苏巴什·拉杰塔

In a first of its kind effort in India， Cheer Pheasants were reintroduced to their natural habitat. Eight months on， the birds seem to be doing very well.彩雉被重新放歸自然栖息地，这在印度实属首次。八个月过去了，这些鸟儿似乎适应得不错。

At first glance， this particularly steep hillock in the middle of nowhere will not catch your eye. Grassy and somewhat rocky too， and largely bereft of tree cover， it appears unremarkable， even on the second look. Despite the apparent ordinariness， theres something very special about it—its the site of an ambitious project of the wildlife wing of Himachal Pradesh. In October last year， the department reintroduced bred-in-captivity1 Cheer Pheasants into the wild at this spot to augment the declining population of this endangered bird. Not only is it the first attempt of its kind in India， but also it could well become the first-ever successful experiment the world over.

Already， the HP wildlife wing is considering the experiment a success. “Out of the 18 birds released past October—six adults and 12 young ones—11 are still surviving，” informs Dr Savita， Chief Wildlife Warden， Himachal Pradesh.

“As per international standards， even if 20 per cent survive for at least a year， the experiment is deemed successful. And in our case， the survival rate so far has been roughly 60 per cent，” she says， barely able to control her excitement.

Her enthusiasm and optimism is understandable. The birds have been in the wild for eight months now， still four months short of the critical one year period. But having survived the initial months after release and the harsh winters， survival now should relatively be a walk in the park for these birds. And if the birds manage to breed and intermingle with the wild population， that would be an icing on the cake. “That would be a grand success，” says Dr Savita. The birds are already into the breeding season， but theres no evidence yet of any breeding. “Unless we see the visuals of newborns with our adult birds in camera traps， we cant say anything with certainty，” says Samakshi Tiwari， a research assistant， who has been tracking the progress of the birds at the site ever since their release.

Long， arduous process

Reintroduction of any species into the wild requires painstaking efforts， and this experiment is no exception. The first step of the experiment， now so close to being successful， was taken about a decade back， with the establishment of a conservation breeding facility in Chail， about 50km from Shimla. Once the facility had enough healthy and behaviourally competent progenies who could survive in the wild， the next step was their pairing， which again required a lot of diligence. “Before the pairing， the demographic and genetic analysis was carried out to rule out inbreeding2，” says Dr Savita. “Besides， they were regularly screened for diseases and infections prior to the release.” Even one diseased or infected bird could contaminate the entire population in the habitat， hence the utmost caution.

Eventually， three pairs and their 12 chicks were chosen for a flight into the wild. The site chosen for their release was an unremarkable hillock in village Seri， not too far away from Chail. Throwing them straight into the deep end could have proved catastrophic， so soft-release was planned. For a month， the birds were kept in three enclosed pens at the release site to prepare them for the life out in the open. “Each pen mirrored3 their habitat with perches4 and bushes inside. Efforts were made to help them identify predators and rely on food available out there，” says DFO Rajesh Sharma.

Out in the open

A little over a month later， when it was felt the birds had learnt the ways of the jungle， they were allowed to move out to live the life they were actually supposed to. The adults were tagged with radio collars so their movement could be tracked. Unfortunately， a few birds succumbed in the pen while being trained for the life out in the open. Others， however， seem to have adapted well to the new surroundings—having survived for eight months in the midst of predators5 like raptors6 and foxes bears that out.

“One bird has crossed over to the other side of the valley. It seems settled， so chances are it has found a partner among the wild birds，” says Tiwari. Another good sign for the experiment！

It prefers a habitat marked by tall grass， shrubs7 and stunted trees， at an altitude of 1，500—3，000m. The bird feeds on roots， tubers， berries and insects.

For the experiment to have gone so well so far， local people， too， deserve credit. “They gave land to set up pens for soft release， do not send their cattle for grazing into the birds habitat and help in ensuring the birds are not hunted，” says Sanjeev Kumar， a part of the three-member team monitoring the birds at the site. In another four months， the village and the not-so-appealing hillock could become a prominent place on the wildlife map.

Know cheer pheasant

It is a medium-sized bird， with male weighing 1，250—1，800g and female 900—1，350g. A threatened species， the total population is estimated at 2，000—2，700 adults. The bird is found in India， Pakistan and Nepal.

乍一眼望去，這座地处荒僻、格外陡峭的小山丘并不引人注目。即便再看一眼，山上荒草丛生，岩石有些嶙峋，很大程度上无林木植被，看起来仍然平平无奇。尽管表面不起眼，它实则非常特别——这里是喜马偕尔邦野生动物组织一个宏大项目的所在地。去年十月，该组织在这里将圈养的彩雉放归野外以增加这一濒危鸟类不断下降的种群数量。这不仅在印度属于首创，也很有可能成为世界范围内首次成功的尝试。

喜马偕尔邦野生动物组织目前认为这一实验已经取得了成功。喜马偕尔邦野生动物首席巡护员萨维塔博士介绍：“去年十月放生的18只鸟——包括6只成鸟和12只幼鸟——其中有11只仍然存活。”

“根据国际标准，只要有20%的放生动物存活时间达到一年，这项实验就被认定为成功。而在我们的这次实验中，存活率目前已达到约60%。”她难掩喜悦地说道。

她的兴奋和乐观可以理解。这些鸟儿现在已经在荒野中生存了八个月之久，离一年的关键之期还差四个月。但是能熬过放归的头几个月和严寒的冬季，这些鸟儿接下来的生存应该就不在话下了。而且，如果这些鸟儿与野生种群交配繁殖并融入其中，那就更是锦上添花。萨维塔博士说：“这将是巨大的成功。”这些鸟儿已经进入了繁殖季，但目前还没有出现繁殖的迹象。“我们现在还不能下定论，除非我们的自动抓拍相机成功捕捉到了成鸟陪伴新生雏鸟的影像资料。……