Sanctuary | Natural History

Text and illustrations* by Sumit Sen

Birds

Beasts Part -1^

&

Homo sapiens sapiens or modern humans evolved

between 2,00,000 and 1,00,000 years ago on a planet that

was abundant in biological richness and sustained by a natural

balance. The new entrants were unlike any other... equipped

with attributes and tools, they could make dramatic changes.

Unfortunately, that great power was used to destroy the

natural balance, the domination by one species leading to

severe consequences for all other life on Earth.

Humans inherited their social hunting and gathering

skills from Homo erectus, from whom they possibly evolved.

They were, however, much better at it. Their impact was not

signifi cant in the early periods as the human population was

relatively small. The real change was seen beginning in the

Neolithic Revolution, around 10,000 BCE, when primitive

farming began. By 8,000 BCE, it is estimated that the human

footprint numbered approximately fi ve million worldwide.

By 1 BCE, this had grown to 200-300 million people. Today

Homo sapiens number seven billion and counting, with India

alone contributing 1.3 billion to that total! Such large numbers

have inevitably resulted in widespread land conversion and

degradation, pollution, and unsustainable consumption, which

takes a heavy toll of all those who share the world with Homo

sapiens. Things are strained to the extent that scientists are

of the opinion that we are in the midst of Earth’s sixth mass

extinction – the sixth wave of extinctions in the past half-

a-billion years. And this one is unlike past mass extinctions,

which were caused by natural or external events. The current

crisis is almost entirely human-made. In fact, 99 per cent of

currently threatened species are at risk today mainly due to

human activities.

In this two-part series, birdman, author and naturalist extraordinaire, Sumit Sen, writes about some

birds and beasts that India has pushed to extinction and are lost to us forever, those considered

lost, and those that we will certainly lose unless we act now. The focus is on human-induced loss of

charismatic animals – large mammals and birds, not because they are more important, but because

they help drive the message home better than nameless and microscopic organisms.

The human-infl icted extinction story of India

What about India? How have we balanced our enormous

population growth with the multitude of species that we live

with? Not too badly, on paper, especially considering that

the human population has grown from 100 million in 1600

to 255 million in 1881 to 1.7 billion in 2016-17 (combined

Bangladesh, India and Pakistan) and the forest area has

shrunk from an estimated 263 million hectares in 3,000 BCE

to 70.2 million ha. by 2015 (in India).

With exponential population growth and resource

exploitation, it was inevitable that we pushed most of our

wild co-denizens to the very brink. Some have even been lost

forever. With only 2.4 per cent of the global land area, however,

India continues to be home to eight per cent of all recorded

species of the world. A biodiversity that is not only our pride,

but also of great ecological, social and economic value.

But for how long?

It is vital that we know what we have lost and stand

to lose if we do not act now. On the next few pages, read

about some amazing creatures that have suff ered at human

hands. The fi rst two are the most signifi cant human-induced

extinctions during ancient times while all the others are

known large mammal and bird extinctions that have taken

place in modern times in India.

The animals on this list are considered extinct from India

in the opinion of most authorities. These extinctions are

attributable to human persecution and detrimental actions.

In the next issue, I will cover some elusive species that

have not been recorded for several decades but experts

are loathe to categorise as extinct given the diffi culty in

spotting these species.