The Story of Asia's Lions - Divyabhanusinh

The story of a Lion by Divyabhanusinh is an attempt to cover the travel of the lion over time to its present restricted domain in Asia, particularly in India. The author first distinguishes the Asian lion from its African cousins and then gives illustrations of lions in ancient monuments, documents and sculptures. By this a background of the lion in human culture can be obtained. The lion being resident of an open country habitat and openly seen with its large mane and pride made its home in human culture as king of the jungle, outstanding the secretive tiger and other top carnivoures.  The same majestic pride and the strength of lion gave it a place in the kingly honours among the rulers who ruled the subcontinent, including the British. The book gives reference of the lion both being hunted and being used as a symbol of strength and valour.

The book accounts the decline of the lions in India due to severe hunting after the advent of the British in India. The lions which once roamed the parts of northern, western, middle and a part of eastern India (Palamou), got confined to the western parts at Gir where in the efforts of people like the Nawabs of Junagadh saved them from extinction. The names of Nawab Rasulkhanji and Mahabatkhanji stand among the pioneers who saved the lions from the onslaught and their survival at Gir. The book also records the attempts of Maharaj Madhav Rao Sindhi to reintroduce lions in its lost habitats. The records provide an excellent background for the current reintroduction efforts in India.

The book gives record of the first attempts made to estimate or sensus the number of lions at Gir, the first ever in India. The trailing chapters deal with the problems in the current reintroduction attempts along with the issues that prevail at Gir like the cattle issue, issues in resettlement of the Maldharis and other tribes, poaching and the threats that might be faced in future like epidemics that might wipe out the entire Asian lion population.

In the book, the author has concentrated extensively on illustrations of lion representing the royal patronage right from the time of the Egyptian pharaohs to the present generation which sometimes may take the reader off the track. But, when considering from a historical sequence point, the book covers them completely and a clear picture of the path of the lions has been successfully tracked down to the Gir.

Wildl Tales from the Wild - Saad Bin Jung

The scion of the Royal families of Pataudi and Bhopal and the Paigah Wali ud Dowla of Hyderabad shares his experience in his walk of life that he decides to spend among the wilderness. Separated from his favourite sport of cricket due to illness, he takes refuge for life in his second passion, Wildlife. The author goes to narrate the thrilling incidences and encounters in the wilderness of Bandipur as he starts to makes his living through Bush Betta resorts. His early learnings in the wild, his encounters with the elephant and other residents, humorous incidents in his wild resort, encounters with poachers and several such things have been told which give the reader a thrilling and enjoying read.

The member of the Karnataka wildlife advisory board also supports and argues that Eco tourism is the best and effective tool to curtail the issues of poaching and smuggling which, by its means uses the same knowledge and expertise of the tribals to spread awareness on conservation and, at the same time gives the tribals a source of legitimate livelihood. 

India's Wildlife History - Mahesh Rangarajan

The book focuses on the landmarks in the history of India’s wildlife, both in terms of conservation and decline. The famous historian brings together a comprehensive collection of old memories, archives and official records of the happenings relating to the wild India.

Chapter 1, The Forests & the Field of Ancient India, the status of the ancient wildlife of India and the people’s view about it has been discussed. The author mentions the views during the period of lord Rama, Charaka, Sushrutha, the Harappa and other civilizations, where in fauna acted different roles in the form of meat and served in armed forces. The author tries to point out the reason and time when the decline of the forests started. The use of elephants in warfare also brought in measures to conserve them during the Mauryan period (King Ashoka) The rulers of those times considered themselves as the rulers of these forests and took measures to have a strong hold on them, to get a steady supply of war elephants, to get forest products like honey, timber and hide. The nomads and the hunting groups were often taken into confidence (by providing grazing grounds) to achieve this objective.

Chapter 2, The Hunt & the Wilderness in Mughal India, accounts the hunting and the start of the decline of the fauna during the Mughal regime. The Mughals were great hunters and massacred large fauna each year. The good records kept by the Mughal rulers and the records made by several travelers of that time give a fair picture of the types and abundance of wild fauna. The manual of hunt in Sanskrit, Manasollasa, Mughal’s Badshahnamah, that give in great detail the techniques have been quoted. The victory over the forest was considered heroic and people who hunted beasts or cleared the forests for cultivation were greatly awarded.

