We're launching a college campus program in Pune and are looking for Wikipedia Campus

Ambassadors. Click here to find out more!

Great Indian Bustard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Great Indian Bustard

At Ghatigaon Sanctuary, Madhya

Pradesh

Conservation status

Endangered (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Gruiformes

Family: Otididae

Genus: Ardeotis

Species: A. nigriceps

Binomial name

Ardeotis nigriceps
(Vigors, 1831)

Points where the species has been

recorded. Once widespread, the
species is today found mainly in
central and western India

Synonyms

Choriotis nigriceps
Eupodotis edwardsi
 Otis nigriceps

The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) or Indian Bustard is a bustard found in India
and the adjoining regions of Pakistan. A large bird with a horizontal body and long bare legs
giving it an ostrich like appearance, this bird is among the heaviest of the flying birds. Once
common on the dry plains of the Indian Subcontinent, it was considered excellent sport by
hunters. Less than a thousand survive today and the species is threatened by hunting and loss of
its habitat, large expanses of dry grassland and scrub. These birds are often found associated in
the same habitat as blackbuck.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Description
 2 Distribution and habitat
 3 Behaviour and ecology
 4 Status and conservation
 5 In culture
 6 References
 7 Other sources
 8 External links

[edit] Description
This very large ground bird is unmistakable with its black cap contrasting with the pale head and
neck. The body is brownish with a black patch spotted in white. It stands at about a metre
high(39 in) and is a large, brown and white bird, the male is about 122 cm (48 in) in length, its
weight is 18–32 lb (8–14.5 kg) and the female 92 cm (36 in) in length, its weight is 7.8–15 lb
(3.5–6.75 kg). The male is deep sandy buff coloured and during the breeding season has a black
breast band. The crown of the head is black and crested and is puffed up by displaying males. In
the female which is smaller than the male, the head and neck are not pure white and the breast
band is either rudimentary, broken or absent.[2] Weights are usually in the range of 21 pounds
(9.5 kg) but extremely large males have been claimed up to 40 pounds (18.1 kg).[3]

Males have a well developed gular pouch which is inflated when calling during display and helps
produce the deep resonant calls.[4][5]

Abnormally leucistic or near albino birds have been reported.[6]

[edit] Distribution and habitat

Illustration by Henrik Grönvold from E. C. Stuart Baker's Game-birds of India, Burma and
Ceylon

This species was formerly widespread in India and Pakistan[3] but is increasingly restricted to
small pockets.[7] They make local movements but these are not well understood although it is
known that populations disperse after the monsoons.[8] Males are said to be solitary during the
breeding season but form small flocks in winter. Males may however distribute themselves close
together[9] and like other bustards they are believed to use a mating system that has been termed
as an "exploded or dispersed lek".[10] The male is polygamous.[11]

The habitat where it is most often found is arid and semi-arid grasslands, open country with
thorn scrub, tall grass interspersed with cultivation. It avoids irrigated areas.[2] The major areas
where they are known to breed are in central and western India and eastern Pakistan. The dry
semi-desert regions where it was found in parts of Rajasthan has been altered by irrigation canals
that have transformed the region into an intensively farmed area.[12]

[edit] Behaviour and ecology

The Great Indian Bustard is omnivorous, feeding on grass seeds, berries of Zizyphus, Eruca,
insects (mainly orthoptera, but also beetles, particularly Mylabris sp.[3]), rodents and reptiles (in
Rajasthan they are known to take Uromastyx hardwickii[13]). In cultivated areas, they feed on
crops such as exposed groundnut, millets and pods of legumes.[14]

Mylabris pustulata, one of the beetles in the diet

They drink water if it is available and will sometimes sit down to drink or suck water followed
by raising up their heads at an angle.[15] When threatened, hens are said to carry young chicks
under the wing.[16]
Breeds during March to September during which time the inflated fluffy white feathers of the
male are inflated and displayed. Territorial fights between males may involve strutting next to
each other, leaping against each other with legs against each other and landing down to lock the
opponents head under their neck.[17] During courtship display, the male inflates the gular sac
which opens under the tongue, inflating it so that a large wobbly bag appears to hang down from
the neck. The tail is held cocked up over the body. The male also raises the tail and folds it on its
back. The male periodically produces a resonant deep, booming call that may be heard for nearly
500m.[2][4] The female lays a single egg in an unlined scrape on the ground.[3][18] Only the females
are involved in incubation and care of the young. The eggs are at risk of destruction from other
animals particularly ungulates and crows.[4] Females may use a distraction display that involves
flying zigzag with dangling legs.[19]

[edit] Status and conservation

From Thomas Hardwicke's Illustrations of Indian Zoology (1830-1835)

The population was estimated at less than 1,000 in 2008.[1] The main threats are hunting and
habitat loss. In the past they were heavily hunted for their meat and for sport. In some places
such as Rajasthan, increased irrigation by the Indira Gandhi canal have led to increased
agriculture and the altered habitat has led to the disappearance of the species from these regions.
[20]
Some populations migrate into Pakistan where hunting pressure is high.[12] The bird is found
in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat states of India. Ghatigaon
and Karera sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh once held sizeable populations.[21] Other sanctuaries
with the species include Karera Wildlife Sanctuary in Shivpuri district; Nannaj,[22] 18 km from
Solapur in Maharashtra, Shrigonda taluka in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra and Rollapadu
Wildlife Sanctuary, 45 km from Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.[23] At Ranibennur Blackbuck
Sanctuary, habitat changes have affected the populations of blackbuck and bustards. In the 1950s
the scrub forest was replaced with Eucalyptus plantations. These helped wildlife when the trees
were short but after their extensive growth they made the adjoining grassland less favourable for
bustards.[24][25]
Attempts to breed them in captivity have failed.[26]

[edit] In culture

Eggs of the species in comparison to the smaller ones of the Lesser Florican

The Moghul emperor Babur noted that "[while] the flesh of the leg of some fowls, and of the
breast of others is excellent; the flesh of every part of the Kharchal is delicious".[27][28] The Great
Indian Bustard was however a cryptic and wary bird making it a challenge for sportsmen, who
had to stalk carefully (sometimes using covered bullock carts[29]) to get within range.[30] British
soldiers in India considered it a delicacy and the species was among the top game-birds. William
Henry Sykes notes that they were common in the Deccan region where a "gentleman" had shot a
thousand birds.[31][32] (E C Stuart Baker however notes that this may have been an exaggeration-
...we must remember that those were the days when tigers averaged twelve feet...)[3] Jerdon noted
that subadults and females had tastier flesh than males while Salim Ali notes that feeding on
Mylabris tainted their flesh.[4][33][34]

Tribal Bhils are claimed to have used a technique for trapping females that involves setting twigs
on fire around the nest containing an egg or chick. The female was then said to run to the nest
and singe its wings upon which the tribals captured it.[35] Other trapping methods involving the
use of nooses are described by A O Hume in his "Game Birds of India".[5] The invention of the
Jeep changed the method of hunting and it became extremely easy for hunters to chase bustards
down in their open semi-desert habitats.[4]

The name Hoom is used in parts of Maharashtra and is derived from the low booming call. The
sharp barking alarm call leads to its name of Hookna in some parts of northern India.[3] It is
known in some other parts as Gaganbher or Gurayin for the resemblance of other calls to
thunder or the roar of a tiger.[36]
When the national bird of India was under consideration, the Great Indian Bustard was a
proposed candidate (strongly supported by the famous Indian ornithologist, Salim Ali[37][38]), but
dropped in favour of the Indian Peafowl with at least one reason being the potential for being
misspelt.[39