The Black-eared One: Caracal

November 1, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

It is arguably the least-known cat-species of India. Its popular vernacular name based on the Persian words is syah (black)and gosh (ear). This is the caracal—the black-eared one. Caracals inhabit dry, arid regions and moist woodlands, living in small herds. They mark territory by clawing trees and releasing scent from glands on their faces and between their toes. They communicate with meows, hisses and spits.

A medium-sized cat (about the size of a jackal) with fur in varying shades from reddish-fawn to dull sandy, the caracal is distinguished by its ears. The ears are longer than in most felines and are pointed at the tips that end in an erect tuft of hair. The ears have almost 20 different muscles that control independently the motion of each ear and aid in their wide range of movements, which they use for a variety of communication. The ear tufts act as sensitive antennae, with the ability to detect even minute vibrations.

Strongly muscled with tall rear limbs the caracal is the athlete of the cat world. It can run at a top speed of 80 km an hour and can change direction in mid-air. It can launch its whole body as high as 10 feet above the ground in one jump, and can even catch birds in flight. This litheness enables it to be an effective predator; its diet includes rodents, rabbits and birds, it is known to subdue prey much larger than itself.

It is this ability that that made the caracal a favoured hunting or coursing animal in medieval India. The caracal was a favourite pet among royalty, dating back to the time of the Mughal emperors and on to the Maharajas in the British times. Caracals were tamed and trained to hunt game, especially birds. They used to be transported to hunting grounds hooded and leashed on a bullock cart, from where they were set after prey. Using its speed and agility, the cat would swiftly bring down large game birds like cranes, hares, antelopes and even foxes. However once it had successfully hunted the caracal would ferociously hang on to it, making it difficult to retrieve the kill.

Caracals feature commonly in literature from the Mughal through to the British rule period, indicating that they were fairly common, and considered significant. In later years these cats began to disappear from the landscape and literature. As a result the caracal remains one of the least studied species of Indian felines. Their shy and elusive nature makes them difficult to spot in the wild; they are rarer to spot than a tiger.

Conservation biologist Dharmendra Khandal who has spent many years looking for studying this elusive creature has spotted the cat only five times in twenty years compared to the hundreds of times he has seen tigers. Today he is one of the few caracal experts in India. Research on this elusive nocturnal cat is incredibly difficult because there are no captive caracals in the country.

Once found all across Central Asia and the Indo-Gangetic plains, today these cats are rarely, if ever, sighted in these parts. While the cheetah got hunted to extinction, the reasons for the vanishing of the caracal in India are not clear. While they may face a variety of threats. Increasing area under irrigated agriculture in the arid and semi –arid region that the caracal inhabits has led to habitat modification and loss. This has also affected its diet which earlier consisted largely of birds, but now includes rodents. Human intrusion due to increasing population, and increased activity such as large scale mining and setting up wind factories in the already fragile landscape has driven these cats to near extinction.

And indeed they have vanished. A 2015 study threw up the grave concern that only two populations of the cat remain in India. It estimated that only some 28 caracal individuals were believed to be in the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan, and around 20 in Kutch in Gujarat. Scientists fear that after the Asiatic cheetah, that was declared extinct in 1952, the caracal will be the second cat species to be wiped out from the country.

While the species is listed under “least concern” under the IUCN Red List globally, it has been listed as “near threatened” by the Conservation Assessment and Management Plan and IUCN Red List assessment in India. The species is included in the Schedule-I category of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, offering it the highest possible protection.

Currently, three Protected Areas, namely, Ranthambore National Park and Kailadevi Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan and Narayan Sarovar Wildlife Sanctuary in Kachchh, Gujarat are the only known strongholds of Caracals in India. Viable populations outside these protected areas remain either unknown or poorly monitored.

In 2021, the National Board for Wildlife and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change announced a Species Recovery Plan for the conservation and population revival of 22 species in India, including the caracal.

A ray of hope comes in the form of the recent news that the royal family of erstwhile princely state of Kachchh has transferred the ownership of Chadva Rakhal, part of their ancestral property to the state government of Gujarat for conservation of biodiversity. The Government has transferred the 4,900-hectare woodlot to the Forest Department to support conservation efforts. The area will also include a caracal conservation breeding centre which will focus on the protection and breeding of the rare and critically endangered Caracal.

A heartening gesture indeed.

–Mamata

Counting cows…

October 29, 2024October 29, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

We the people of India have been waiting to be counted for over four years now. The decadal census of people, which is supposed to be the basis of policy-making has been delayed since 2021, breaking a tradition after seven fairly on-time exercises.

Well, our four-legged co-inhabitants are luckier. The 21^st Livestock Census started last week, and will take places over almost five months, from October 2024 to February 2025. It will cost about Rs. 200 crore, and around 1 lakh field officials–mostly veterinarians or para-veterinarians–will be involved in the enumeration process. Though 95.8% of livestock population is in rural areas, the census will cover both rural and urban areas.

Livestock is defined as ‘domesticated animals raised in an agricultural environment to produce labour and commodities such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather and wool’. This particular census will collect data on15 species of livestock– Cattle, Buffalo, Mithun, Yak, Sheep, Goat, Pig, Camel, Horse, Ponies, Mule, Donkey, Dog, Rabbit and Elephant, capturing data on 219 indigenous breeds of 16 species. Apart from livestock,the headcount of poultry birds — Fowl, Duck, Turkey, Geese, Quail, Gini Fowl, Ostrich and Emu — will also be taken. The age, sex and use of each individual animal will be documented.

The census will involve officials going from door-to-door to collect detailed data on domesticated animals and birds across the nation—including not just households (about 30 crore), but also household enterprises, non-households (private sector, cooperative sector, etc.) and institutions. Information about the animals will be collected, as also information on instruments and machinery used for animal husbandry. This census will leverage mobile technology for data collection and transmission and hopefully, this will enhance the accuracy and efficiency of data collection.

The Livestock Census has a hoary history in India, with the first one being conducted in 1919-1920. It is conducted every five years with the 20th Livestock Census taking place between October 1, 2018 and September 20, 2019. It put the total Livestock population at 536.76 million, showing an increase of 4.8% over Livestock Census-2012. Total Bovine population (Cattle, Buffalo, Mithun, and Yak) was 302.79 million in 2019 which shows an increase of 1.0 per cent over the previous census.

The livestock sector is critical in our country given that it provides livelihoods to over 2.1 crore people. It contributes about 6 per cent to the total GDP, and 25 per cent to the Agricultural GDP. The share of livestock in agricultural sector GDP growth has been increasing faster than the crop sector. This is fuelled by rising incomes, a rising population and increased urbanization, which are all propelling demand for livestock products, and hence the rising importance of this sector. As per the 20th Livestock census, the total livestock population shows an increase of 4.6 per cent over the Livestock census 2012. India has the largest population of cattle of any country in the world, with about 33 per cent of the total number.

Worldwide, livestock make up almost 10 per cent of vertebrate biomass—more than human beings, wild birds and wild animals put together! While today cattle make up the largest livestock group worldwide, it was sheep which were among the first animals to be domesticated—probably as early as 10,000 bce.

While there is enormous potential for livestock to contribute to livelihoods of the poor especially women, there are many challenges in India—from disease, to lack of access to veterinary care, vaccination, insurance, fodder and clean water, to diminishing grazing lands, to challenges in increasing productivity, to lack of organized markets which leads to the exploitation of the sellers, to tackling the contribution of this sector to climate change.

The Livestock census aims to provide data to frame policies and programmes which will hopefully improve the situation.

But as they count cows, maybe they need to count humans too. We too could do with better policies and programmes in many, many areas of life!

–Meena

River as a Living Entity

September 26, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

World Rivers Day is marked across the world on the fourth Saturday of September every year. In times when rivers in every country in the world face an array of threats, this day is an opportunity to highlight the integral role of rivers in the environment and lives of all living beings, and to encourage the improved stewardship of all rivers.

The proposal for a global event to celebrate rivers was led by Mark Angelo an internationally-renowned river advocate. The proposal was accepted by the United Nations which had launched the Water for Life Decade in 2005 to help create greater awareness of the need to better care for the world’s water resources. The World Rivers Day was observed for the first time in 2005. Since even as people are reminded of the critical role of rivers as indicators of a healthy ecosystem, rivers across the globe are being sapped of their vital lifeblood.

The ancient civilizations and peoples not only understood this role of rivers, but also revered it. Perhaps the most telling example of this reverence is the link between the indigenous Maori community in New Zealand, and their deep connection with the Whanganui River. The Whanganui tribes have for centuries lived along the river from which they get their name, and fished in it for food and livelihood. But for them the river is equally central to their spiritual practices; it is sacred. It defines their self-identity; as their proverb indicates: I am the river. The river is me.

The large-scale advent of European settlers to New Zealand in the 1840s changed the situation. Increasing trade and riverboat traffic began to take a toll on the river ecosystem. While Maori chieftains and the British Crown signed a treaty to guarantee the Maori the continuation of their rights and privileges, the situation on the ground was very different. Over time, the different resources of the river–water, aquatic life, riverbed gravel, the waterways that supported trade and transport, and the land along the river bank were each exploited separately for their utility to the settlers called Pākehā by the local people, and parcelled out to individual ownership, even as the indigenous inhabitants were being pushed to the brink. This was completely against the traditional belief that the river was a single and indivisible entity, and not something to be owned. The tribes believed that rivers resources could be used but only the people who contributed to the community had the right to benefit. Under Māori belief, all things have mauri – a life force and personality. When the river’s water quality was degraded, the mauri of the river wasn’t respected, in turn affecting the mauri of the local people, who relied on the river to sustain them. The local people protested, and even initated legal action to claim an independent identity and right for the Whanganui River. The earliest of such petitions date back to 1873.

