Back to the Wild回歸荒野

蘇巴什·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棲息地，這在印度實屬首次。八個月過去了，這些鳥兒似乎適應(yīng)得不錯。

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，這座地處荒僻、格外陡峭的小山丘并不引人注目。即便再看一眼，山上荒草叢生，巖石有些嶙峋，很大程度上無林木植被，看起來仍然平平無奇。盡管表面不起眼，它實則非常特別——這里是喜馬偕爾邦野生動物組織一個宏大項目的所在地。去年十月，該組織在這里將圈養(yǎng)的彩雉放歸野外以增加這一瀕危鳥類不斷下降的種群數(shù)量。這不僅在印度屬于首創(chuàng)，也很有可能成為世界范圍內(nèi)首次成功的嘗試。

喜馬偕爾邦野生動物組織目前認為這一實驗已經(jīng)取得了成功。喜馬偕爾邦野生動物首席巡護員薩維塔博士介紹：“去年十月放生的18只鳥——包括6只成鳥和12只幼鳥——其中有11只仍然存活?！?/p>

“根據(jù)國際標準，只要有20%的放生動物存活時間達到一年，這項實驗就被認定為成功。而在我們的這次實驗中，存活率目前已達到約60%?！彼y掩喜悅地說道。

她的興奮和樂觀可以理解。這些鳥兒現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)在荒野中生存了八個月之久，離一年的關(guān)鍵之期還差四個月。但是能熬過放歸的頭幾個月和嚴寒的冬季，這些鳥兒接下來的生存應(yīng)該就不在話下了。而且，如果這些鳥兒與野生種群交配繁殖并融入其中，那就更是錦上添花。薩維塔博士說：“這將是巨大的成功?！边@些鳥兒已經(jīng)進入了繁殖季，但目前還沒有出現(xiàn)繁殖的跡象?！拔覀儸F(xiàn)在還不能下定論，除非我們的自動抓拍相機成功捕捉到了成鳥陪伴新生雛鳥的影像資料?！彼_馬克錫·蒂瓦里說道。他是一名研究助理，從放生這些鳥兒的時候就一直駐地跟蹤其生存進展。

長期的艱苦努力

將任何物種重新引入野外生存環(huán)境都需要付出大量心血，這次實驗也不例外。實驗如今幾近成功，其第一步大約十年前就啟動了——在距西姆拉大約50公里處的柴爾設(shè)立了一個繁育保護中心。一旦該中心培育出足夠數(shù)量身體健康、具備野外生存能力的后代，下一步就是配對了，這也要花費不少心血?！霸谂鋵χ?，我們會進行種群和基因分析，排除近親繁殖的可能?！彼_維塔博士說，“此外，在放生之前，它們會定期接受疾病和傳染病篩查?！蹦呐轮皇且恢簧』蛘呋忌蟼魅静〉镍B兒，都能感染棲息地的整個種群，因此要慎之又慎。

最后，研究人員選出了3對成鳥和12只雛鳥放生野外。這次放生點選在塞里村一處不起眼的山丘上，該村距離柴爾不是太遠。如果直接把它們拋棄在茫?；囊埃赡軙頌?zāi)難性的后果，因此安排了一次“軟釋放”。在長達一個月的時間里，這些鳥兒被分別關(guān)在位于放生點的三個密封圍欄里，幫助它們做好野外生活的準備。林業(yè)部的拉杰什·夏爾馬介紹說：“每一個圍欄內(nèi)都模擬了它們棲息地的環(huán)境，內(nèi)有棲木和灌木叢。我們還采取措施幫助它們辨認捕食者，并以野外的食物為生?！?/p>

在野外

一個多月后，研究人員認為鳥兒們已經(jīng)熟悉了野外生存環(huán)境，就放它們離開圍欄，過它們本來該過的生活。研究人員給成鳥戴上無線電項圈以便追蹤它們的行動軌跡。不幸的是，有幾只鳥兒在圍欄里接受野外生存訓(xùn)練時就沒熬過去，而其他的鳥兒似乎很好地適應(yīng)了新環(huán)境——它們在猛禽和狐貍等捕食者出沒的環(huán)境中生存了八個月之久，足以證明這一點。

蒂瓦里說：“其中一只鳥兒穿越到山谷的另一邊，看上去已經(jīng)在那里安家了，因此它很有可能已經(jīng)在野鳥中覓得佳偶?！边@是實驗的另一個好跡象！

這種鳥喜歡的棲息地在海拔1500—3000米，而且生長有高高的草叢、灌木叢以及矮小的樹木，它們以樹根、塊莖、漿果和昆蟲為食。

實驗?zāi)壳斑M展得很順利，當?shù)厝艘补Σ豢蓻]。駐地監(jiān)測鳥兒的三人小組成員桑吉夫·庫馬爾說：“當?shù)厝颂峁┝送恋兀屛覀兛梢詾椤涐尫糯罱▏鷻?，他們也沒有在鳥兒的棲息地牧牛，并且?guī)椭_保鳥兒免遭獵殺?！痹龠^四個月，這個村莊以及不太起眼的山丘，將會成為野生動物地圖上的一個顯著地點。

了解彩雉

這是一種中等體型的鳥類，雄鳥體重大約為1250—1800克，雌鳥體重為900—1350克。屬瀕危物種，據(jù)估計成鳥總數(shù)為2000—2700只。這種鳥類分布于印度、巴基斯坦和尼泊爾。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎?wù)撸?/p>