Though the rulers hunted at vast, there was abundant wildlife that the overall impact was very little. But legacy to win over the stubborn forest to make the land clear for cultivation and the heroic acts of killing wild beasts, in a way, carried on even after the decline of the empire.

Chapter 3, Venomous snakes and Dangerous Beasts, records the beginning of the ruthless killing and the attempted extermination of dangerous beasts and pests that roamed the forests. Continuing the ritual from the British isle, the British waged war against the carnivoures, which were declared as vermin that preyed upon the game animals. Bounties were awarded for major bags and royal hunts were very frequent. Trophies were awarded people of the Raj who bagged dangerous carnivoures like the lion or the tiger.

Princely hunts and Royal Preserves, explains how the Indian rulers outnumbered their foreign rulers in the hunting ground. Royal blood took to considering wildlife and nature as a surrogate of the political power they had lost. Sadul Singh, Rajkumar of Baikener, Gayatri devi, Colonel Kesri Singh of Jaypur, Ramanuj Saran Singh deo of Sarguja, The rulers of Udaipur and Gauripur were the pioneers among the men who bagged large numbers. Royal hunting reserves, out of bound for the normal man were established where the british were invited to hunt. All these led to a large scale decline of wildlife in India and few like the cheetah were wiped put. There were also enlightened rulers like the Nawab of Junagad (GIR), Mysore rulers who took measures to protect the depleting wildlife.

With the fauna becoming rarer, the attempts to monopolise over it stated in the country. In Contests over game, the author discussed on the various laws and prohibitions laid out by the Raj to gain control over the precious hunting grounds. Forests acts were passed by the British which brought almost all the forest under their control, which were official game reserves and where common man and local tribes had no right to hunt. Also, restriction on game licenses was imposed. This brought in lot of friction between the traditional hunters and trappers and the rulers. Though the forest was a landscape with myriad meanings for several people, one set of them now dominated over the others.

The realization of the rarity of the species was too late to save the cheetah but the One Horned rhino was lucky to be saved from the brink of extinction with the first Rhino preserve, Kaziranga, being established. But it was never done out of a pure conservation motive. The raj never separated consumption from conservation.

In Storks Groves & Antelopes, the author discuss about how rituals and traditional practices helped in protecting the flora and fauna, here and there at a small scale. Sacred groves, bird habitats were protected based on religious and cultural motives. This kind of protection was completely different from the law and order method of the Raj. But it provided protection for some species like the Grey langur, elephant but not for Rhino and several others. Even Brahmin priests preferred Black buck skin for their seats. Such views were always subjected to change and at a large scale the law and punishment kind of protection should work well.

From Gun to Camera describes the transition of two hunters from Shooting with a gun to shooting with a camera. F. W Champion, the very first to photograph wild animals and Jim Corbett, influenced by Champion.  Champion was a forester and never left seeing timber commercially while Corbett was a naturalist and liked to see nature as it is. Though both of them did not give up hunting, the steps they took were timely to bring up a small change. Corbett influenced the establishment of the first national park called Hailey park in 1935 which was later named after him. While Corbett criticized over hunting by English men to be the reason for depletion, Champion, as a forester defended them that hunting was not the only reason.

Independent India’s Naturalists, shows light on the contributions of three eminent naturalists and conservationists who saved the devastation of nature soon after independence, from a hungry country. Salim Ali, the Bombay based naturalist, made a path breaking contribution in cataloguing the distribution and ecology of over more than 1000 bird species that inhabited south Asia. But far more than this, his work showed way to a broader way of thinking in making avifauna as an intrinsic part of the system. He played an influential role in saving the wetlands at Koeladeo Ghana at Bharatpur. (He authored the legendary work, Book of Indian Birds)

Edward Pritchard Gee, a tea planter and naturalist form Assam, recognised early, the decline of the Indian fauna and outlined remedial measures for them. He was part of a group of influential people in the provincial management, by which he had his views reach the top. He became a non-official member of the Indian Board for wildlife (IBWL), which first met in 1952. After independence, he monitored the recovery of Swamp deer and the Rhino numbers ay Kaziranga. At Manas, he discovered the Golden Langur. He has authored the book Wildlife of India.

M. Krishnan from the southern state of Tamil Nadu who was a columnist writing about land and wildlife of the country. A non hunter, trained botanist, he was above the others of his generation who looked beyond the birds and animals into plants, trees and bushes that were so vital to nature’s economy.

