Dear all

Thanks you for giving your time for reading my blogs and asking question.

Cheers

Parag

 Hi Some pictures from release monitoring. Parag

Discover a nest of hog

Installing Camera trap

Camera trap in front of nest

Picture of hog taken by a camera trap

Parag in field camp looking for parasites  in palates of released hogs

Hi All

Following picture tells release of hogs.

Hogs put in transport box to take to release site

Hogs carried to release enclosure

Hogs in transport box in the release hogs, monitoring platform in far

Hog released

Parag

Hi

Again picture before releasing hogs in the wild

Parag

Team Looking for newer site for release in the other side of foot hill rriver

Me and Goutam (right ) discussing release site

Team resting between works in field

Dear all

Following are the few pictures of habitat problems . Hope these will help you to understand the habitat problem.

Thnaks

Parag

Grassland Burning

Cattle Grazing & Degradation of Habitat

Hello Everyone

Today a group of students from a local school visited us. We usually get visitors in our pre-release centre where we have a display unit. Beside native people and local students’, tourists from different parts of the world also come to see this critically endangered pygmy hog. Our pre-release center is close to a Nameri National Park and eco tourist resort. Nameri is famous for bird watching specially the white winged wood duck. Have you seen this bird at Jersey Zoo? if not look for it in your next visit to Durrell, it is there.

I usually tell the visitors how unique pygmy hog is and why conservation of their habitat is so important. We also sometimes go the villages close to Manas National Park to make villagers aware about the species and the importance of the habitat. I want native people to feel proud of this endemic species so that they get inspiration to contribute a little way towards the conservation of not only pygmy hog but also other species and their habitat. I want them to take something back to their home … may be a pamphlet …written in native language … with images … hoping that it may remind them of our conservation message. So I am looking for some funds to develop educational materials for this important purpose.

We do not allow any visitors to visit pre-release enclosures. Anyway it is difficult to see pygmy hogs in this simulated habitat. So you might wonder how difficult it would be to monitor them after the release in their wild habitat. They do not have proper neck for fitting radio collars as in other animal which you may have seen in “Animal Planet” or “National Geographic” channels. Our previous attempts of radio telemetry failed. So we are working on it, developing a device which can be fitted on the hogs which will carry tiny radio transmitter. From the signal received we can monitor their movement and how they are utilising their habitat. This will tell us more about the biology of this secretive species.

But so far we are monitoring released pygmy hogs with some difficulties. We walk in grassland, looking for field signs (foot prints, foraging marks, pallets). Sometimes we able to locate their nest and install camera traps to take their picture. But this process of walking in the tall grassland may be dangerous also if you are not properly equipped. Let me tell you one incidence. In the year 2011, just after release of pygmy hogs in Orang National Park we were looking for field signs. A domestic elephant ridden by a mahout (Hindu word for a man who looks after and rides elephants) and a forest guard carrying an gun accompanied the field team. They were with us to protect us from any tiger and rhino danger. While walking on the grassland the mahout on top of elephant failed to spot a Rhino lying in a water hole close to the search team.  Suddenly the Rhino appeared in front of us and probably he was shocked to see a group of people and an elephant close to him. He charged us. But the elephant was brave enough to stand between us and the guard fired his gun in the air to scare him. The rhino ran away and we ran to the opposite direction to a safe location. We hope that we may avoid this kind of dangerous situation if we able to develop new device to monitor released hogs.

Now I would like to stop my story here. Daniel is going to meet you soon and tell you more about us. But before stopping let me share my feelings. When I heard about your effort to help me or any one of my co-conservationist working in different parts of the world to save a needy species, I see a hope. You are special, conservation is already in your mind … you already recognised the need of the world, and because of that you want to contribute even in small way towards conservation. Whom you send your assistance does not matter ... but thank you ... for your interest and action.

I should also thank your parents and teachers of Granville School who actually generate interest on you and guiding you to take action.

And I am sure some of you will be conservationists in the future. Being a conservationist you will enjoy your life and also contributing towards the survival of this world. And those who will choose other paths I would like to request you to keep the conservation in mind while taking any action.

All the best

Parag

Hi

Girls and Boys

Do you remember that on my first blog I mentioned pregnant females? So, we have given them individual paddocks and food pan from today. They will be having babies in their individual enclosures. Females seek isolation from their group towards the last trimester of their pregnancy. Pygmy hog breeds once in a year and average litter size is 4 to 5 hoglets. They will give babies from mid May to later part of June.  Babies will be with mother till they are five months old. Sometime in December we will separate the juveniles from their mother and form group of four to six individuals. Then we will take them to our Pr-release
enclosures to make them fit for release in the wild. We will house them in the pre-release enclosure without direct human contact with minimum food supply for another five to six months.

We have created a semi wild environment by simulating their habitat in pre-release enclosures. These enclosures are made with a bamboo fence. But these need to be replace every year. Nowadays bamboo is expensive , labour costs are high and it is difficult to get good bamboo near our per-release centre. So we have decided to replace this with chain link fence to make it more permanent and for that we are also looking for funding.

 

We usually release hogs into the wild from mid to late May. In that time grasses are tall enough for pygmy hogs to hide in and they cut the grasses themselves for building their own nest. Because of pre-monsoon the resources (insects, roots and tubers) in the grassland will also be plentiful and they will easily find their needs. So they will be able to adjust in the wild habitat without much difficulty before the monsoon comes in mid July.

So following this soft release process of reintroduction we have so far released 85 hogs in two different parks.

I have to stop here now. A small group of students from a local school visiting us this afternoon and I need to prepare for them.   

Write to you soon. Wish you a happy weekend.

Parag