Hump-Nosed Pit Viper [ Hypnale hypnale] - Indian Snakes

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Restricted to the Western Ghats of India and parts of Central Sri Lanka, Hump Nosed Pit Viper loves spending day in the leaf litter on the forest floor. This snake is a perfect example for camouflage, since spotting it in the leaf litter on the forest floor is a difficult task. 

Happy Environment Day 2015 !

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We would like to share a hope with our readers on this Environment Day,
that this mystic tree of life - our planet - sustain for long.

Lets pray that humans may someday turn more sensible about the ways they kill this tree of life, if not, let them perish, before they wipe out the last throbs of life on our mother earth.

May this mystic tree of life sustain long. . .

Happy Environment Day 2015 !

(Image: A moss covered tree from the shola forests of Southern Western Ghats of Kerala in India.)

Rare plant rediscovered after 75 years from Kallar Valley in Western Ghats of Kerala

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Researchers at the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute has discovered an elusive plant - Ophiorrhiza barnesii, which was thought to be ‘possibly extinct’ since its first discovery, from Kallar Valley in Idukki district of the Southernmost Indian state of Kerala. According to a journal article about the discovery published in the latest issue of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, the plant was last reported 75 years ago, in 1937 by British botanists.

Ophiorrhiza barnesii, a rare plant
 rediscovered from Southern Western Ghats

According to sources, the researchers accidentally zeroed in on the plant while making a collection of threatened plants of Southern Western Ghats for ex situ conservation. The discovery now throws light into the still to be explored floral richness of Western Ghats, which is one of the eight hottest hot-spots in the world. The plant is one among the 20 members of the Ophiorrhiza genus found in the state of Kerala.

‘Possibly Extinct’

It was in 1939, that the plant was first described by a British botanist C E C Fischer based on two collections made by another British Botanist Prof. Edward Barnes. Both of the two specimens were collected from Kallar Valley during 1937. However, the plant has remained elusive since then with no further collectors or researchers reporting the plant from any other part of the state. According to researchers, subsequent botanical explorations even considered the chances that the plant may be possibly extinct by this time.

However, the rediscovery now puts it in the class of the rarest plants found in the Southern Western Ghats. To confirm the authenticity of the claim, the researchers reportedly compared the present specimen collected form Kallar Valley with the specimens in the earlier collections preserved at Royal botanic Gardens, Kew in London.

The Elusive plant of Western Ghats

The elusive plant is just like any other casual plant you may find in the Western Ghats with its perennial erect herb nature. Usually found as part of the under growth in the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats at an altitude of 1200 to 1600 meters from the mean sea level, the plant bears small white flowers. The flowering and fruiting season of the plant falls in the September to December period.

According to researchers, the plant is also found along the banks of the streams in the forests. It is found “usually associated with Sonerila wallichii, Ophiorrhiza roxburghiana, O. barberi, Elatostemma sp., etc”, says the research article.

However, with the rediscovery, researchers are raising doubts about the identity of another rare plant of the same genus found in Western Ghats - Ophiorrhiza falcate. Described by British naturalist Beddome in 1861 from the Anamalais, the plant resembles O. barnesii, in its description.

Flowers of Ophiorrhiza barnesii

However, rigorous searchers in the specimen collections in the foreign herbariums where the collections from pre-independent India are kept failed to trace back the original specimen based on which Beddome described the species. 

“Unfortunately, searching the specimens at The British Museum, Natural History (BM); Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K) and The National Herbarium, The Netherlands (L) also became futile.”, says the researchers.

Researchers seriously doubt that both the species should be one and the same; however, without detailed surveys at the Anamalais, it will be too early to speculate in that direction, say the researchers.

After the discovery, now a specimen of the plant is preserved at the herbarium at the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute in Palode in Thiruvananthapuram. The researchers have also added some individuals of the plant to the gene pool that is developed in the institute as part of ex situ conservation of wild plant varieties.

E.S. Santhosh Kumar, P.E. Roy, and S.M. Shareef from Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Palode, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala have co-authored the study.