   

In Project Tiger and after, the author describes the state of the Indian wildlife during, and after independence. With the policy to grow more food, forest land were cleared without a second thought. Government officials continued the sport of hunting to an extent that tiger and other animals became rare. The forest department’s job was to arrange for hunting programs for VIPs and VVIPs, both Indian and abroad and several tourist operators got involved in the business. (For example, J.D. Scott was officially invited by govt. of India to shoot in the independent Indian jungles and later publicise the same in the western world.

With lot of protests from commercial operators and hunters, India pledged to save its natural flora and fauna at the IUCN meeting at Delhi, in 1969. The then Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, with support from organisations like WWF and eminent people like Kailash Shankhla and M.K.Ranjitsinh (IAS), and with support from several state governments, the hunting of tiger was banned in 1970, Wildlife Act passed in 1972 and Project Tiger launched in 1973. These major steps helped several endangered species to take a safe breath and about 5% of the land area were converted to forests.

But the project was hastily and poorly implemented with the excavated population given no alternative to survive. Like ash covering the fire, protests and upsurges started to erupt at places which again put the status of the endangered under peril.

All seamed well form outside until the outburst came from Ranthambore national park in 1992 about the increased illegal poaching of wild tigers. With the increasing demand for worldwide, the forests of India and its wildlife were prone to a greater threat which the protective system established in the 80s failed to recognise and counteract and India facing the Second Wildlife Crisis. WWF and NGOs started to act on the same by contributing huge funds, awareness programs, providing facilities for the relocated, strengthening the forces to curb the growing wildlife trade which allowed the tiger and the rhino and several other species to cross the century mark.  

Several problems, both political and social made a remarkable effect on the protection of wildlife. Vast forest lands were de-notified under the name of development (with support from central and local ministers and the department) while on the other hand, the local people were denied access to graze livestock in the forest. Eco-development programs did not make a marked effect on the life of the locals and the conservation project suffered due to local support and involvement.

During this battle, a second type of conservation called ‘Joint Conservation’ came into practice where the local people and adivasis who had suffered under the protection laws were shown alternative income resources while involving them to conserve the forests. Such attempts even became successful in Sariska and BRT.

But the battle and argument still continues as to which method of conservation would be the best.

The Deer & the Tiger - George B. Schaller

The book can be called a record of the observations and inferences made by Dr. George B. Schaller from Sep. 1963 to May 1965 on the large mammals of India in the protected area of Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh. The study primarily targeted the study of the ecology and behaviour of the major hoofed animals of the park namely Chital, Barasingha, Black buck, Sambar and Gaur and the life history of the Tiger as a predator. Schaller says that the main reason to place the study records under one roof is to mark the striking similarities and differences in aspects of behaviour such as time of mating, bearing of young and to attempt an answer for such questions like Predator-prey relationship, apart from providing a new method to study on their habits and habitat. The book also points out the very little done in recording data on such mammals.

Chapter 2 describes the various techniques employed during the study period apart from discussing India’s physiography, vegetation and seasons with emphasis on Kanha Park.

The Part II of the book starts on the study on the hoofed animals at Kanha. Chapter 3 to 7 deals with description, Geographical distribution, Population dynamics, observation on population size and density, sex and age composition, rutting season, gestation period, rate of reproduction, mortality, daily activity cycle, food habits, feeding & drinking behaviour, range and movements, herd size composition, leadership, agonistic behaviour and dominance, sexual behaviour, female – young relationship and other observations of Chital, Sambar, Barasingha, Blackbuck and Gaur at the Kanha meadow, Schaller’s study area. Schaller also goes to compare them in the end on the ecological and behavioural aspects.

Part III takes us onto the Predator category where Schaller records his observation on the Tiger. Apart from the above aspects records on communication among tigers (scent and visual signals, vocalizations, postures and gestures, food habits, hunting, killing and feeding behaviour, hunting and stalking, attacking and killing, behaviour at a kill, response to man) have been done.

The book also records observation on other predators like the Leopard, Jungle cat, Sloth bear, striped hyena, wild dog, Bengal fox, jackal and python. The author also discusses on the effect of predation on the prey population

(All recordings and interpretations are made w.r.t the study area at Kanha.)