The case went on through the century and into the next. Tribunals were set up and hearings were conducted. In 1999 the Tribunal agreed that the river was a treasure, but that the local people did not have legal rights over the river. Once again, the litigation stalled. It took another two decades to gain legal recognition for the river itself. The local people, many who were descendants of the original litigants, continued their fight. The case went on to become one of New Zealand’s longest-running court cases.

Finally on March 15, 2017, after over 160 years of negotiation, Whanganui gained “legal status as a person.” The river henceforth will be considered as a living entity. This means that polluting or damaging the river is now legally equivalent to harming a human. Two representatives from the Māori tribes can speak on the river’s behalf, and it can be represented in court cases in an arrangement similar to a legal trust.

The Whanganui River became the world’s first natural resource to be granted its own legal identity, with the rights, duties, and liabilities of a legal person. Having the river recognised as a legal person means that harming it is the same as harming the tribe. If there is any kind of abuse or threat to its waters, such as pollution or unauthorised activities, the river can sue. It also means it can own property, enter contracts and be sued itself.

The legal identity reinforces the deep and inalienable connection that the Māori have to the river, which they consider to be an ancestor, and acknowledges their inherent role in maintaining its well-being. The river continues to be the font of their spiritual sustenance and renewal. It is a caregiver, a guardian, and a totemic symbol of unity.

This case is also indicative of a growing movement called Rights of Nature. This initiative which was launched in 2010 is a broad alliance of civil society organizations in partnership with governments, Indigenous Peoples, members of the scientific community, and future generations delegations.

The Rights of Nature model seeks to recognize Nature and her elements as rights holders, providing them with a voice through representation, and reorienting western law around principles of relationship, interconnection, reciprocity, responsibility, and the recognition that all Earth’s beings, ecosystems, and components have fundamental rights to exist, thrive, and evolve.

The movement is committed to advocating, accelerating, and escalating the global adoption and implementation into legal systems of the Rights of Water Ecosystems (e.g. rivers, mangroves, ocean, and others) and in general, the Rights of Nature.

The Whanganui River which became the first waterway in the world to be granted legal personhood, provided a boost to the movement which is today active in several parts of the world. It seeks to repositioning people and Nature as members of a collective whole working together towards a shared vision of a healthy and livable planet, promotes holistic water management approaches.

–Mamata

Fever Tree

September 17, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

Clay tablets from Mesopotamia mention this deadly disease. Indian writings of the Vedic period (1500 to 800 BC) call it the ‘king of diseases.’ Traces of the disease have been found in remains of bodies from Egypt dating from 3200 and 1304 BC. The 270 BC Chinese medical canon has documented the disease’s headaches, chills, fevers and periodicity. The Greek poet Homer (circa 750 BC) mentions it in The Iliad, as do Aristotle (384-322 BC), Plato (428-347 BC), and Sophocles (496-406 BC) in their works.

The disease? None other than malaria, a disease that has taken its toll on not only humans down the ages, but our Neanderthal ancestors too. In the 20th century alone, malaria claimed between 150 million and 300 million lives, accounting for 2 to 5 per cent of all deaths!

Many have been the scientists who spent their lives trying to understand malaria. Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran (1845-1922) a French army doctor during the Franco-Prussian played a key role. He as the first to postulate that malaria was not spread by bad air, but rather that ‘Swamp fevers are due to a germ’. He was also the earliest scientist to detect crescent-shaped bodies in the blood of affected individuals, and then the four stages of the development of the parasite in the blood. These findings were confirmed by Camillo Golgi. Dr. Charles Ross and India played a huge part in the unravelling of the whole cycle and Ross received the Nobel Prize for discovering the mosquito-stages of malaria.

The story of uncovering the cure for malaria has been dramatic too. For centuries, when no one had a clue what caused malaria, treatments included blood-letting, inducing vomiting, and drastic things like limb amputations, and boring holes in the skull. Herbal medicines like belladonna were used to provide symptomatic relief.

Cinchona-nitida-quinine — *Cinchona Tree whose Bark yields Quinine*

But the cure strangely came from South America—a region not originally plagued with the diease. It was probably brought from the outside around the 16^th century. The native Indians were the first to discover the cure. The story goes that an Indian with a high fever was lost in the Andean jungles. Desperate with thirst as he wandered the jungles, he drank from a pool of stagnant water. The taste was bitter and he thought he had been poisoned. But miraculously, he found his fever going down. On observation, he found that the pool he had drunk from had been contaminated by the surrounding quina-quina trees. He put two and two together, and figured that the tree was the cure. He shared his serendipitous discovery with fellow villagers, who thereafter used extracts from the quina-quina bark to treat fever. The word spread widely among the locals.

It was from them that Spanish Jesuit missionaries in Peru learnt about the healing power of the bark between 1620 and 1630, when one of them was cured of malaria by the use of the bark. The story goes that the Jesuits used the bark to treat the Countess of Chinchon, the wife of the Viceroy who suffered an almost fatal attack. She was saved and made it her mission to popularize the bark as a treatment for malaria, taking vast quanitities back to Europe and distributing it to sufferers. And from then, the use of the powder spread far and wide. It is said that it was even used to treat King Louis XIV of France.

The tree from which the bark came was Cinchona, a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae which has at least 23 species of trees and shrubs. These are native to the tropical Andean forests. The genus was named so after the Countess of Chinchon, from the previous para. The bark of several species in the genus yield quinine and other alkaloids, and were the only known treatments against malaria for centuries, hence making them economically and politically important. It was only after 1944, when quinine started to be manufactured synthetically, that the pressure on the tree came down.

Not unusually, the tribe who actually discovered it is forgotten. The medicine came to be called “Jesuit Powder’ or ‘Chincona powder’ or “Peruvian powder’. Trees in the genus also came to be known as fever trees because they cured fever.

May the many indigenous community, their knowledge and their practices which are at the base of so many medicines today get their due recognition, credit and due.

–Meena

Private Gardens for Public Pleasure

September 10, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

Last week, we delved into the making of the Butchart Garden in Victoria, Canada—a private garden which is completely open to the public. This is not common. For the most part, public gardens are public, and private gardens are private—open only to the enjoyment of the owners, their families and friends.

A public garden is defined by the American Public Gardens Association as: “An institution that maintains collections of plants for the purposes of public education and enjoyment, in addition to research, conservation, and higher learning. It must be open to the public and the garden’s resources and accommodations must be made to all visitors. Public gardens are staffed by professionals trained in their given areas of expertise and maintain active plant records systems.”

On the other hand, a private garden is ‘a type of Urban Green Spaces Areas in immediate vicinity of private (privately owned or rented) houses, cultivated mainly for ornamental purposes and/or non-commercial food production’ and is not usually open to the public.

While Jennie Butchart, creator of the Butchart Gardens was clear right from the start that she wanted as many people as possible to see and enjoy her gardens, not all owners have been so open. Or even if they wanted to, didn’t know how to go about it. But that would be such a loss, because some of these private gardens are spectacular.

And hence, the various initiatives in many parts of the world which try to make private gardens accessible to the public.

For instance, in the US, the Garden Conservancy organizes Open Day programmes. This institution is a nationwide community of gardeners and garden enthusiasts who teach and learn about gardens. Believing that there is no better way to improve as a gardener than by seeing and experiencing firsthand a wide range of gardens, they organize these Open Days, which since 1995, have seen ‘more than 1.4 million visitors into thousands of inspired private landscapes—from urban rooftops to organic farms, historic estates, to innovative suburban lots—in 41 states’. These events are curated and ticketed and open up some of America’s best private gardens to the public for a few days. The organization even brings out an annual publication—‘The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Directory’ This is a yearly guide to hundreds of private gardens across the United States. The directory includes information on the gardens’ types, such as organic, scenic, or historic, and how and when they can be visited.

In the UK, London Parks & Gardens organizes the Open Gardens London event every year, helping visitors enjoy hallowed private London gardens including roof gardens, city farms, allotments, spaces steeped in history, and much more. A ticket to the event gives visitors access to every garden on display across the whole weekend, with children under 12 allowed in for free!

Under the Open Gardens South Australia programme, garden owners generously open their gardens for a weekend. The NGO helps owners plan and promote their opening. Some of the ticket money is usually donated to a charity of the owner’s choice

In Ireland, the Gardens Open initiative of Garden.ie lists around 300 gardens open for visiting, some year-round, others by appointment.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan gardens, previously known as the Mughal Gardens are not private. However, they are not open to the public all the time. Constructed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1917 in the traditional Persian Charbagh style the Gardens were renamed Amrit Udyan in 2023. The 12-acre beautifully cultivated gardens are open to visitors in Feb-March and Aug-Sept every year and a popular tourist spot in New Delhi.

India has some large public gardens, but no well-known large private gardens—certainly none open to the public. Maybe it is time for some people with the means and the green thumbs to create such green oasis in our crowded, polluted, frantic cities. That would be social responsibility indeed!

–Meena

A MURDER OF CROWS

July 18, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

A few days ago our champa tree was the venue for an impromptu gathering of crows. They descended literally out of the blue and within flapping seconds, settled onto the branches and commenced a raucous chorus. What a “cawcaphony” I said to myself and peeped out to investigate the cause of the assembly. It turned out that there was a dead crow not far from the tree, and the incident was being marked with a suitable mourning from its clan. Quite spontaneously, I remembered that the collective noun for a group of crows is called a ‘murder’ of crows. Well here I was witness to a murder of crows in action!

Why this descriptor? The term is believed to have originated in England in the 15^th century, and was linked to old folk tales and superstitions. In the Middle Ages, collective nouns were often given to animals based not only on their behaviour but also on superstitions or prevalent attitudes towards them.

One among these was the belief that crows will come together to decide the fate of another crow (a court of crows?). Another belief was that the appearance of crows was an omen of death. Yet another, based on the fact that crows are scavengers and were thought to circle over areas where animals and people were expected to die. A more scientific reason for his may be that crows are opportunistic feeders and will eat everything–carrion, small animals, insects, or crops, and thus find their way to wherever these may be available.

