The deer menace | ring-barking or girdling of Boswellia serrata
raghu ananth
We saw this tree - guggala dhoopa - Boswellia serrata Var.glabra (BURSERACEAE) with its bark removed/eaten(?) up. Locals over here say the the sambar deer (Cervus unicolor) with its long horn rubs the bark of this tree and eventually removes it (ring barking or girdlin) completly. The tree with its bark stripped would die soon. We saw two such trees without its bark.
The bark of this tree is considered to be sweet, cooling and tonic.
Local Name (Kannada) : guggala dhoopa
Hindi Salai Scientific Boswellia serrata Var.glabra (BURSERACEAE). Bolpe reseved forest, Kukke, Western ghats Photo date: 25 Mar 2009 References:-
From wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringbarking the process of completely removing a strip of bark (consisting of Secondary Phloem tissue, cork cambium, and cork) around a tree's outer circumference, causing its death. Girdling occurs by deliberate human action (forestry and vandalism), accidentally (as in the case of new saplings tethered to a supporting stake), or by the feeding actions of some herbivores (who feed on bark at their height). It is most commonly used as a deliberate method of thinning forests and by farmers to yield larger fruits.
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Yazdy Palia
Dears removing bark, Elephants knocking down trees in the forest have
been happening since the centuries. It can not be termed a menace.
As long as man does not interfere in nature, nature will take care of
it. It can not be compared to the decimation of thousands of acres
that man has committed. It can not be compared with the damage that
the forest department has committed by introducing thousands of acres
of teak plantation. The animals have been deprived of their natural
food. It has forced the macaques from leaving the forests and seeking
food in plantations and orchards.
The girdling done by settlers near forests is many times more than the
girdling done by deers. Politicians open up plots for settlers who are
given 3 to 5 cents of land near forests commit much greater harm than
the poor deers. These settlers forage for firewood in the forests and
when there are no dry twigs or branches girdle small trees and when
they dry up cut them down for firewood.
No my friends, deers do not do a fraction of the damage done to nature by man.
Regards
Yazdy.
purnim...@priyaentertainments.com
Sir, I endorse your views wholly and totally that it is only we
human-beings who are responsible for DESTROYING our precious forest
and wildlife. We have lost so much of our medicinal plants in the
Himalayan region slowly and steadily- as forests have been cleared by
us for various reasons which cannot be supported.
Regards,
Purnima Dutta
sibdas
open mind. Once Salim Ali declared that Parkeets are real menace, as
they destroy our crop cosiderably, sending wide spread protest. When
we have a natural population ,we can leave the matter to the Nature.
But our to-day's world is not that natural. In Sundarbans, the deer
population was under control as long as tiger population was normal.
But now with the dwindling population of the predators, deers may turn
to be menace. It has happened in many protected areas. In this
situation some thing needs to be done. Salim Ali was no less bird
lover than any one else. In some pockets of S. India, the elephant
population has grown so fast, due to protection, that the new
generation of the animals are no more so well developed due to
scarcity of fodder as their earlier generation. As we have already
altered the nature to such an extent, we have to think over what to do
to keep our endangered wild life population healthy.
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Yazdy Palia
Parakeets have always been eating up our crops since centuries. At the
same time, nobody speaks about the insect eating birds that have been
playing such an important role in protecting our crops from insects.
Again, the parakeets have taken to our crops because man has disturbed
their food chain to such an extent that they are forced to change
their eating habits. What we could do is educate people about the
importance of birds and animals in protecting plants and trees.
For example, I had made a little study of birds that prey on serious
pests of Robusta coffee and published an article in the magazine
Indian Coffee. The result was that a lot of people who were using
pesticides in controling these pests got to know that if an atmosphere
was created for birds like the speckled Peculet and birds like the
tailor bird, the population of these pests could be kept under
control.
I live at the edge of a forest in Wyanad in Kerala. My coffee holding
skirts the wyanad wild life sanctuary. We have animals coming into our
holding and come quite close to our home. On many a morning I can see
deers from my bathroom in the morning. On many an occasion we hear
their alarm call. Our neighbours lay traps and on many an occasion, I
go out and free the animals that are trapped. We have wild elephants
coming into our holding almost every night during the jackfuit season.
Man has encroached upon their migration corridors. Corridors that they
have been using since centuries. Monoculture has destroyed their food
chain. These forests were full of fruits, bamboos and plenty of other
trees that was part of their food chain. If we only allow nature to
play its part, we could have the forests back on track and come close
to what it was before man's intervention.