Tiger Tales - Tracking the big cat across Asia, Edited by Dr. K. Ullas Karanth

TIGER TALES: Tracking the big cat across Asia

EDITED BY DR. ULLAS KARANTH

The book is an anthology, a collection of articles and writings from famous naturalists, conservationists and writers about the trend of the survival of tiger in this human dominated world. The book takes the reader through the various phases of tiger lore starting from the rule of the British in India where tigers and other carnivoures were treated as vermin and deserved extermination to the current conservation efforts to save them.

‘Venomous Snakes and Dangerous Beasts’  a chapter from ‘India’s Wildlife history’ from the famous historian Mahesh Rangarajan, describes about the ruthless slaughtering of wild carnivoures and herbivoures like the Nilghai, wild buffaloes, tigers, leopards, wolves and snakes, by the british, soon after their regime at the Bengal province (Battle of Palashi, 1757). The carnivoures were treated as vermin which killed the herbivoures which were meant for the royal game. The slaughter was similar to the elimination of wolf at the British Isles. People such as Major Tweedie and T.T Cooper give errant suggestions to eliminate the carnivoures which they considered as dangerous beasts and the numerous pests of herbivoures like the wild buffaloes which were plenty in number. Bounties were declared for every kill of lions, tigers, leopards, cheetah and wolves. The conversion of forests into agricultural land cut down the migration routes of larger mammals leading to heavy human animal conflicts. The cheetah was completely eliminated, lions were pushed to the only habitat at central India, wolves became scarce, tigers survived only in deep jungles and leopards due to their adaptive nature survived the slaughter. Official records say that around 80,000 tigers, 150000 leopards, 200000 wolves were killed. Large mammals like elephants though initially killed were later promoted up from the vermin status and were protected as they were required for various purposes.

It also gives an account of the slaughter done by the Indian princes which outnumbered the British officers. People like Sadul Singh (Maharajkumar of Bikaner), Colonel Kesari Singh (Jaipur), Gayatri devi (queen of Jaipur), Ramanuj Saran Singh Deo of Sarguja, The rulers of Udaipur and so on, with nature as a surrogate for the political power they had lost.

‘The Tiger (Felis Felis)’ by C.E.M. Russel, from his ‘Bullet & shot in Indian forest, Plain & Hill’ a British Conservator of forest in the Mysore state (a fire line exists in Nagarahole in his name) writes about various methods used to hunt tigers. He goes about giving advice to hunters on the ways tigers are to be hunted and the precaution to be taken while hunting. A few incidences during his tiger hunting days have also been sited. Shooting tigers on elephants (as in north & eastern India), beating (southern India) and shooting them over kills have been mentioned. He also mentions G.P. Sanderson, author of ‘Thirteen years among the wild beasts of India’

‘Photographing Tigers’, by F.W. Champion, a british officer who can be called as the first one to shoot tigers with a camera, discusses through his books ‘With a camera in tiger land’ & ‘The jungle in sunlight & shadow’, the various ways of photographing wild tigers. Methods such as beating, using elephants, sitting over a tiger kill have been mentioned. The author also is the first person to use self triggered camera traps with flash to capture wild tigers in their natural environment.

‘Tiger: Distribution, Size & Habitat’ by A.A.Dunbar Brander from his book ‘Wild animals in central India’(1923)  gives an insight into the distribution of tigers around the world, the different sizes of tigers recorded over the past century and also deals with the behaviour of tigers under circumstances… their sounds for communication, man eaters, cubs and so on…

The author pays excellent emphasis on documentation rather then story telling.

‘The swami of Valaithothu’ by Kenneth Anderson’s ‘This is the jungle’ (1964) narrates a thrilling tale of a man eater that the author succeeds in killing and of a swami who brings a terror among the innocent villagers by mimicking his transformation into a man eater at will.

‘The Tiger at home’ by ‘William Baze’ from his books, ‘Just elephants’ & ‘Tiger! Tiger!’, gives an account of the life of tiger in the Indo – Chinese region. The tiger migrating along with its prey which switched places with respect to the season of the year clearly illustrates the dependency of the tiger on its prey base. The author also discusses about shooting tiger using baits. (Live and even dead and rotten baits)

The author is a French adventurer and chief elephant catcher and tamer for emperor Bao Dai of Indo china. He killed many tigers in this region during world wars.

‘Diet, Kills & Area Covered’ from Arthur Locke’s ‘Tigers of Terengganu’ (1954) provides an insight into the life of the tigers in the Malayan region. Here the author writes his observations on tiger kills, territories and behaviour. In the end he also gives a very curious note that he has never come across a Malayan tiger getting injured while hunting a Porcupine while its Indian counterpart has been frequently reported to.

