Guwahati: The Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh is looking towards the Northeast to boost its wild water buffalo population.
Wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) is an endangered megaherbivore that has lost from 95% of its range. About 90% of its global population (less than 4000) resides within India, in two isolated populations: northeast and central India. The central Indian population is on the verge of extinction and warrants urgent conservation interventions.
The global population of Asiatic wild buffalo (Bubalus arnee) has been estimated at 3,400 individuals, of which 95 % live in India, mostly in Assam. With over 2600 estimated numbers, the world’s single largest population resides in Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve. In Assam, there are an estimated 3800 wildwater buffaloes. In a global context, there are currently 620 populations of the wild water buffalo.
A study by scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India and others has assessed the potential and provided a strategy for reintroducing buffaloes in Kanha National Park. Habitat suitability using the global occurrence of buffalo revealed low-lying grasslands with the least human pressure found in Kanha (390 sq km) to be suitable.
The study results highlighted that the maternal lineages of the wild buffalo populations from northeast India and central India formed a single cluster, distinct from domestic breeds. “Within the river buffalo clade, Indian wild buffaloes formed a distinct cluster with proximity between northeast and central Indian samples, suggesting northeast buffaloes could be sourced for a founding population in Kanha. If implemented as proposed, recovery of this lost ecosystem engineer will help restore grasslands and swamp habitats, and contribute to its global conservation efforts,” the study said.
The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) is an endangered megaherbivore that has dramatically declined in recent decades due to anthropogenic pressure. It is the predecessor of the domestic water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) which constitutes an important economic resource for sustaining livelihoods across several parts of the world. The buffalo prefers tall grass jungles, reed breaks combined with swamps, and ample water. The wild buffalo live in herds of varying sizes except the solitary males. The herd generally consists of one dominant adult male, immature juvenile males, and cows and calves of all ages.
Once abundant across the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, the wild buffalo has been extirpated from 95% of its distributional range and is now restricted to isolated populations in India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Thailand.
Earlier, six sub-adult wildwater buffaloes were sent from Manas National Park to Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary in Chhattisgarh between 2020-23.
Obtaining the required number of founders for establishing a genetically diverse viable population, was only possible if founders were sourced from large populations of northeast India. “If central Indian buffaloes become available in the future, they could be used for selective breeding with reintroduced wild buffaloes from the northeast in a conservation breeding facility in a manner to maximize their genetic contribution to the gene pool of the reintroduced population. This would ensure that the genetic material of central Indian wild buffalo would persist in the reintroduced population of Kanha,” the study says.
Wild buffalo is primarily a grazer of coarse grasses and prefers wetlands and inhabits grasslands interspersed with forests, alluvial floodplains, riparian forests, and swampy habitats.
“With the present forage biomass availability, and considering the species conservative density estimates, around 200 buffaloes could be sustained in Kanha,” the study said.
The central Indian population has been reduced to less than 50 – buffaloes over the years primarily due to human impacts, approaching functional extinction. The decline in the wild buffalo population is attributed to their historical domestication, loss of grassy and swampy ecosystems, uncontrolled hunting, disease transmission, and competition from livestock.
The extant buffalo population from central India is on the brink of extinction due to extremely small population size (potential inbreeding risk) and unregulated hunting in the region due to a breakdown of law and order as the area is under Maoist armed insurgency. “Removing 20–30 individuals from this population will not only end the existing population in the extant region, but also it will be challenging with socio-political instability in the region,” the study says.
In Assam, the Pabho reserve forest under the Lakhimpur district was designated as a ‘Milroy buffalo sanctuary’ in 1941. However, a large part of the forest sank after the great Assam earthquake in 1950. There are a few unconfirmed reports from Namdapha National Park in Arunachal Pradesh. In Assam, they are found in Kaziranga, Manas, Burachapori-Laokhowa and Dibru Saikhowa.
Dr. Anwaruddin Choudhury, Honorary CEO of Rhino Foundation and author of the seminal work “The vanishing herds- the wild water buffalo” says there is presence of buffalo images during the Indus Valley Civilisation and Babur Nama in the Mughal Period and the presence of buffalo species in the social and ecological sphere has always been common.
“Effective protection and management of the existing protected areas, stringent monitoring against poaching, population monitoring, removal of invasive weeds, check on encroachment and eviction of encroachers and re-introduction of wild water buffalo in former habitats, the rescue of the abandoned calf, mitigation of human-buffalo conflict and no tree plantation in the grassland are some of the major recommendations for long term survival of wild water buffalo,” Choudhury says.
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