mudumalai-tahr

8/6/2019 Mudumalai-Tahr

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: : : 1 : : : : fj i i ; :; d d : :: iE : W i "Pi'i', W H a M i W I : i : : :: ; i i P mCon ser vin g In dia 's W i ld life - A ca se stu dy - Mudumalai W i ld life S an ctu ary .K ,S ur rn dr a V ar ma n a nd A rc ha na D an ge o f I nd ia n In stitu te o f S cie nc eIDIAoday supports a large variety of s_upport ~1.a11 populationa.isolated from each other.wildlife in her luxuriant, though fast However, inthese fragmented, but resource rich anddepleting forests. The two factors that playa well protected habitats, animal populations are

major role inconserving India's biological diversity increasing and key stone species are under constantare its rich tradition of nature conservation and the threat because of insufficient area available to them.presence of some Key stone species which require a This problem of inadequate area, has lead to a seriouslarge and vaned ecosystem. But it is unfortunate that conflict between man and animal and if thiswhat used to be large contiguous forests are now fast biological war continues, this would result inbec-oming smaller pockets, fragmented islands that extermination of key stone species. Ecological


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diversity and.has to be conserved also because of themany unknown natural phenomena, scientific,biological...ecological behavioral, ethical, economicaland aesthetic values that are to be preserved for thefuture.

to the carnivores in the forest or other reasons) iscostlier than loss of the scrub cattle.

The alternative to the 120 crore PUSHEP wouldbe a low - cost renovation/up gradation of theexisting Singara powerhouse. This may halt thepower generation for some time, but in the long runwould serve to reduce the pressure on this fragile The best way to preserve forests likeecosystern.. This will necessitate the cooperation of Mudumalai is to conform to the large areathe electricity board. conserva tion concept, especially because

Young tress are considered as indicators of a Mudumalai, Bandipur and Wynad forests arehealthy forest ecosystem and fire is known to be seasonal forest resulting in seasonality in thecondusive to tree growth. Controlling forest fire is resource availability because of which animalsgood forest management practice, but ifthe fires are migrate from one part of the forest to another.controlled for over a period of time, it results in the Secondly inthese fragmented, well protected areas,excessive accumulation of dry biomass which is the population of large mammals are increasingready fuel for accidental or natural fire, serving to remarkably and this produces surpluses. Thisspread the fire rapidly causing unimaginable surplus is confronted with human disturbancesdamage to the forest system. Controlled burning which create conflict between man and animal, Soduring non - fire season may help to solve this connecting all these fragmented, well protected,problem, butattimes, this technique has been known isolated areas will provide a large area for animalto fail as well, populations. Thus, this large area conservationLooking at the alternatives and problems concept aims to reduce human encroachment onassociated with them, it appears that conserving what is rightfully animal area. Not only will thisbiological treasures like Mudumalai is a losing make free the migratory paths, food and otherbattle. Mudumalai is a treasure house of biological resources.butwill also solve the man -animal conflict

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. ~thirst. During our walk through this shola, wediscovered. an ancient fireplace with stones deeplye:t,nbedded in the soil. My Toda friends,. todemonstrate its antiquity, dug for a considerabledepth" only to find ash and carbon residue. This theysaid was where the departing spirits cook their meal.

The spirit, now refreshed, walks faster througha terrain consisting of grassland now mixed v.:ithplanted species ofwattle, pinus and blue gum, as wenas original shola forests of fairly large size. We cameacross several sambar deer and some jackal;; here.

He finally reaches a large grassy swamp where,close to a stream lies a large flat stone (Tarshvolkarsh) that had been split into two, supposedly by aknife blowadministered by a departing spirit, tosymbolise that half the stone represents theatterwodd, while the other belongs to the presentworld. Possibly, other spirits place the lame that wasburned at their funerals into the crevice, beforeremoving it and moving on (the knife has to be usedlater). While the spirit performs this ritual hisrelatives in the present world, using a similar knife,will cut their hair.lt is also related to the-traditioaal .- ,hair-cutting cel'emony of a young child.

The spirit then descends downstream to reach a.spot where a rocky pit closely resembling a morta rand filled with swirling stream water is reached(Waskonskwadr) .. Here, the female spirit poundsgrain using the pestle that was burned at her funeral.The male spiri. thas his O vV Tl exclusive rituals with hisknife. The spirit is now close to one of the highestpeaks in the Nilgiris, Devabetta (Kawnteo in Toda,representing the abode of one of their deities: Kawn)and the salutes the hill in the unique Toda fashionbefore moving on. He now tums to the right anddescends to reach the landmark of Parpashnbem, alarg-e grassy slope that has now sadly beenobliterated by a thick plantation of wattle trees. Nodoubt, the departing spirits of the recent past do notstop here to rest as they rarely find any available opengrassy space.