In fact, crows, though often considered to be pests, and generally irritating, are a highly intelligent and social species. They have the ability to create and use tools, they have been known to solve multi-step puzzles. They are extremely social birds that flock together and also have an ability to learn from each other.

Another interesting aspect of crow communities is that they have been shown to recognize their dead and hold “funerals” for dead individuals, something that has only been observed in a few other species including elephants, dolphins and some primates. This could be an unsettling scene for observers, (probably what I witnessed) but scientists believe this is a way by which they communicate to their fellow crows about potential threats to be avoided.

Besides ‘funerals’ why do crows flock together? For many reasons. Crow are smart and adaptable, and gathering in large groups is often both a solution to a problem and a social benefit. Communal foraging strengthens social bonds and hierarchies within the crow community as well as efficiency. Communal roosting provides safety from predators and establishes social bonds, social learning and information.

The ‘cawcaphony’ also has its reasons. Loud and distinctive cawing is used to convey messages about food locations, to call others for support in defending their territory, or to alert the flock of approaching predators. There are specific caws for different types of danger. As well as caws, crows have softer calls which are used within family groups.

Yes crows are a part of our lives, generally around, but not really headline grabbers. Until recently, when crows have been in the news. And this time the news is about a literal “murder of crows”. The target of this planned execution is the Indian house crow Corvus splendens, whose population is being systematically eliminated in Kenya.

The story of the crow in Kenya goes back to the 1880s when it is believed that the first few pairs of Corvus splendens arrived on the island of Zanzibar by ship. One story goes that a breeding pair was presented to the Sultan of Zanzibar as a gift from an Indian dignitary. Another account believes that the scavenging crows were brought to the island in a bid to clean up the garbage. The introduced species soon gained a foothold not only on the island, but also spread to nearby mainland countries like Tanzania and Kenya. Showcasing all their traits of intelligence, adaptability and resourcefulness, the crow population grew rapidly and began to not just scavenge but also raid crops and poultry farms, as well as food sources in urban areas. By 1917, House crows were officially declared as ‘pests’ by the local authorities.

The House crow reached Kenya in 1947, and since then its numbers have exploded. The growing human population, both local and tourists (tourism is the mainstay of Kenyan economy) has led to growing waste sites with mounds of garbage. The municipal authorities have not been able to efficiently manage the waste. This has led to a huge proliferation of crows who not only feed on the garbage but have also learned to mob eating places and swoop up food from diners’ plates.

Besides the pestering of humans, conservationists are concerned that the overwhelming numbers of crows are driving out many smaller indigenous species of birds, impacting biodiversity. With decline in indigenous bird species, pests and insects begin to proliferate, impacting local flora as well as crop plants. This is one more case of how invasive species can impact local ecosystems.

The Kenyan government undertook a programme to control the invasive bird species twenty years ago. While this helped reduce the crow population for some time, the resilient species bounced back with an exponential rise in numbers. In the past there this menace has been addressed with the baiting of food with Starlicide, a slow-acting poison to tackle the crow menace. This time the Kenyan government is planning to use all methods, including this, to eliminate a million crows by the end of the year. A sad, but perhaps unavoidable, murder of crows.

And just last week was the news that the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to kill half a million Barred owls across the states of California, Washington and Oregon over the next ten years. This is because the population of Barred owls is crowding out its less aggressive relative the Northern spotted owl which is an endangered species. This news has sparked of several debates. While this is not a case of an invasive species, it is a case of one species becoming dominant, to the detriment of other species. There is also the moral issue of killing one species to protect another. Perhaps it will take a ‘parliament of owls’ to resolve the case!

From the Botany Textbook to my Backyard

July 16, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

Our biology teacher tried her hardest to fill our brains with all kinds of information about plants, flowers, and creatures big and small. I am not sure how much of it stuck. But Rafflesia arnoldi was one of the plants that we studied about that all of the students were fascinated with, and I can still recall many details about it.

For after all, a parasitic plant is fascinating isn’t it? Especially when its blooms are the single largest individual flower in the world, and which emit an aroma similar to rotten meat? It is a parasitic plant that grows on vines of the genus Tetrastigma. It has no green photosynthetic tissues, leaves, stems or roots. It essentiallylives inside the Tetrastigma vines as a mass of strands which absorb water and nutrients from the host. It grows out of the host plant’s bark as brown, cabbage-like buds which bloom over several days. The flowers have five lobes, are reddish-brown with white spots, and grow up to 1 m across and may weigh up to 11 kg. The smell of rotten meat they emit attracts insects such as flies and beetles, and this helps in the pollination cycle.

We all dreamt of the day that we would travel to the wilds of Indonesia to see this plant.

