abandon areas.
- Sand Mining: Removal of sand from riverbanks destroys gharial basking and nesting sites, impacting their behavior and nesting success. Mining activities can directly harm eggs during nesting seasons.
- Egg Harvesting: Harvesting of gharial eggs for subsistence food increases egg mortality, reduces recruitment rates, and exposes nests to additional predation by natural predators.
WWF-India’s Initiatives
- Species Recovery Programme: Initiated after the National Chambal Gharial crisis in December 2007.
- Reintroduction Programme: Collaborated with the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department to reintroduce gharials at Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary. Since 2009, 250 captive-reared gharials from Kukrail Rehabilitation Centre have been released into River Ganga.
- Research Collaboration: Partnered with the University of Tokyo, Japan, for Gharial Bio-logging Science to study underwater behavior and habitat preferences of free-ranging gharials.
- Community Engagement: Worked with local communities along the River Ganga for biodiversity conservation through education, awareness programs, and Village Panchayat Meetings (Ganga Samrakshan Panchayat).
- Environmental Conservation Efforts: Focused on maintaining ecological flows (e-flows), reducing impacts of illegal sand mining, pollution control, and addressing issues related to riverbed farming within the Upper Ganga Basin.