You are right about the predators. Man has decimated their numbers and
the population of deers are shooting up. Leopards come close to our
home now and then. Man in order to protect their cattle or goats, go
to the extent of poisoning them. The result is that the population of
deers and even monkeys go up.
I am convinced Mr. Sidbas that if man leaves nature alone, most of
these imbalances would be corrected.
regards
Yazdy.
purnim...@priyaentertainments.com
Sir,
Once again I endorse your views completly and wholly. We have been
disturbing the animal world for our benifit only - not realising that
time will come when we will begin to understand that money alone
cannot help us to survive in this world.
Trees are vanishing along with so many medicinal plants because of
timber merchants and short-sighted policy of our govt. Animals are
getting extinct because we want to grab their domain for human
population explosion. We need to protect our biodiversity and remember
that if one strand of the food-chain is broken - we are in for trouble.
Regards,
Purnima
Yazdy Palia
The communication here makes me feel like reaching an oasis in the
desert. The point is where do we start?
I wish more people get involved in educating the importance of our Biodiversity.
Regards
Yazdy.
Rakesh Biswas
Shekhar Marathe
Dear friend,
Pankaj Oudhia
Man made girdle
http://ecoport.org/ep?SearchType=pdb&PdbID=53218
Slight debarking done by Chital
http://pick14.pick.uga.edu/mp/20p?see=I_PAO4724&res=640
Pankaj Oudhia
http://knol.google.com/k/pankaj-oudhia/pankaj-oudhia/3nerdtj3s9l79/1#
Yazdy Palia
One of the major culprits in and around the forests of Khandala are
the small restaurant owners. They pay the poor tribals a pittance to
collect firewood from the forests and supply them for their needs. You
can see it daily on stations like Monkey hill etc. The tribals make
bundles with hooks made from iron rods and hang it on the window rails
of trains. They disembark at Khandala/ Lonawala and supply them to the
restaurant owners. Unless an end is put to this practise, there will
be no forest left around Khandala.
Regards
Yazdy.
raghu ananth
Dear Yazdy and group members,
Perhaps, I used the word 'menace' a little hastily.
There are several other areas which we need to be aware off - human involvements threatening the biodiversity, forest etiquettes and manners, lack of public awareness
Unplanned fast highways and railways with no consideration for wild life that cross them (during migration and otherwise) is causing a significant loss. High tech buses touch 100 kms and more in the forest highways. Tiger, deer, hyena, python, king cobra and even elephants have died in road accidents (showcased in wild life photo exhibitions, news paper reports and postings by nature photographers). Even then new highway projects are coming up in the name of reducing time to connect major cities
Established gangs and merchants with official/political hierarchy support loot the forest products in day light, sometimes right before our very eyes! . Illegal mining, flattening of mountains, sand extraction inside the forest still exist. The Sandal wood trees are chopped and taken away by the tree brokers. It is unfortunate that trees like sandal wood are deprived of living out their life span. Most of the forest officials live in the cities rather than the forests. The local Govt. has made a recent rule making them to stay in forests for a few minimum years. Temporary forest workers work with meager payment without attaining permanent status. Locals burn the forest in summer to create problems for forest officials and giving them a bad name. Laws should be stringent and punishments should be severely enforced for the offenders. Overall system needs to be stream lined and there should be a healthy respect and fear for misusing of forest resources.
We have a pristine wild habitat with great bio diversity here and no mindset or interests to conserve. Educated people throw plastics and other garbage everywhere they listen to loud music, shout and dance inside forests. When do they start learning that conversations in forests had better be carried out in whispers? Noise is detested by wild animals and they move further away. MNC employees from cities come to forests and play football and cricket. (after all these are team building exercises!) From a young age, a child starts throwing stones at lizards, frogs and snakes. There is definitely a lack of fundamental learning, etiquette and manners as when city dwellers (including also the locals) come to the forests. Common people have the attitude – `Its enough and tiresome to solve we humans day to day needs and
prevailing problems, why that additional burden - wild life care. (In US, I have seen rather small scrub forests deer that have been given high status and conserved nicely enough - full of instructions to create public awareness - no more than 10 vehicles at a time, no littering, not to take even a small stone out etc. People themselves are matured and follow all etiquettes and manners by themselves. )
We definitely need revolutionary and very strong Leader(s) here!
Thanks again
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