From the books ‘The Tiger of Rajasthan’ & ‘One man and thousand tigers’ authored by Kesari Singh comes the chapter ’Lion and Tiger’. Here the hunter comes of the opinion that Tigers being more powerful and cunning than the lions were a main reason for lions lose their ground in India. He gives illustration of an attempt made by the Maharaja of Gwalior to reintroduce lions in Rajasthan in which the tigers were successful in driving away the lions from their home territory. The author also writes about the Tiger hunting sport in which the tigers were beaten to come along a narrow netted corridor which would then be blocked and the tiger subsequently speared and killed. (Kesari Singh used to arrange several such hunts for western tourists and enthusiasts)

‘Forests of the night’, an article from Jack Denton Scott’s ‘Forests of the night’ (1959) is about the experience of Scott during his visit to India for official Shikar. This American syndicated columnist for the New York Times was here on an official invitation from the Indian government to promote western tourists to visit India for hunting safaris.

‘Javan Tiger’, an extract from ‘Udjung Kulon: The land of Javan Rhinoceros’ (1970) gives an account of the tiger in the islands of Java that are now extinct. Working for the Dutch government, the author refers his experiences, encounters with the Javan tigers.

An extract from E.P Gee’s ‘Wildlife of India’ narrates the experiences of the author in the forests of Kanha and Shivpuri. The author also attempts to give a rough estimate of the tiger population in India at that period and the same has been repeated by people in the later stage, without basis.

‘Saving the Tiger’ by Guy Mountford, the founder president of World Wildlife Fund narrates the experience of the author during his attempts to persuade the governments of India (Indira Gandhi), Nepal (King Mahendra) and Bangladesh (Mujibur Rehman) to take up immediate actions to save the perishing tigers, by establishing tiger reserves. The author talks about the actions taken, the problems encountered and the success in that first big attempt made to save the Tiger in the Indian Peninsula.

‘Project Tiger’ by Kailash Sankhala, the first Director of Project tiger writes about the challenges and the events that happened during the launch of ‘Project Tiger’ in India. He talks about how they took the project about, how people doubted the idea of a tiger reserve and how they achieved success in it.

In ‘The way ahead’, Arjan Singh, the hunter turned conservationist talks about the various other possible ways, challenges and the steps to be taken in securing the future of tigers in India.

Valmik Thapar, in ‘A Tiger Kingdom’ writes about his days in Ranthambore national park, the days which saw a secure place for the tigers in Rajasthan.

‘The Year of the Tiger’ by Vladimir Troinin, a Russion based game manager writes about his experiences following the tracks of the Amur tiger in the land of Taiga. He talks about how tiger adapted to the cold weather, living in and around the cities and living on stray dogs, city dumps and domestic foul.   

‘My year with the tiger’ by George Schaller is an excerpt from one of his several contributions which describes his experiences in the Indian jungle, attempting to study them. The author describes his experiences, understanding their behaviour, way of living, social life and hunting methods in this juncture.

‘Problem Tiger in the Sunderbans’ by John Seidensticker, R.K. Lahiri, K. C. Das & Anne Wright is a description of the human – tiger conflicts at the Sunderbans. The auhor describes his experiences during that time where he was called to tranquilise the tigers that came too close to the human establishments and were planned to be relocated.

‘The Tiger Singles scene’ by Mel and Fiona Sunquist gives is an excerpt from their studies at the Royal Chitawan National Park, Nepal, a brief about how tiger establish and lose their home ranges.

‘Understanding Tigers’ by K. Ullas Karanth, accounts his observations and experiences that he recorded during his studies at Nagarahole National Park.

‘Time for tigers’, taken from the field diary of John Goodrich along with Dale Miquelle, Linda Kerley & Evgeny Smirnov, shows how the construction of roads in tiger habitats resulted in the destruction of tigers and their habitat due to accidents and poaching, recorded during their study of Amur tigers in the Russian far east during 1998

Geoffrey Ward, in ‘Making room for wild tigers’ talks about various threats faced by the tiger in its process of conservation. The author talks about his experiences in Ranthambore, Nagarahole, Kaziranga, the increase in poaching, the scientific methods and studies, field observations of Dr. Karanth necessary to effectively know about tigers and conserve them.