Sanctuary | Species Focus
RAHUL PRATTI/
ENTRY-SWP
A 2017
We sat on a stone wall by
the river, Sivu, the fi sherman, and I, in
silence, waiting for the arrival of what
Steven Moss, a British naturalist, once
called “the elusive movie-star”. It was
dusk and the cows had just crossed
the placid waters of the Cauvery, after
spending much of the day grazing on
the island about 300 m. from the banks.
Their crossing had taken up much of my
attention: everything about the body
structure of a bovine is un-aerodynamic,
yet the cows had swum across with
little apparent eff ort, their heads just
above water and noses up in the air,
a langourous watery stroll, before
reaching the banks and clambering up
dry land.And, after their crossing, I was now
listening to the cacophony of birdcalls,
when Sivu touched my arm. “I hear
them,” he said simply, pointing ahead.
There was little to be seen in
the water and the pair of binoculars in
this light was of little help, but I
did hear the calls, a mix between
a whistle and a chirp produced in
continuous sequence. A minute later,
a couple of little heads came into dim
view, swimming downstream towards
us and moving with elegance across the
surface of the water, producing, behind
them a ‘wake’ pattern of ripples, in
the shape of a V, as produced by
waterfowl or boats (interestingly, this
was fi rst explained mathematically byLord Kelvin and known today as the
Kelvin wake pattern).
The smooth-coated otters were
returning after a day’s work.BUNDLES OF JOY
Sivu has been tracking these otters for
Nityata River Otter Conservancy for
the last three years. His primary role is
to monitor their population and alert us
to threats to them, along a river stretch
that we term the ‘H Otter Corridor’ (‘H’
represents the name of the village by
the river where Sivu lives. To safeguard
the bevy of otters, the name has been
kept out of this article). In the breeding
season and after, beginning in October
and until January, the otters inhabit aWHY OTTERS MATTER
Text By Gopakumar M.