The next important Iandmark, at a lowerelevation, is a large swamp called Keenyter, whichtoo has elisappeared due to the flooding of the wa tarsin the Lakkidi area of the Upper Bhavani reservoir.The spirit then crosses the water to reach an area notfar from the last westerly hamlet of Kwershy(KoIlimund in local badaga dialect). He still has along journey ahead and the trudges along, no doubtinhibited by the manmade tree plantations. Inthepast when the Todas were the dominant tribe of theupper Nilgiris, their numerous buffaloes would bebrought here to graze d uring the dry season. Now

much of the grazing lands have been lost to exotictrees and those areas which still comprise htI'ge tractsof grassland, come under the.Mukurti National Parkand hence are closed to the original inhabitants.

After an arduous trek, the spirit finally reachesthe place where be gets a long. rest. This is the area offireplaces or Kojkocbem, where according to the- Todas, the ancient fireplacespresent, will be warm ifvisited a fe w days after afunerai.Traditionally, whenthe Todas.had two funerals, the .spirit stayed hereuntil the second (dry) funeral was performed severalmonths later. Now that both funerals have beenincorporated into one, it is a rnatter of conjectureamongst the Todas Whether this. ritual is sufficient to.allow the spirit to reach the afterworld. Inalllikelihood, the contemporary spiri tmoves on after aquick meal to reach a large sickly smelling rock whereflies are constantly buzz ing - Ponyupykarsh(lit;hanfling over sickness rock), at which the diseasesof the PJ:evio~s world are Ic4t be~d. No Toda wouldwillingly like to visit this ~e~. dul':ir"\ghis lifetime,

He now .descends an d walks on for a distance toreach a swamp close to c< l stream where an isolatedvertical stone stands rather obscurely. Here, be bendsdown and with his chest "touches this stone,Nizmuttkarsh (lit: rock where the chest is touched),thus forgethug all worldly attachments, especiallylove. He is now dose to the UpP'\'lr Bhavani dam andhe crosses a hill, goes up another, very close to thedam site, ana again descends into a shola thicketwhere he-marks one of the Maayn trees tC i nnamomum.wighlit) using the knife b~ed ati-us funeral. Todaswill tell YDU of numerous rnstances when after afuneral, Toda honey-gathe~e~"$' would find one ofthese trees freshly marked with a knife. Thislandmark is called Kotyarrnvilz (path through ashola w:here the Maayn tree is marked). He is nowwithin the Dangitappal area of the Mukurti NationalPark and much of the terrain is like it must havealways been, mainly because tree plantations havefailed thanks to the extreme cold and strong wind.The extensive grasslands, with the sholas in thegalleries present a breathtaking sight. Glimpsing atiger is a not an uncommon occurrence and sambarsare also plentiful. During our walk here, freshelephant dung indicated their presence. During thedry summer months, some herds of elephants maymove y!' frQIli the Silent Valley or Nilambur foreststo the upper Nilgiris,

The tired spirit is now on the last leg of hisjourney, keen no doubt to reach the afterworld andmeet all his relatives there. This last lap is also themost arduous especially if he has to walk in the

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studies have shown that extermination ofthese keystone species from a healthy environmentwill have serious impact on biological diversity. Itisthus very important to conserve such species; and inorder to do so itis imperative to conned fragmentedhabitats. These connected large areas will supportmore species, facilitate better gene flow, helpmaintain sufficient genetic variability and enablelong-term survival of the species.

The Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary situated inthe Nilgiris of Tamil Nadu connects to a number ofnational parks, sanctuaries and reserve forests on itsnorth, west and east. This contiguous tract of forest-Mudumalai, Bandipur, Wynad and Sigur reserveforest-covers an area of about 3,000 squarekilometers. Mudumalai covering an area of 321square kilometers, encompasses a variety ofvegetation from moist deciduous, dry deciduous to

common langur, sloth bear, dhole (Indian wild. dog),panther, tiger and the elephant. These plants andanimals form a complex, interdependent andinteracting system which strengthens the veryexistence of life.

A number of settlements, private lands in andaround the sanctuary, excessive cattle grazing andfrequent annual fires are the main threats to thesanctuary, Developmental projects like hydroelectricpower projects, buildings that are mushrooming inthe name of development, increasing anduncontrolled vehicular movemen t in the heart of thesanctuary threaten to shatter the fragile web of lifethat co - exists inMudumalai.

