Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Season of the wild

Urban wildlife comes alive in the last few days of monsoon in Mangalore when they get enough green cover to hide and forage

STARTING YOUNG School children being sensitised about wildlife at one of the camps held for them regularly at the Pilikula Nisarga Dhama

With monsoon 2006 on the way out in Mangalore, the surroundings are at its greenest best. Look closer and there are greys and browns in different hues. Drive at night and you are likely to see yellows with black spots burning bright thanks to those dazzling headlights.

But these sights are for only those discerning few with sharp eyes. The urban wildlife comes alive in the city during the last days of the monsoon when they get enough cover to hide, forage and breed.

Mangalore city still has patches of forests in the middle of urban areas. Kadri, Ashoknagar, Urva, Shaktinagar, Lighthouse hill, Valencia, Kottara and many other areas still have forest cover which can support wildlife. Mangalore, a fast-growing metro, has 75 square kilometres of fertile green belt area and lung spaces that home to a good number of species including birds, rodents and small predatory animals.

The most commonly found species here are toddy cat, feral cat, porcupine, black-naped hare, mongoose, flying squirrel and the shrew. Jayaprakash Bhandary, Conservator, Pilikula Nisarga Dhama (bioreserve), says the forest areas in Mangalore harbour wildcat and civet cat that often frequent nearby houses.

Mr. Bhandary said he was pleasantly surprised to find that the blackbuck he introduced in the Pilikula Nisarga Dhama not only survived but also multiplied at a pace that put all dire predictions to rest. He is now getting ready to introduce hippos and other exotic species.

Similarly, the king cobra, which breeds in the deep jungles of the Western Ghats, are thriving satisfactorily in one of the safe havens created by the Nisarga Dhama.

Arunachalam Kumar, urban wildlife enthusiast and Professor of Anatomy, says one cannot overstate the importance of providing a natural habitat for young adult animals and their young ones. Mangalore city's urban jungle, interspersed with green pockets, provides good grounds for survival of smaller wildlife.

Policemen on night beats, workers going home after the third shift and many residents in the periphery of the green pockets do come across a variety of urban wild life regularly if not daily. Enthusiastic youth from local colleges do go on urban wildlife expeditions in August and September. Dinesh Holla, one of them, is a regular visitor to the Bengre area where he has come across foxes, wild cats, and several wild fowl. Former Mayor K. Diwakar has rescued smaller animals that include pangolins and porcupines.

The city's most common wild animal is still the toddy cat, known in Tulu as beru or alpuchche which survives on fruits, vegetables and a few urban morsels. l It also like to rummage during the nights in the attics of houses. This nocturnal visitor forages for no more than a chickoo or a banana, whose aroma it can smell from a distance.

"Once they have their fill, they never bother the neighbourhood for the next few days," says Suma Ramesh of Animal Care Trust. She herself has a toddy cat as a pet. In her shelter at Shaktinagar Suma collects stray animals and birds, treats them for diseases and infections and solicits adoptions from pet-loving people.

The forests in the fringe areas of Mangalore are now experiencing the arrival of peacocks. Introduced here centuries ago, they have no natural enemies and multiply faster than any of the large birds, says L.C. Soans. His large farm in Moodbidri near Mangalore has become a sanctuary for these resplendent birds. Sooner or later they might become a part of the urban wildlife of Mangalore, adds Dr. Soans.

M. RAGHURAM

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail