Objective:

To collect the information about the demography of Indian Sarus Crane and formulate the possible strategy for their conservation in the state

Background:

Out of fifteen living species of cranes three are found in India, the Eurasian crane, Demoiselle crane and Sarus crane. One of the subspecies (Grus antigone antigone) has its stronghold in Uttar Pradesh. The habitats are so favourable that this part of the country is known as “Shangrila”of Indian sarus crane. However, status of the distribution and the population of ISC is considered to be on decline in the country and in turn in the world. Therefore, immediate assessment of the situation and possible conservation strategy is of utmost importance. The present census, 2010, was one of the efforts in this direction.

Census methodology: historically known potential sites for sarus habitation were selected for head counting. Thus the canals, the rivers, the ponds, the lakes, the agriculture field and barren land with water stagnation were the target sites for counting. The forest officials, primarily the front line staff who had basic training were engaged for the job. The NGOs and nature lovers were also associated. A basic protocol was developed and data were collected in predesigned proforma. June 20, 2010 was fixed for counting in whole of the state. Early morning (6.00 h – 7.30 h) and late afternoon (17.00 h – 19.30 h) was the counting period on this date. Highest number of sarus, adult and juveniles both separately, during these periods were taken as the number of sarus at particular sites. These numbers were compiled to find out the number in the forest divisions and the revenue districts and finally the state.

Results:

The number of adult and juvenile sarus is presented in Table 1. Perusal of the data shows that it had varied density in different districts. Therefore, they were categorized into absent very low, low, high and very high density districts on the basis of artificial classification <1, 1-50, 51-100, 101-500 and >500, respectively. Density class wise district grouping and adult juvenile ratio are given in Table 2 followed by a Figure.

Table 1. Sarus counting in different districts. (Districts not mentioned in the table are included in their respective parent district)

Table 2. density wise grouping of the districts and adult juvenile ratio in the districts

Perusal of adult and juvenile ratio indicates that the state average is 13. This could be considered as a healthy indicator of growth in the state at overall scenario since one of the findings states that adult juvenile ratio in sarus between 10 and 15 is an indication of good growth rate. However, district wise fragmented picture needs a serious consideration since adult juvenile ratio varied from 1 to 65. There are certain districts which fall outside the lower range of this ratio.

Conclusion:

Although further data need to be collected on temporal basis and robust conclusion needs to be drawn, there is some initial indication which should be looked into from the management point of view. The districts which have lower than 10 adult juvenile ratio should be taken up on top priority basis for curative as well as preventive measures to increase in sarus number, the districts which have this ratio between 10 and 15 should be taken up for preventive measures to stop decline in sarus number and those having the ratio more than 15 lighter prevention measures should be taken up at least to maintain the number.