Another parasitic plant, which we didn’t realize was parasitic, was the mistletoe. The books we read were generally by British authors, and the tradition of hanging up mistletoe during Christmas and kissing under it drew many a schoolgirl snigger. Readers of Asterix comics would recall Druid Getafix forever up on top of a tree cutting some plants with a golden sickle. This would be the mistletoe which was believed to have medicinal and magical powers. There are many species of mistletoe, which are parasites on a variety of hosts. Some species even parasitize other mistletoes, which in turn are parasitic on a host! Unlike Rafflesia, mistletoes are hemiparasites—they have chlorophyll and can make some of their own food.

Thanks to all these references, another ambition was to see miseltoe.

I have definitely not seen Rafflesia.

But I have had recent encounters of a mistletoe type in my own backyard.

The parijaat or coral-jasmine tree is the pride of my garden. Come July, the lawn is carpeted with the delicate, fragrant white blossoms with orange stalks. A few months ago, I saw another type of leaf among the parijaat leaves. I took it for a climber, though I could not see where it had originated from. I didn’t pay too much attention. Then I saw a different kind of flower on the tree, and was kind of happy, because these were rather pretty too, and I thought I had two beautiful flowers for the price of one.

But as l looked more closely, I became more and more perplexed. The climber was simply not rooted anywhere! I clumsily clambered up a stool to check out where the branches with the different leaves were originating from. And to my dismay I found that there were knots at various places on the parijaat branches, and each of them sprouted thin branches with these different leaves.

LeLeaves of Night-flowering Jasmine and Loranthus — *Leaves of Night-flowering Jasmine and Loranthus*

Consultations with experts has finally resulted in the conclusion that my poor parijaat is infested with the parasitic Loranthus. It belongs to Loranthaceae, the showy mistletoe family. So the ambition to see mistletoe has come true, though I am not happy about it!

Some species of Loranthus are parasites on cultivated trees, for example, on mango s, chiku and poplar trees. Though the books don’t say so, they obviously infect parijaat, and are also seen on my neighbour’s anar.

Loranthus grows on the branches and stems of other trees and obtains water and nutrients from the vascular tissues of the host plant. Birds like sunbirds and flowerpeckers spread the seeds after eating the berries, either by excreting them or wiping off the seeds from their bills, to the branches of neighbouring plants. Seeds germinate and sink parasitic haustorium (an attachment mechanism) into the branches of their host. Secondary haustoria are formed from the same parasitic plant wherever there is a contact with the host.

A parasite takes up the host tree’s water and mineral content and harms the host while the parasite gets benefitted. While most of these parasites don’t draw enough to kill the tree unless there is a serious drought or other drastic conditions, the host does weaken.

I have had all the branches with Loranthus knobs pruned. Apparently, the huastoria spread quite deep, so fairly drastic surgery had to be performed on some branches.

I think my paarijaat is looking happier!

–Meena

Slugs and Snails

July 2, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

Snails: UGGGGG!

Slugs: UGGGGGGGGGGG!

Yes, that indeed is the normal reaction. Both of these creatures are gastropods, a type of mollusk. They are both soft-bodied creatures which are covered with mucus—and it is this which usually makes people go ‘UGGGG’. But they need the mucous to stop them from drying out.

Gardeners hate them too, because some species of slugs and snails (S&S) feed on live plant material. These species are particularly fond of eating soft fleshy leaves and seedlings. Some slugs which stay underground tunnel holes in potatoes and other tubers. Snails and slugs are sporadic pests in those places where damp conditions prevail.

And yes, there are worrisome trends too. Some species of exotic snails and slugs can destroy native biodiversity and multiply madly. They have no natural predators when they travel out of their native lands, and so thrive.

In India, 1500 species of land snails have been reported, but the number of species of slugs is limited. Of these, nine species of snails and 12 species of slugs are pests, including the Giant African Snail, which is a serious problem with regards to fruits, vegetables and ornamental plants specially in the east, northeast and south; the common snail, Helix spp. ; the common garden snail; and the black slug.

These gastropod-pests are a worldwide problem. For instance, the Giant African Snail is native to East Africa. But it has spread to many, many parts of the world, either by stowing away on ships, or being deliberately brought to other countries for experiments, as pets etc. And wherever it has travelled, it is creating problems– over 500 plant species may be targeted by the giant African snail, including most vegetables, legumes, ornamental plants, banana, citrus, etc.

But wait! Before we condemn them outright, we must understand that slugs and snails are generally beneficent to the environment and have a key role to play in the ecosystems, as they are recyclers, feeding on dead leaves, dung and sometimes even on dead animals. They play a useful role in composting. And as important, they are an important food source for birds, beetles and reptiles.

And in recent years, the fashion world has taken to these gastropods in a big way. Snail mucin and slug slime have become popular in the world of beauty. Gastropod slime has been shown to have many beneficial properties–antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, anti-tumoral, anti-aging, tissue regeneration, wound healing etc. Snail mucin contains antioxidants that may help reduce signs of aging like wrinkles, uneven skin tone and sagging. Studies indicate that snail mucin helps with skin regeneration and protects against damaging free radicals.

And let us also recognize that the seriously devastating snails and slugs are often introduced exotic species. There is never anything fundamentally ‘wrong’ about any species. They fit and have a role in the ecosystem where they have evolved. But a species can be in the ‘wrong place’, and then they can cause devastation.

