Saving the Malabar Hornbill in the hills of Tamil Nadu.
Farming practices encouraged by existing forest policies have drastically reduced the sources of food for the Malabar Grey Hornbill, once abundant in the Palni Hills of Tamil Nadu. Madhu Ramnath explains what endangers the species and how they can be saved.
25 June 2015 -
There have been several reports which talk about hornbills and how they are threatened in different parts of India. Most often however, news that we come across is about the Malabar Pied Hornbill and the Great Pied Hornbill, the larger of the birds in south India, and seldom about the smaller and less conspicuous Indian Grey Hornbill and Malabar Grey Hornbill.
Though listed in the ‘Least Concern’ category by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Indian Grey Hornbill, which once inhabited most of the Indian peninsula, has now been wiped out from large parts of its original habitat. For instance, in central India, it is no longer to be seen.
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| Pic Auther Manish Panchal |
The Malabar Grey Hornbill (MGH) is found in the moist-deciduous evergreen forests of the Western Ghats of India. Unlike the Indian Grey Hornbill, its bill lacks the casque and it is less striking except for its large size and the laboured flight that makes it stand out from other birds.
Who moved their cheese?
To understand how the hornbill species has fared in the coffee-growing landscape of the Palni Hills, one needs to look at the native flora and the realities of agricultural practice in these regions. Unlike tea, coffee country nurtures a diversity of tree species. Coffee is essentially a shade plant and does not do well if the canopy is opened up beyond a point.
Though most coffee farmers know this, it is ironic that in recent years they have cleared most native trees from their estates and planted exotic varieties such as Silver Oak, with the aim of harvesting the fast growing timber at some future date.
The transport of many valuable native timbers, even from private lands and estates, require permits from the Forest Department. Obtaining these permits can be a long-drawn process, involving both paperwork and money. One reason for farmers choosing to plant these exotic trees is that these can be harvested with less hassle, and most of the timber from these requires no transit permits.
Such practices, however, have had a direct impact on the food sources of several species of birds and animals. The forest landscape of the Palni hills in Tamil Nadu harbours about 25-30 species of Ficus (figs) that is the most important food source for the hornbills. In addition, the Malabar Grey Hornbill also feeds on other fruit like naval (Syzigium cuminii), thalanar (Grewia tiliaefolia), Strebulus asper, species of Burseraceae. It was also observed that they fed extensively and with relish on the fruit of Diploclisia glaucescens, which is a climber and whose fruit hang in lax bunches like grapes.
Though local sentiment prevents people from felling and clearing the banyan and the peepal, the most revered of the fig trees, most of the other species suffer the axe. It has come to a stage when the average farmer of the new generation hardly recognises more than a dozen species of forest trees. Outside the usual range of the Ligustrum, Grewia, Grewellia, Silk Cotton, Rosewood, Jacaranda, Pterocarpus, Caryota and some Terminalia and Albizzias, people have neither any interest in nor the knowledge of forest flora. A majority of trees are just called ‘kattumaram’ translating into forest trees!
Fluctuating coffee prices have further worried small farmers with several of them resorting to the cultivation of short-term crops, such as banana, chow-chow, beans and chillies, all of which require sunlight. Most of the trees on such private lands have been cleared and the seeds of new cash crops sown, which are then coaxed to grow with an assortment of chemicals.
As one farmer R Krishnan points out, "We need quick yielding crops like banana, since we can't afford to wait for 5-10 years for long-term crops like coffee and avocado. So we have to clear the land of trees, as these crops like the sun."
Forest cleared and burnt to plant banana in the Adukkam hill slopes.
Needless to say, there is little to forage for the hornbills or for the vast array of birds that come to feed on the same trees: the Common Hill Myna, the Coppersmith Barbet, the Crimson-throated barbet, the Indian Hanging Parrot, various species of parakeets, and the like. Apart from birds there are also many animals, especially macaques and flying squirrels that also feed on the fruit trees.
Laudable Efforts
Madhu Ramnath
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