““The earth, the air, the land and the water are not an inheritance from ourfore fathers but on loan from our children.”

Mahatma Gandhi 02 ENVIRONMENT

there are 101 species nowclassified as of“high con-servation concern.”

The groups showing thegreatest decline are birds

of prey, migratoryshorebirds, andhighly-adapted

habitat specialists,which live in specific ecosys-tems, the report said.

“The report high-lights commonspecies that are de-clining sharply.These need con-servation at-tention beforetheir numbersreduce fur-ther,”said Dr RJayapal ofSálim Ali Cen-tre for Ornithol-ogy and NaturalHistory.

Highlights 1. The report suggests thatabout 867 birds were assessed,and said almost all species aredeclining. .2. The birds were divided intodifferent categories – 101 birdsas a high concern;319 birdsas moderate concern;and 442

birds as low concernspecies.

3. Hunting and habi-tat loss are the two

main reasons be-hind the decline.4. According tothe study ‘Colli-sion with elec-tricity lines’is aprime currentthreat to birds,es-pecially the Great

Indian Bustard.5. The population

ofmigratory birds -

both long distance and with-in the subcontinent - alsoshowed a ‘steep decline’.6. The local sparrow population was found to be roughly stable across the country as a whole,al-though it has fallen in the ma-jor cities.

SPECIES THAT HAVE SUFFERED THE HIGHESTDECLINES IN THE PAST

25+ YEARS

Richard’s Pipit

Indian Vulture

Pacific Golden Plover

Curlew Sandpiper

Large-billed Leaf Warbler

White-rumped Vulture

India’s bird populations‘declining sharply’H

undreds ofbird pop-ulations in India arecollapsing, accordingto a major new re-port. Researchers, us-

ing data collected by more than15,000 birdwatchers,examinedtrends over a 25-year period andalso over the last five years,and inboth cases,found numbers had de-clined overall.

Over the last quarter ofa cen-tury there is data available for 261species – 52 per cent ofwhich were found tobe decreasing innumber.

And over thepast five years,dataavailable for 146species revealed al-most 80 per cent ofthem were declining.

According tothe State ofIn-dia’s Birds2020 report,o v e r a l l

SPECIES THAT HAVEINCREASED THE

MOST IN THE PAST 25+YEARS

Indian Peafowl Rosy Starling

Feral Pigeon Glossy Ibis

Plain Prinia Ashy Prinia

2The data was then collated on eBird,a global crowdsourced database thathas real-time data on the distribu-

tion and abundance of birds.

3Researchers used this data andexamined trends over a 25-yearperiod, and also over the last

five years. In both cases foundnumbers had declined overall. THE INDEPENDENT

1The State of India’s Birds2020 Report, released recent-ly at 13th COP Convention on

the Conservation of MigratorySpecies of Wild Animals in Gujarat,was prepared with the help of amassive database of more than 10million observations uploaded by15,000 birdwatchers on the ‘e-bird’ platform.

SALIENT POINTSA

new studysays birds like

Blue tits can learnto avoid unpleasantfoods without even

tasting them. Seeinganother bird’s disgust-ed response, even if it

is just on video,helps them avoid

inedible prey.

Research shows country’s national bird bucks trend, but 101

species now of ‘high concern’

In grave dangerof going extinct With around 250surviving individu-als, both BengalFlorican and GreatIndian Bustard arecritically endan-gered species as

per the International Union for Conservationof Nature (IUCN) Red List.

Pop Quiz

IDENTIFYTHESE SPECIES

1 2

ANSWERS : 1. Tapir 2. A whooping crane 3. Beluga whale 4. Pangolin 5. Orca whale

3 4 5

BREATH OF

Nature always has its ways ofgiving back.People whomake weekly visits to natu-ral spaces,and feel con-

nected to them,report better physicaland mental well-being,according to astudy.Researchers,including thosefrom the University ofPlymouth inthe UK,also found that people whospend time in nature are more likelyto behave in ways that promote envi-ronmental health,such as recyclingand conservation activities.The study,published in the Journal ofEnviron-mental Psychology,suggests that re-connecting with nature could be key

to achieving synergisticimprovements to human

and planetary health.

Boost your physical and mental well-being byreconnecting with nature

I t is the first study to analyse the con-tribution of both contact of nature and

connection to human health, well-beingand pro-environmental behaviours, theresearchers said. The team looked atpeople’s engagement with nature throughaccess to green spaces, nature visits andthe extent to which they felt psychologi-cally connected to the natural world. “Inthe context of increasing urbanisation, itis important to understand how engage-ment with our planet’s natural resources

relate to human health and behaviour,”said lead author Leanne Martin. “Ourresults suggest that physically and psy-chologically reconnecting with nature canbe beneficial for human health and well-being, and at the same time encouragesindividuals to act in ways which protectthe health of the planet,” Martin said. ET

PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CONNECTION

Mussels ‘cooked alive’ in NZ

Up to half a million mussels were effectively cookedin the wild in unusually balmy waters on the NewZealand coast in a massive ‘die-off’ that marine

experts have linked to climate change. The dead molluscswere found by Brandon Ferguson earlier this month atMaunganui Bluff Beach. Professor Chris Battershill, amarine ecologist, said there had been similar die-off inrecent years involving tuatua cockles and clams with ‘hotconditions’ as the common denominators. AFP

Discovered: A new lizard species

Agroup of biologists discovered a new species oflizard that lives in the central Andes of Peru asreported by the National University of San Marcos.

The university said the biologists used molecular and mor-phological characters to describe a new genus of lizard inthe family Gymnophthalmidae of central Peru. The lizardhas been named Wilsonosaura after Dr Edward OsborneWilson, a famous US entomologist and biologist.AFP

White-lipped peccary species in decline

Arecent study published in the journal BiologicalConservation finds that the territory roamed bywhite-lipped peccaries in Mexico and Central

America have shrunk by as much as 87 per cent to 90per cent from their traditional range and 63 per centfrom previous estimates. The hairy, piglike creaturesplay a crucial role in their ecosystems, dispersing seedsand creating habitats for insects and amphibians. NYT

EXTRACT

Los Angeles house parties lose theiranimal attraction

Los Angeles (US) has banned the exploitation of exot-ic animals for entertainment purposes, effectivelyending the lavish Hollywood parties where giraffes,

tigers and even elephants are used to amuse guests. Anew ordinance, which needs to be approved by the mayorof Los Angeles, prohibits the use of wild or exotic animalsat house parties and other live entertainment. AFP

TheIN Glass frogs reappear in Bolivia

after 18 years

Specimens of the so-called ‘glass frog’, an endemicspecies which is characterised by having transparentbelly skin, were found after 18 years, researchers said. AFP

Photo: GETTY IMAGES