Fighting the aliens at Periyar Tiger Reserve

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Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) is not just a safe haven for the tigers, but for some aliens too, in the ecological sense. African cat fish (Clarias gariepinus), one of the most dangerous invasive alien species, is lurking in the Periyar Lake, raising serious threat to the rare fishes found only in Periyar, say researchers. To bring a twist to the story, PTR is going to have the first of its kind action against exotic fish species in Western Ghats as a group of researchers and activists are aiming to manually remove African cat fish from Periyar with public participation.

African Cat Fish (Clarias gariepinus)
Image Credit : W.A. Djatmiko (Wikimedia Commons)

According to Conservation Research Group- a research and activist platform based in St Albert’s College in Cochin- which organises the exotic fish removal campaign at Periyar Tiger Reserve, the endemic fishes found in the Periyar Lake are severely threatened by the biological invaders like African Cat fish, which inspired them to organise such a crusade against the alien fish species of PTR.  “Eight endemic fishes in Periyar Lake are fighting for survival as their only remaining habitats are threatened by several stressors of which biological invasion is the most significant one.”, says an official statement from the group.

Importance of Fish fauna in Periyar Lake

An on-going Rufford Foundation supported project to study the impact of alien species in Periyar Lake points out that the fish fauna in the Lake are very unique and valuable. “It (The Lake) holds the only remaining population of six globally threatened endemic fish species viz. Crossocheilus periyarensis, Garra periyarensis, Hypselobarbus periyarensis, Lepido pygopsistypus, Nemacheilus menoni and N. Periyarensis”, it says. According to an IUCN report on the Status and distribution of freshwater biodiversity in the western Ghats, Lepido pygopsistypus  is the only member of its subfamily of snow trout fishes to be reported from south of Himalayas.

According to the researchers, there are four exotic fish species found in Periyar Lake which comes under the reserve among which African Cat fish is the most dangerous one when it comes to threat to native species. Cyprinus carpio, Oreochromis mossambicus and Poecilia reticulate are the other exotic fish species found in the Periyar Lake Stream System (PLSS). Recent studies have indicated that the population of these exotic fish species are showing an increase which means that the threat to native species is growing. “C. carpio and O. mossambicus now dominate the fishery of Periyar Lake and are known to compete with endangered species such as L. typus and Crossocheilusperiyarensis”, says a recent study report issued by IUCN.

The invasive species have swept away many native fish species found in the lake earlier. During the last 50 years, at least 16 fish species earlier found in the lake has disappeared, say researchers.

Fighting the Aliens

African Cat fish in Periyar Lake and other freshwater ecosystem in Western Ghats is the usual story of an introduced species turning viral threat to native species. African Cat Fish was once widely used as a farm fish in Kerala and elsewhere for its rapid growth. It soon became very popular with its ability to survive in a range of water qualities and to devour anything from slaughter house waste to standard fish foods. However, the alarm started ringing when some of them have escaped through the natural water channels from fish farms during monsoon and reached the fresh water systems in Western Ghats. 

Exotic Fish removal campign at Periyar Tiger Reserve

The IUCN report has suggested that “the biggest future challenge to fish conservation in PLSS will be the management and control of C. gariepinus, whose opportunistic strategy and ability to establish large and persistent populations makes it an imminent threat.”

To fight the alien menace, a workshop conducted by researchers and forest officials at PTR in December 2012 has decided to take pro-active action against the invasive species. Field work has revealed high population of African cat fish in the canal draining into the Lake. The authorities and researchers are planning to net out the exotic fishes from the canal and manually remove the exotic fishes from the Lake. The organisers of the event were not available for immediate comment. However, according to an official invitation, the programme is scheduled on April 29^th and 30^th of this month. 

New Stone Loach Species Discovered from Silent Valley National Park

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Far-famed for the silence of the cicadas(though now they are aplenty) and the endemic Lion Tailed Macaque, the Silent Valley National Park in Kerala, India has just got another endemic organism to its credits, when researchers identified a new species of stone loach from Kunthippuzha which flows through the National Park.

Balitora Jalpalli, new stone loach species  from Kunthi River in Silent Valley National Park
(Image Credit: Josin Tharian)

According to a study published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa, the new species of Stone loach differs from its close relatives in head length, caudal peduncle depth, maximum head width and in the number and pattern of bands on the dorsal side.  It has a different number of ventral fin rays and pectoral fin rays than its close relatives also.

