Bihar plans GPS trackers for endangered Greater Adjutant Storks

Source: Down to Earth

What is the news?

In a first, Bihar has decided to tag endangered greater adjutant storks (Leptoptilos dubius), locally known as ‘Garuda’, with GPS trackers to monitor their movement as a part of efforts to conserve them.

• Bhagalpur’s Kadwa Diara floodplains area is the third-most popular breeding centre for the greater adjutant stork in the world after Assam and Cambodia. Conservation efforts in these areas have led to increase in their population in recent years.

Significance of the move

GPS trackers will help in studying their movement patterns and places where they go to.

About Greater adjutant storks

• The greater adjutant is one of the most threatened stork species of the world and is widely considered to be a rare bird
• The global population of the Greater Adjutant Stork is estimated to be roughly not more than 1,500 now.
• Conservation status:
  • IUCN Red list: EN (Endangered)
  • Indian Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule IV
• There are only three known breeding grounds – one in Cambodia, two in India, in Assam and in Kadwa Diara of Bihar.
• Cultural significance: The Garuda is the considered the mount of Vishnu, one of Hinduism’s prime deities. Some worship the bird and call it “Garuda Maharaj” (Lord Garuda) or “Guru Garuda” (Great Teacher Garuda). In Bihar, the campaign to teach the local communities about the bird stressed this aspect.

Terms to know:

• IUCN
• Convention of Migratory Species