So yes, it is up to us humans to ensure S&S stay where they belong, and don’t travel.

But there is no doubt people, especially gardeners don’t like them. And this is why a wildlife NGO in the UK, The Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust and Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) want to challenge negative perceptions. The organisers want to create a positive image for snails and slugs by showing people how they contribute to ecosystems. Campaign organisers hope that by learning to “appreciate and co-exist” with snails and slugs, gardeners can adopt a more environmentally friendly approach. The trust, with the RHS, has produced a guide with tips to “live harmoniously alongside slugs and snails”.

And here is some S&S Trivia

Slugging is a slang term for a skin care technique that involves applying an occlusive moisturizer to one’s face, typically before sleep, primarily as a way to prevent moisture loss.

Slugging-it-out is to fight, argue, or compete with someone until one person wins.

Sluggish isbeing lazy and slow.

Sluggish in the computer world is when you use human-readable terms in a URL instead of a database number or some other form. It supposedly originated when programmers became too “lazy” to look up a proper code or ID for a website, and began naming them using words. Those “lazy URLs” became slugs.

And FYI: Snails move at a pace of 0.029 miles per hour, or 153 ft per hour. If we convert that to human speed, that’s the equivalent of walking almost 3.2 km per hour. Not too bad! So in this too, it seems snails are getting unnecessary flak!

S&S are nice fellows. Let’s not blame our problems on them!

-Meena

Crabby, Crabby…

June 25, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

At the moment–June 22 to July 22—we are in the zodiac sign of Cancer. The sign is called Cancer from the Greek word for crab. Cancer constellation represents the giant crab that attacked Hercules during the second of his twelve labours. It was sent by the goddess Hera to distract Hercules as he battled the water serpent Hydra. Hercules ended up killing the giant crab with his club. In the skies, the crab constellation is a medium-sized one which has ten suns with their own planets.

Down on earth, crabs are members of the animal group called crustaceans—creatures which mostly live in water, have a hard shell, a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Lobsters, shrimps, barnacles are also members of this group. Crabs have five pairs of legs. The first pair has large pinching claws that help with feeding and defence. Three pairs help the crab walk, and last pair may be broad and flattened to serve as paddles for crabs that swim. Though crabs can walk forwards, they generally walk sideways. This is because they have stiff, jointed legs, and find it easier and faster to walk sideways.

There are at least 7,000 species of crab, and they can be found in all oceans and in fresh water. Some crabs even live on land, often several miles from water. They come in a great range of sizes from tiny pea crabs measuring about 2.5 centimeters across, to the giant crab of Japan which may span over 30 centimeters across and measure 4 meters from tip to tip of its stretched out legs.

Some types, including the blue crab, the Dungeness crab, and the king crab, are often eaten by humans. But apart from their nutritional value to humans, and economic value as a major industry, they play a key role in the ecosystem. They are vital food sources for sea animals. The smaller ones recycle nutrients as filter feeders, and the larger ones serve as food for large aquatic mammals. Terrestrial crustaceans are important because they are decomposers of dead organisms. Small crustaceans eat substantial amounts of algae keeping the plant in check, which helps keep the water clear and ensures that sea-grass beds can access to light and oxygen.

India has about 125 species of crabs. The Western Ghats alone, a biodiversity hotspot, is home to 75 species. A new species was discovered here as recently as 2022.

Belonging to Ghatiana genus of fresh water crabs, the new species is called ‘Ghatiana dvivarna’, the name being a combination of the Sanskrit words dvi (two) and varna (colour). The crab is a beautiful white and red-violet.

All this information is very important. But surely there could be more interesting ways to present it?

That is what the Crab Museum in Margate UK tries to do! This museum’s objective is ‘to roll science, humour and philosophy into a unique and satisfyingly baffling day out’! The founders of the museum believe that ‘“’everyone learns better when they’re laughing’”’, and take a goofy approach to their displays. And it seems to be working! The Museum saw over 80,000 visitors last year, and parents report that their children are more engaged here than in many other conventional institutions.

The dioramas, exhibits, text-labels are all planned with humour in mind, even as they are informing the viewers about crab anatomy, mating habits and the importance of these creatures to marine ecosystems. But the Museum goes further—it uses crabs as an entry point to discussing bigger issues, including environmental issues, climate change, capitalism and colonialism.

Other museums are taking note of these unconventional approaches. As reported in the New York Times, ‘Chris Stringer, of the Natural History Museum in London, said in an email that the museum’s silly approach leads to learning “by stealth.” It “teaches more in a small space and short time than many others with far larger budgets.’

We may not be able to visit the Crab Museum at Margate but crab-lovers can participate in their annual Crab Joke Competition. Last year, there were 700 entries, so the competition is quite stiff. One of the top shortlists was:

Why did the crab get bad grades? Because it was below C level!

Jokes apart, we must be aware that various environmental dangers beset crabs. Research says about one-sixth of all freshwater crab species have an elevated risk of extinction, and there are any number of ‘threats to marine species, including illegal and unsustainable fishing, pollution, climate change and disease’.

So in this month of Cancer, let’s spare a thought for crabs and their well-being.

–Meena

Pic acknowledgement: TOI

CELEBRATING OCEANS: RACHEL CARSON

June 13, 2024 ~ millennialmatriarchs ~ Leave a comment

The first week of June has two significant days that relate to the environment. World Environment Day (WED) on 5 June and World Oceans Day (WOD) on June 8. While desertification was the focus of WED, the themes of WOD emphasized the importance of working together to find solutions to ocean challenges.

Historically one name has been associated both with WED as well as WOD. Rachel Carson is probably best known for her book Silent Spring, one of the first that warned of dangers to all natural systems from the misuse of chemical pesticides such as DDT. Published in 1962, this initiated the contemporary environmental movement. Over the years Silent Spring became one of the essential readings and references for environmentalists and ecologists.

What is perhaps less known is that for a decade before she wrote Silent Spring, Rachel had already published three books, as well as numerous articles, on the subject that was dear to her heart—the Seas and Oceans. Rachel’s work was unusual in that it combined a solid base of science that she communicated in beautiful language and style, making for a rare combination of nature and literature.

Rachel’s love for nature stemmed from her early years in a rural community where she freely explored her surroundings, and also expressed her thoughts through her other passion—writing. Rachel Carson was born on 27 May 1907 in Springdale, Pennsylvania. After High School, in 1925, Rachel joined Pennsylvania College for Women as an English major determined to become a writer. Midway through her studies, however, she switched to biology. A summer fellowship at the U.S. Marine Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts was her first close experience with the ocean. In 1929, Carson was awarded a scholarship to study at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, an enormous accomplishment for a woman at that time. Graduating with a Master’s degree in Zoology in 1932, and with a flair for writing, Rachel began to work for the public education department of the US Bureau of Fisheries writing pamphlets on conservation and natural resources. This was the start of her long career as scientist and editor, eventually rising to become Editor-in-Chief of all publications for the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

In 1935 she was asked to create a series of short radio programmes on marine life called Romance Under the Waters. Her growing interest in oceans and marine life was supported by the opportunity to visit waterfronts and marine environments, access to scientific information, and interaction with a range of people associated with different aspects of the oceans as part of her work. During World War II, Rachel Carson was part of a programme to investigate undersea life, terrain and sounds, designed to assist the Navy in developing techniques and equipment for submarine detection. Thus Rachel had the opportunity to study many aspects of oceans.

In her free time, Rachel also wrote about findings from this research in a language and style that would reach beyond the academics to a larger audience. She wrote several articles for popular magazines, designed to create wider awareness about the wonder and beauty of the living world. As she once said: I have always wanted to write. Biology has given me something to write about. She also believed that science and literature could meld harmoniously. The winds, the sea, and the moving tides are what they are. If there is wonder and beauty and majesty in them, science will discover these qualities… If there is poetry in my book about the sea, it is not because I deliberately put it there, but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out the poetry.

Rachel Carson’s first book, Under the Sea-Wind, was published in 1941. In 1951 she published her prize-winning study of the ocean, The Sea Around Us. The book remained on the New York Times bestseller list for 81 weeks.

In 1952 Carson resigned from government service to devote herself to her writing, but also for the freedom that she would have as not being a part of the government, to raise issues, question government policies, and use her public voice to create awareness and encourage action.

In 1955 she published The Edge of the Sea. These books established Rachel Carson as both a naturalist and science writer for the public. But it was her final book, Silent Spring, published in 1962, that awakened society to a responsibility to other forms of life. In it, Carson documented in minute biological detail the harm caused to the ecosystem by harmful pesticides, especially DDT. The book was based on years of her research which indicated that the abnormalities caused by the pesticide showed up first in fish and wildlife, and went on to endanger the overall environment. As expected, Carson’s book provoked a huge controversy, as well as personal attacks on her professional integrity. The pesticide industry mounted a massive campaign to discredit her. The federal government, however, ordered a complete review of its pesticide policy and Rachel Carson testified before a Congressional committee, calling for new policies to protect human health and the environment. As a direct result of the Carson’s study and her making it public through Silent Spring, DDT was banned in the United States.

Despite her earlier noteworthy studies of the marine environment Rachel Carson’s name became synonymous with Silent Spring and DDT.

Rachel Carson died in 1964 after a long battle against breast cancer.

The theme for this year’s World Oceans Day is Waves of Change: Collective Actions for the Ocean. It would be worthwhile this year to revisit Rachel Carson’s books on the sea which seem as relevant today as they were when she wrote them in the 1950s. Carson’s ecological vision of the oceans demonstrates a larger environmental ethic which drew attention to the threats to the sustainability of nature’s interactive and interdependent systems. Her writing presages Climate change, rising sea-levels, melting Arctic glaciers, collapsing bird and animal populations, crumbling geological faults. All of which are dire realities today.

–Mamata