#ENVIRONMENT ■Bihar planned to tag endangered greater adjutant | UPSC Current Affairs Daily

#ENVIRONMENT
■Bihar planned to tag endangered greater adjutant storks

Bihar government has decided to tag GPS trackers on greater adjutant storks, locally known as 'Garuda to monitor their movement as a part of efforts to conserve them.

The greater adjutant is one of the most threatened stork species of the world and is widely considered to be a rare bird.

Bhagalpur's Kadwa Diara floodplains area is the third-most- popular breeding center for the greater adjutant stork in the world after Assam and Cambodia.

●Key points:

The non-profit Bombay Natural History Society will help and work along with the state forest, environment and climate change department to start the process of tagging greater adjutant storks with GPS tracker.

The government agency has been approaching private businessmen of Japan and South Korea for supplying the ring type GPS tracker.

Initially, only four birds will be tagged with GPS tracker on an experimental basis.

Later there would be more tagging early next year

●Conservation efforts:

With active support and involvement of the local community, the population of Greater adjutant has increased to nearly 700 in 2021, from 78 in 2007.

A rescue and rehabilitation centre had been set up at Sundarban in Bhagalpur.

Tagging greater adjutants with GPS trackers will help in studying their movement and places where they go to.

The paper was presented in the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species, Conference of Parties (CMS COP 13) at Gandhinagar, Gujarat in February 2020.

●Greater Adjutant Storks:

The greater adjutant, also known as Garuda, is a member of the stork family, Ciconiidae.

Once abundantly distributed in Southeast Asia, this stork is now restricted to a few isolated pockets in Assam and Bihar in India and PrekToal in Cambodia.

The global population of Greater Adjutant Storks is estimated as 800-1,200, most of them in Assam

This species favors wetland habitats, including lakes, swamps, pools and rice fields, as long as fish are available.

The bird can also be found close to urban areas, feeding at rubbish dumps and abattoirs.

●Protection:

IUCN Red List: Endangered

Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972: Schedule IV

●Significance:

The Garuda is considered the mount of Lord Vishnu.

Some worship the bird and call it "Garuda Maharaj" (Lord Garuda) or "Guru Garuda" (Great Teacher Garuda). 'They help farmers by killing rats and other farm pests.

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