Mudumalai, Bandipur, Wynad and otherreserve forests beingcontiguous, large mammalslike elephants wanderthrough the entire range offorests all the year round forfulfilling their water, fodderand other resource needs.Masinagudi, Moyar,Singara, Bokkapuram, Sigurand Annaikatti aresettlements that havesprung up on the peripheryof . the Mudumalaisanctuary. Thesesettlements and theiractivities - such as farmingand cattle rearing formbarriers to the route takenby elephants as they migrate~ = ~ ~ ~ ~ = = = - -_ __l__ _l from Mudumalai to theadjoining Sigur reserve

M f l m t l Non Forest LandsRiver

1.9.&0- -r Elephant Movement260m Deep Gorge

oyar;a:,.....- . . . . ,Masinagudi SIGUR

dry thorn forests. Apart from these major types offorests, Mudumalai has smaller patches of bamboobrakes.semi- evergreen and riparian forests also.Mudumalai is a seasonal forest and looks differenteach season. During the dry season, most of the treeshere shed their lea yes. This is also the time when mosttrees are inflower, The monsoon showers bring withthem leaf initiation and fruiting. This changing moodof the forest elicits a response from the animals thatlive within. About 31 species of mammals have beenreported from here, these include the Indian bison(gaur), sambar, chetal, barking deer, mouse deer,

forest.The road from Masinagudi to Singara is 7

kilometers long and runs along the Kalhalla watercourse. TI1e first hundred meters of this stretch, oneither side, is classified as private forest land, but onewill find that only two kilometers of the sevenkilometers between Masinagudi and Singara is freefrom human settlement and cultivated lands. Thistwo kilometer gap acts as elephant corridor -elephant use this gap to migrate from one part of the


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contiguous forest to the other in response to theseasonality of the forest,

The entire forest area around Bokkapuramvillage, which is situated inthe foot hills of Sigurreserve forest, is now slowly being converted asprivate lands. A popular Hindi film actor recentlypurchased 67 acres of land here for promotingwildlife tourism and for cultivation. In fencing thislarge area, another route of elephant migration fromMudumalai to the foot hill forests has been blocked.

Cattle rearing is prevalent occupation amongthe forest dwellers, these cattle are raised, not formilk, but for the dung. The cattle ownership rangesfrom 10 to 200 cattle per person. Each year, a total of12,000 tons of cattle dung is exported fromMasinagudi village alone. The people let their cattleinto the forest for grazing and the cowherd gathersall the dung from the forest. This removal of cattledung is a great nutrient loss for the forest system.Also, these cattle may be carriers of certain diseasesthat may infect wild animals.

The PUSHEP (Pykara ultimate stagehydroelectric power project) in the Sigur reserveforest aims at upgrading the existing Singara powerhouse. Elephants and other migratory animals areknown to depend on the sigur forest for food, waterand other resource during the dry season.Construction activities such as mining, blasting,dumping of excavated materials on the hill slopesand human settlements (of the labour force) leads notonly to large scale damage of the ecosystem but alsoto more and more confrontations between humansand wild animals, especially elephants.

The sanctuary extends on either side of theMysore- Ooty highway. The Moyar river, which isthe only source of water for the wild animals,especially during dry season, funs along thehighway. Animals coming to th.e river have to crossthe highway and are greatly disturbed by theconstant vehicular traffic, the noise made by thetraffic as well by over - eruhusiastic travellers vimosometimes get out of their vehicles to get a closer took

at the animal. Very often these encounters could endin damage to both man and beast.

A recent threat to the sanctuary and itsadjoining forests, is the proposed plan of opening anew highway be-tween Masinagudi and Bhavanisagar village of Coimbatore district. This proposedarea for highway is a very sensitive elephant habitatbecause, this thorn forest habitat connects thewestern and eastern ghats elephant population. Ifthis proposed plan is accepted, due to increase inhuman habitations and other developmentalactivities, elephant movement between these regionwill be cut off.

Forest fire poses the greate&t threat to biodiversfhr in 'tropical forests. In the dry seasons,friction caused by the rubbing 0 1 branches ofbambooor other tree species may spark off a fire. Dried grassand leaves that accumulate on the forest floor in thisseason,' catch fire easily and serve to spread itspeedily. The frequent occurrence of fire inMudumalai and its adjoining forests, wipes out theground layer and prevents the regeneration of forest.With increase in human intervention inthe forest,the incidence of accidental or man made fires is alsoon the increase.

Keeping in mind the various problems that thisMudumalai forest area has, some alternatives seemobvious solutions, but deeper analyses reveals thateach of these alternatives has its own limitations.

To reduce the pressure of human population onthe sanctuary, reloeating all major settlements seemsto be an obvious alternative. This along withconverting private lands to forest will not onlyprovide room for free animal movement, but will alsoreduce man - animal conflict. Some forest dwellersare willing to move out on condition that they begiven sufficient quantity of fertile land, but fertileland is more and more difficult to come by.

To reduce cattle population and the pressure onthe forest due to overgrazing, one may think ofintroducing hybrid cattle- one high milk yieldingvariety yields milk equal in amount to that got fromfour scrub cattle. Besides that, the forest dwellers aremore interested in the dung produced by the cattlethan the milk yield, this alternative has otherlimitations as well. Mainta.ip.i.nghybrid cattle is a timeconsuming job and loss oQtybl1.idcattle (either asprey

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