Shimla,july 14: Call it a feather in the cap of the Himachal Pradesh forest department, which has once again managed to breed Western Tragopan – a critically endangered bird – in captivity.
“This time we have succeeded again in breeding the highly endangered Western Tragopan in captivity. This has occurred for the third consecutive year,” divisional forest officer (DFO) K Thrimul said. He is in charge of Sarahan Pheasantry, 160 km from Shimla.
The tragopan, the state bird, is a brilliantly coloured Asian pheasant found at an altitude of 2,000 to 3,600 metres in temperate forests of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
“This season 24 eggs were laid, of which two eggs have been hatched so far. One chick was born last month. It is healthy and growing normally. The second one was born last week, but died soon after its birth,” he said.
Funded by the Central Zoo Authority, the department started the captive breeding of the tragopan at Sarahan in 2002 under the guidance of conservation breeding expert John Corder of the World Pheasants Association.
Breeding the shy tragopan in captivity is a herculean task. It is listed as “critically endangered” in the Red Data Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a compendium of species facing extinction.
The tragopan breeding project got a boost when the birds laid eight eggs in 2007 and all survived. Last year two chicks were bred.
“This season the egg laying (24 eggs) was maximum, but hatching has been poor so far because the weather is too hot and humid,” Thrimul added.
The pheasantry has nine Western Tragopan pairs and four chicks.
Assistant conservator Sandeep Sharma, who is also involved in the breeding programme, said, “We are keeping our fingers crossed about the fate of the remaining eggs. Some of them are hatching under normal conditions.”
State Forest Minister JP Nadda said, “It is a joyous moment for us as breeding took place for the third consecutive year. The survival of this gorgeous bird depends on the success of the programme as Sarahan Pheasantry is the only place in the world which has nine pairs in captivity.”
According to Nadda, the aim of the programme is to breed enough stocks of the endangered species in captivity for their re-introduction in the wild.
He said biologist Corder, who visited Sarahan in November last year, suggested a number of steps to create a natural environment in aviaries and change in diet for successful breeding and rearing of the chicks.
“A project is under way at Sarahan to construct new aviaries to allow birds to breed more successfully,” the minister added.
Corder attributed the tragopan’s downfall to habitat degradation, hunting and extensive grazing of the forest by livestock.
Himachal Pradesh is known as a storehouse of biodiversity. Its lush green valleys and snow-capped mountains nest 36 percent of India’s bird species.
Of the 1,228 species of birds that have been reported in India, 447 have been recorded in the hill state alone by the Himachal State Council for Science, Technology and Environment in its biodiversity report.
–IANS