GUWAHATI: In a significant achievement regarding conservation of enfangered Greater Adjutant Stork (GAS), Assam State Zoo cum Botanical Garden and Aaranyak have tasted success in hatching a pair of Greater Adjutant chicks in a man-made high platform within the zoo enclosure. The experiment was carried out for the first time
Assam State Zoo DFO, Tejas Mariswamy said “We are very proud to share this news with you all. This happened for the first time in a Zoo. We don’t have any report that this endangered bird has bred in any zoo or in captivity on an earlier occasion.”
This rarest of storks, Hargila is currently on the brink of extinction due to habitat loss because of indiscriminate felling of big trees and dwindling wetlands. Aaranya’s Biologist and Green Oscar winner Dr.Purnima Devi Barman, who leads the Greater Adjutant Conservation Project of Aaranyak informed, “In 2017, Aaranyak started collaborating with Assam State Zoo with an idea of creating assisted breeding platforms for the captive Greater Adjutant Storks. The birds has been nesting since 2017 but failed to hatch. Finally we have tasted success on November 26,2019 when the first chick was hatched and it has been the first recorded pair of Greater Adjutant to breed on an artificial platform. It was only possible due to active support of the DFO of Assam state Zoo and dedicated team of doctors lead by Dr Bijoy Gogoi and animal keepers – Rajani Kanta Deka, and Basumatary”. It was a double success when after a second hatchling emerged from the breeding platform after ten days.
Dr. Barman informed how two bamboo platforms of ten feet were constructed within the enclosure. Nesting materials used by these birds in natural ecosystem were closely studied from available literature and direct observation which were collected inside the zoo. The nesting material was supplied on the onset of breeding season during August. Once the birds started gathering nesting materials in September, fresh nesting materials were supplied every week initially and later on every alternate day.
“ Food supply was increased by four times by weight consulting with experts on Ciconidae group. Since the birds were not in the wild, much care was needed for egg nesting material collection, foods supplies etc. The commotion created by zoo visitors were also monitored and care was taken so that the birds did not suffer from disturbance,” informed Zoo officials.
Dr Bibhab Kumar Talukdar , CEO of Aarnayk said “ Successful breeding of Greater Adjutant at Assam State Zoo resulting in birth of chicks is indeed a great news.”
Assam’s Forest Minister, Parimal Shuklabadiya congratulated the entire team for this successful breeding program and wished more success in future..
Cathy King ,a long-legged water bird specialist and chair of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) and Ciconiifomes and Phoenicoptericormes Taxon Advisor Group through a What App message congratulated the team and said “Although Greater Adjutant storks have been kept in zoos throughout the world, they have not successfully bred until now. The captive breeding of this species at Guwahati Zoo is a great contribution to the conservation of this endangered species. This breeding could only occur if the birds have a suitable environment and good care”.
The Endangered Greater Adjutant stork ( Leptoptilosdubius) is one of the rarest species of Storks out of twenty species. In India, eight species of residential storks are found, out of which Greater Adjutant is one of them. Once abundantly distributed in Southeast Asia, this stork species is now restricted to a few isolated pockets in Assam and Bihar in India and PrekToal in Cambodia.
Habitat loss, poaching and poisoning are the major threats to the species. Cutting down of nesting trees by the tree owners and infrastructural construction has resulted in a breeding failure of the species and many historical breeding colonies have gone missing in its historical distribution range.