Kuno is ready to receive lions from Gujarat

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1 Kuno is ready to receive lions from Gujarat Dr. A.J.T.Johnsingh, Nature Conservation Foundation, WWF-India and Corbett Foundation. Countless stars sprinkled in the cloudless and moonless sky were sparkling like giant fireflies. It was a cold mid-december night in 2016 and, enjoying the warmth of a well-maintained fire kept in a large metal saucer, I listened to the sounds around me in Kuno WLS. This protected area of 345 sq. km is situated in the state of Madhya Pradesh, and the 3300 sq.km Kuno landscape has been identified by a team led by Ravi Chellam, who previously worked with the Dehra Dun based Wildlife Institute of India, as the potential home to establish the second population of lions presently confined to the ca. 20,000 sq.km Greater Gir landscape in Gujarat. The Gir lion population is closer to 600 animals. A view of Kuno landscape from Palpur forest rest house, A.J.T.Johnsingh. I was seated in front of Palpur forest rest house and before me lay a long stretch of the still waters of the Kuno River, a tributary of the Chambal River. On the days I was in Kuno, two to three crocodiles were seen basking on the banks of the river; one male gharial (a highly endangered species) was

2 reported to come from Chambal River during the rains and retreat to Chambal when the waters receded. The jungle was alive with the incessant calls of grey francolins and pea-fowls (both are excellent prey for caracal and leopard). No jungle fowl are reported from Kuno and once I saw a black francolin size bird running on a rocky slope with dense bushes and it may have been a painted spurfowl. Beyond the river lay a dense jungle of Anogeissus pendula-acacia catechu- Ziziphus mauritiana and other miscellaneous species of the Central Indian dry forest. My visit to Kuno was in relation to a meeting about the reintroduction of lions as per the order given by the Supreme Court in April 2013, which said that the lions should be translocated from Gir to Kuno in October This order could not be obeyed for various reasons. The meeting on 18 th and 19 th December 2016 was attended by officials from the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change, Madhya Pradesh, the Gujarat Forest Departments and key conservationists like M.K Ranjitsinh. After the meeting all the other members left and I stayed a day longer to get a better understanding of Kuno, as I was visiting the sanctuary after 12 years. Kuno Wildlife Division, Madhya Pradesh. Just before the meeting on the 18 th, certain leaders of the local people met the committee members and pleaded with them to bring the lions as early as possible. Their rightful contention was that nearly 1500 families living in the 345 sq.km sanctuary made the great sacrifice of leaving the forest in late 1990s and early 2000 so as to make the habitat disturbance-free, which is vital for reviving the habitat

3 essential to bring the lions. They said that any further delay in bringing the lions would make their sacrifice a mockery and meaningless. The jungle at night was alive with the calls of different species of animals. The most important sound was that of a leopard, like the sawing of wood, which was closely followed by the agitated alarm calls from a group of langur. Leopards often prey on langur and have an amazing ability to climb trees; even at night one can jump from a large branch to another, as if running over rocks. Understandably, the langurs were much agitated. As langurs raised alarm calls, a sambar in that area alerted the jungle folk about the presence of the leopard - one the most efficient predators on earth - with its resounding alarm call. Ruddy shelduck resting along the river and pea fowls roosting in the trees also joined the chorus of alarm calls. Common langur in Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary largely occur along the nallah and riverine tracts, A.J.T. Johnsingh.

4 Chital at Marithalai waterhole, A.J.T.Johnsingh. The main purpose of our visit was to observe the recovery of vegetation and wild ungulate prey after the villages had been relocated. This was my fifth visit to Kuno and all my earlier visits had taken place while I was serving in the Wildlife Institute of India. In three days I was driven close to 100 km and I found that the recovery of the vegetation including the grasslands was impressive. A team from the Wildlife Institute of India under the guidance of Y.V. Jhala has quantified wild ungulate abundance in Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, and according to their 2016 report, the chital density was 69 animals/sq.km, nilgai 9/sq.km and sambar 8/sq.km. Sightings of chital and nilgai were impressive. Jackal was once a very common predator throughout India but it has disappeared from most places, most likely because of diseases transmitted by free-ranging dogs. It was frequently seen in Kuno. It is very likely that the fruiting Zizyphus mauritiana, eaten by all animals including dholes and elephants, may have led to this frequent sighting. All the members, including those from the Gujarat Forest Department, were impressed by the excellent vegetation, chital, nilgai and feral cattle abundance. Wild pigs were also seen. Almost all my sightings of chital and nilgai were in the short grass-zizyphus woodland and none were seen in the tall grass habitat. Earlier surveys by GS Rawat of Wildlife Institute of India had identified several tall grass (eg., Apluda mutica, Sacharum spontaneum, Sorghum helepense and Themeda quadrivalvis) and numerous short grass species (eg., Cynodon dactylon, Dichanthium annulatum, Digitaria stricta, Eragrostis tenella and Paspalidum flavidum). Short grasses remain palatable to ungulates throughout the year but tall grasses other than Apluda mutica can be eaten only when they have tender shoots.