Water Lizard of Kunthi River

The newly identified fish belongs to the genus Balitora, and is named as Balitora Jalpalli. According to the authors of the study, the fish was named so for its lizard like characteristics. 'Jal’ means Water and ‘Palli’ means Lizard in the local language, making ‘Jalpalli’ equivalent to ‘Water-lizard’. It “refers to the lizard like appearance of the fish, and its habit of clinging to the rocks in fast flowing streams,” says the study. According to the researchers who have conducted the study, the newly identified stone loach can be commonly called as Silent Valley Stone Loach as well.

The researchers were able to spot the fish from Valleparathodu, near Poochippara from the Kunthi River which is a tributary of Bharathappuzha, a major river in the state. According to the study, this habitat is a high altitude stream which is usually inhabited by other fishes like Mesonoemacheilus remadevii, Homaloptera pillai, Bhavania australis and Garra menoni.

Genus Balitora consists of 11 to 12 species of fishes so far among which two were reported from Kerala. The new species discovery makes the Balitora strength in state to three.

Conservation Significance of Western Ghats Rivers

The identification and description of B. Jalpalli from Western Ghats comes on close heels to a similar species discovery from Krishna River, yet another major river in Western Ghats. Researchers have identified and described another species of Balitora - Balitora Laticuda - from Krishna River in 2012. These new discoveries point out to the rich but unexplored aquatic fauna of Western Ghats Rivers and the exigency to conserve the freshwater ecosystem in the region.

However, habitat destruction is rampant in Western Ghats Rivers due to anthropogenic pressure. According to the study, immediate conservation efforts and taxonomic explorations should be carried out in the area to unearth the unraveled marvels of biodiversity here. “The description of one more species of freshwater fish from the Western Ghats reiterate our views that the ichthyofauna of the region continues to be poorly known and is in need of increased exploratory surveys and associated taxonomic research”, say the researchers.

Rajeev Raghavan and Anvar Ali of Conservation Research Group (CRG), St. Albert’s College, Kochi,

Josin Tharian of Laboratory for Systematics and Conservation, Department of Zoology, St. John’s College, Anchal, Shrikant Jadhav, Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and Neelesh Dahanukar of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) co-authored the paper in the Journal of Threatened Taxa..

Do we need a tiger reserve in Wayanad ? Loud thoughts as the straying tiger gunned down

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So the tiger in Wayanad  is dead. 

But beware; more than 60 of them are still lurching inside the forest.
Now, some recap.

The curious case of the cruel tiger

Usually wounds or similar issues which make a tiger incapable of finding food on its own force it to look for easier preys like cattle . In the case of Wayanad tiger, the postmortem report is still to come out to understand if it had any such wounds which forced it to hunt down the cattle. (Usually poaching is a major reason which causes such wounds. The instances are not very rare in Wayanad and adjoining forest areas in nearby states.). 

Image Courtesy: WWF

However, it was 12 years of age, which makes it less capable of hunting on the forest folk on its own.A possible case of a old cat looking for cattle for food.

 The standard procedure of trapping man-eating of cattle hunting tigers of leopards, right from the time of Corbett, is to leave the carcass of the cattle intact, to trap or shoot the killer when it comes back to it.

However, in Wayanad case, the tiger was rarely allowed to get its kill which was furiously taken away by the people to stage up blockades the National Highway. It was terrifically starved, so it killed more. Despite its frustration, it never attacked people, even if many (including school children) were trapped in its front, while it was starved for days. (Not out of respect or sympathy, but out of fear. Wild cats fear human a lot. They attack only when left with no other option.)

The classical cases of crisis management by Kerala forest authorities

Lack of crisis management from the state and forest authorities made the case worst.

The unruly mob was the single cause of death of the tiger which was getting sedated due to the tranquilizer shots. According to experts, the tiger, after shot with a tranquilizer dart of enough ketamine dosage, should be left free for at least 30 minutes, to sedate down. It will show violent behavior during the period but will sedate gradually. But instead of leaving the animal free, the, mob surrounded it in Wayanad incident, exposing themselves to danger and forcing the officials to shoot the animal. 

 

Majority of the leopards or similar animals straying into the human inhabited areas in Kerala have their fate sealed, since the mob has its own way of stoning them to death even if the forest officials manage to get the animals trapped. Desperately, the department has issued stricter circulars on the need to stick to scientific methods while rescuing wild animals straying into human inhabited areas.  But the crisis management plan of Kerala forest department (if they have any) still lacks the basic procedure of mob control. 

Here too, the authorities should not have let the people go loose just like that in such a situation, not only for the safety of the people and officials, but also for the poor animal.

What happens if the tiger reserve comes up in Wayanad ?

One Tiger = several cattle
One Tiger Reserve = More tigers 

More Tigers = More cattle and other issues

This is the popular mathematics used by the politicians in Kerala time and again to instill fear in the public. A tiger reserve will surely bring up more tigers, so more menace. That’s it.

But, Wayanad is not going to have the first tiger reserve in the state, if it is proposed to be. Kerala already have two tiger reserves, Parambikulam and Periyar. How many reports have popped about the horrid menace done by tigers to the people living around these forests in recent years?

Mass eviction   

Scaremongers sing that the reserve will bring eviction of hundreds of families, a clamp down on commercial, construction activities, a carpet ban on agriculture and what not. In short, human settlements will be razed down for the useless tigers. 

There are hundreds of families still living inside the buffer zone of other tiger reserves in the state. Let alone that, four villages with hundreds of inhabitants are there in Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan.

According to a forest official, who would like not to be named, the inhabitants who happen to be inside the buffer area of a tiger reserve may decide to leave the place with ample compensation from NTCA or can decide to stay with all chances of getting compensated for the crop loss or similar damages caused in the human animal conflict. Similarly, there are no such carpet ban on agriculture or other activities, except certain minimal regulations on construction of dams, linear structures etc.

Now, what if a tiger reserve does not come up in Wayanad?

The latest data on the population of the big cat in the state which is yet to be released shows that Wayanad has at least 70 mature tigers and 10 cubs in its forests. That is pretty good numbers than many of the so called ‘tiger reserves’ in the country and possibly, better than other protected forest areas in the world. 

Presently, the forest department in Kerala is in pretty bad shape when it comes to allocation of funds for conservation purpose, let alone the efforts to bring down human animal conflict. Sources at the forest department in the state itself, on condition of anonymity, admits that the lack of funds really affect the activities of the department. 

According to an answer tabled by MoEF at the Rajyasabha on November ^27th, Kerala has got more than 14 crore rupees (1476.518 Lakhs) since 2010 for conservation of big cats in the state. But not a single paisa from that money which was sanctioned by National Tiger Conservation Authority has reached Wayanad since it is not a tiger reserve yet, despite the higher population of tigers. 

Funds released to Kerala under Project Tiger Since 2010 ( amount in Lakhs)
Source: MoEF

Instead, if the area is turned into a tiger reserve, the department will have enough central funds, to implement scientifically approved measures to bring down the human animal conflict like fencing and other measures. 

The case of the people around the reserve will not be as pathetic as today where they get a nominal amount of compensation or just statements from politicians on possible compensation, since the compensation procedure is standardized and better with NTCA.

If the sanctuary is not turned into a tiger reserve, the forest department will find it difficult to implement enough mitigation measures to avoid any conflict between the high populations of tigers in the area.

Above all, tigers are costly

India spends crores of rupees from the tax payer money every year to conserve the striped big cats of the country since it is among the rare places in the world with favorable habitats and a viable population of this endangered animal. According to WWF, we have lost 97 percent of world’s tiger population in 100 years.

Obviously, a tiger costs very much, in nature. If you don’t care about that, you should understand that, a tiger costs crores of tax payers money. Whomever responsible for shooting and killing a tiger when there is enough chances of rescuing it, is thus answerable to the tax payer.

New enigmatic blind cat fish species named after missile man of India

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The lesser known subterranean world of blind catfishes in the Western Ghats now has some connection with the missile man of India, as a newly identified species of blind cat fish was named after A P J Abdul Kalam, former India President and well-known aerospace engineer who was instrumental in developing India’s ballistic missiles and launch vehicle technology. Collected from a dugout well of Irinjalakkuda in the South Indian state of Kerala, the new cat fish species has been christened as Horaglanis abdulkalami.