5 A female nilgai in Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, A.J.T.Johnsingh. Surprisingly, I had very few sightings of sambar - only four animals were seen. Calls were frequently heard in the hills as sambar are largely animals of the hills. We were in the peak rutting season (November to March) of sambar. Sambar stags shed the velvet antlers before getting into the hard antler, a must for fighting with other males during the rut to have access to females. In the process of shedding the velvet, they rub the antlers against the trunk of the trees with soft bark and thrash the saplings. The abundance of rubbing and thrashing signs in the rutting season can be an index of sambar abundance. I saw only two rubbing signs. Dholes, which efficiently prey on sambar, are absent in Kuno and therefore one can expect a high density of sambar in Kuno as in Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, but it was surprising that many sambar were not seen. The most conspicuous feature of the Kuno landscape is the abundance of feral cattle, which live in the forest and do not go to the village. There were cattle and they were all exceedingly healthy. There was a preponderance of bulls; cows were also present but not many calves. The staff opined that leopards preyed on the calves as soon as they were born. When the lions are introduced, the cattle will contribute significantly to their diet.

6 Abundant and healthy feral cattle in Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary can sustain a substantial number of lions, A.J.T.Johnsingh. As I drove around, I understood that the ability of Kuno to support a high density of ungulates was due to the abundance of short grass species and of the extremely palatable tall grass, Apluda mutica. Prominent browse and fruiting species were Acacia leucophloea, A. catechu, Aegle marmelos, A. pendula, A. latifolia (occurrence of the last two species in Kuno could be a unique feature of the vegetation) and Balanites aegyptiaca. I also observed that certain species need to be removed from the habitat, and prominent among them are Prosopis juliflora (for firewood by the staff; only this species should be used, not the slow growing and much more valuable A. catechu), the strong smelling Vitex negundo, and Z. numularia (this species can be easily differentiated from the much more valuable Z. mauritiana by its stunted growth, serrated margin of the leaves and yellowish colour). Grewia flavescens (have seen goats feeding on them in Sariska Tiger Reserve) is another species that needs to be controlled. Opuntia dillenii, an exotic but naturalized in some of the drier tracts of India, can be a threat to the habitat if not controlled now. Tall grasses give cover to fawns and predators but need to be managed by cool season burning so as to promote the new growth of grass rich in protein. Grasslands in dry habitats should not be burnt annually; therefore, fire in Kuno which is in a dry landscape should be used sparingly, with the careful selection of the area and time. Heteropogon contortus is a short grass which needs to be burnt before it becomes mature as its arrow-like seeds are capable of injuring the tongue and eyes of even wild animals.

7 Opuntia dillenii in Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary. It is an exotic and a problem species. It has naturalized in many of the drier tracts of India, A.J.T. Johnsingh. Before leaving Kuno, one day I spent three hours from 0900 to 1200 hrs sitting on the ground in Marithalai waterhole. An Acacia arabica tree with three stems and a rank growth of Achyranthes aspera in front gave me sufficient cover to remain hidden. My hope was to see a caracal or a leopard or a sambar coming to the water. Some tree pies and jungle crows stayed around the water hole. Initially there was no breeze and 12 chital stags came, in groups of seven and five, and without either seeing or smelling me they drank water and went away. Two wild pigs came, but by this time the breeze was blowing from my direction towards them and therefore they smelt me, with great agitation drank water and ran away from the place. Interestingly, a peacock from the other end of the waterhole, nearly 40 m away, and two grey francolins, some 20 m from me, spotted me, gave their characteristic alarm calls and ran away from the place. On the 21 st, I drove out of Kuno, crossing the eastern part of the Sanctuary. This gave me an opportunity to view the agriculture fields of the people who were settled out of Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary. All the fields were blooming golden with the flowers of mustard crop. When they were settled nearly 15 years ago, while ploughing they found the fields full of stones which they painstakingly collected and have meticulously made use of to build walls around their fields. As I drove, I noticed an enormous collection of firewood by the people living in the fringe areas from the buffer forests of Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary. I wished that there should be a program for the people to grow firewood along the roads and the boundary of forests so as to reduce their growing dependency on the buffer forests.

8 Mustard fields with golden flowers. A result of the hard work by the people relocated from Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary, A.J.T.Johnsingh. Firewood extraction from the buffer forests is enormous. Fodder and firewood for the poor of the land should be grown outside the forest areas not collected from the forests. Such long term collection will result in the decline in the quality of the forests, A.J.T.Johnsingh. The people of Gujarat are extremely attached to the lions and they consider it the pride of Gujarat. In the lion landscape outside the 1500 sq.km Gir protected area, if a pregnant lioness choses a place in an

9 agricultural field, say a patch of a sugar cane field for giving birth, the people consider it as a daughter or a daughter- in- law coming home to give birth. The patch of sugar cane is not disturbed till the cubs grow and are strong enough to move away from that area following the mother. Now, with largeheartedness, the people of Gujarat should agree to send a small portion of their lion family, may be about ten animals, to establish a second home in Kuno National Park, which has the potential to be as large as 740 sq.km with the resettling of Bagcha village. The Kuno Wildlife Division is 1235 sq.km. This new population can significantly improve wildlife tourism in the Kuno landscape, bringing in enormous benefits to the people of the area who have done an enormous sacrifice of moving out of the forest area to give a home to the lions. This second home will provide additional security to the lions from virulent diseases like canine distemper. One should remember that in the early 1990s canine distemper killed nearly 1000 lions out of a population of about 3000 in the 30,000 sq.km Serengeti ecosystem. The hard work put in by several dedicated forest officers of Madhya Pradesh to prepare Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary to receive lions would also be amply rewarded. There are plans to send the staff of Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary to Gir landscape to learn about lion management. Likewise there should to be a program to send selected village leaders from Kuno landscape to Gir landscape to learn from the local people about living with lions. The day may not be far when on a cold winter night one sitting near the fire place before Palpur forest rest house would be able to listen to both the roaring of the lions and the sawing sound of leopards in the same night. Acknowledgement: Thanks are recorded to Madhavi Sethupathi for reading through the article.