Third blind cat fish known to science 

Horaglanis krishnai, Horaglanis alikunhii and Horglanis abdulkalami

According to the research paper published in an Indian journal regarding the discovery, the new species is physiologically different from the two known blind cat fish species - H. Krishnai and H. alikunhii. 

Gill membrane of the newly found fish is free at the base of the isthmus. They are united only half distance towards the tip of the lower jaw from the base. Moreover, the presence of 13 brancheostegal rays and the 21 unbranched rays on the dorsal fin also makes it different from other known species. In addition, the newly identified fish has a rounded caudal fin with 28 rays with six of them branched.

The new fish is 3.8 cm long and was red blood in colour when first collected. Like similar species, H. abdulkalami is also blind, an adaptation for its dark subterranean habitat, says researchers.

According to Dr. K K Subhash Babu who has collected the fish and described it, the fish still retains respiration through the skin. “With help of Scanning electron microscope (SEM), we can see its body with full of pores, especially head region.  Apart from its gills respiration, they can respire through its skin also. It is very common with all newly hatched fishes which slowly turn to gill respiration. But H. abdulkalmi, seems to retain this capacity”, says he.

Missile Man connection of H. abdulkalami

Illustration showing pectoral and pelvic fin of H. abdulkalami

According to the researcher, he has decided to name the new discovery after Kalam, whom he found inspiring as a researcher. “When I was in Cochin University, I wrote to him about this fish and my intention to give his name to this remarkable fish and he very much appreciated my work”, he said.

Presently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biology at University of Jimma in Ethiopia, Dr. K K Subhash Babu shares the credit of describing another blind catfish under the same genus – Horglanis alikunhi with another researcher.

The new discovery now adds to our limited knowledge of the unexplored word of subterranean eco system of the Western Ghats.

Rare frog spotted from Western Ghats again

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A rare frog believed to be found only in a specific part of the Anamudi summit in Eravikulam National Park in the Indian state of Kerala has been spotted from Poovar, a part of Western Ghats hill ranges some 20 kilometers away from the place of its earlier report.

Resplendent Bush Frog, (Raorchestes resplendens)

According to a research correspondence published in the latest issue of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, the new record is approximately 20 kilometer away from the peak in the in north east direction, but within the boundary of the same national park. The researchers have made an unexpected confrontation with the frog during the survey of the endangered Nilgiri Tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius) present in Eravikulam National Park.

Known as Resplendent Bush Frog, (Raorchestes resplendens), the rare frog is categorized as critically endangered by IUCN Amphibian Specialist Group. It was first reported in 2010 by a team of researchers including the famous batrachologist Biju from Anamudi peak, which is the highest peak in the state of Kerala.

The elusive frog which has brightly colored reddish orange upper side was found in the grass land region in Poovar which is similar to the habitat from which it was first found. According to the correspondence, the frog was spotted inside a grass clump.

Conservation significance of the new findings

The new finding important as it gives valuable information about the range of distribution of the species, which is significant in the conservation of the species. When the frog was first found and described, it was believed that it had a very restricted presence and is found only within a 3 square kilometer area. However, the new finding reveals that the range of distribution of the frog is actually more than 3 square kilometers.

“It is likely that R. resplensens may be more widespread in the high altitude primary grasslands of Eravikulam National Park and surrounding areas of the Western Ghats, than it was earlier thought.”, says the correspondence.

 In 2010, when it was first spotted, researchers searched in nearby places, but failed to find the frog from different habitats in the vicinity. This has made them believe that the frog is present in only one type of locality in a small range.

In the present spotting, the most adjacent shola forest patch was one kilometer away, which means that the frogs may be living in the grass land itself. However, the first observations on Resplendent Bush Frog have revealed that the frogs use bamboo thickets in the vicinity to burrow their eggs. Thus the grassland sholas and related bamboo thickets at Eravikulam may be significant in a conservation perspective.

When it was first found in 2010, it was named Raorchestes to honour C. R. Narayan Rao, a pioneering batrachologist in India.  The resplendens name was given for the splendid colour of the frog. According to researchers, this rare frog is notable for its color as well as short limbs also.