Handbook on Wild and Zoo Animals: A Treatise for Students of Veterinary, Zoology, Forestry and Environmental Science

357 Pages·2008·26.69 MB·English

by  Santra Ajit Kumar

HANDBOOK ON
WILD AND
ZOO ANIMALS
AJIT KUMAR SANTRA
B.V.Sc. & A.H., M.Sc.(Dairying), Ph.D
International Book Distributing Co.
HANDBOOK ON
WILD AND
ZOO ANIMALS
A Treatise for Students of Veterinary, Zoology,
Forestry and Environmental Science
AJIT KUMAR SANTRA
B.V.Sc. & A.H., M.Sc.(Dairying), Ph.D
Associate Professor .
Deparbnent of Livestock Production and Management
College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry
Indira Gandhi Agricultural University
Anjora, Durg, Chhattisgarh
and
Formerly Livestock Specialist, AFPRO, New Delhi
International Book Distributing Co.
(Publishing Division)
Published by
INTERNATIONAL BOOK DISTRIBUTING CO.
(Publishing Division)
Khushnuma Complex Basement
7, Meerabai Marg (Behind Jawahar Bhawan)
Lucknow 226 001 U.P. (INDIA)
Tel.:9l-522-2209542,2209543,2209544,2209545
Fax: [phone]
E-Mail: [email protected]
First Edition 2008
ISBN 81-8189-174-0
© Author
All Rights Reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or
author.
Composed & Designed at :
Panacea Computers
3rd Floor, Agarwal Sabha Bhawan, Subhash Mohal
Sadar Cantt. Lucknow-226 002 '
Phone: [phone],,9335927082,9452295008
E-mail: [email protected]
Printed at:
Salasar Imaging Systems
C-7/5, Lawrence Road Industrial Area
Delhi -110 035
Tel. : [phone]
Dedicated to
those
students~ doctors~ nurses~ teachers~ scientists~
non-teaching staff,fomily nzembers and innumerable
friends who saved the authorf rom the clutch ofd eath

PREFACE
There is no denying the fact that our rich natural resources are dwindling rapidly
day by day. Wild animals are recklessly killed for their various products. There
has already been a warning signal that animals like tiger would be vanished from
this country if we do not take appropriate measures at this juncture. A great
threat is poised to the existence of wildlife. Majority of recent extinction of plants
and animals have been due to man's interference. Therefore, the concern for
wildlife is concern of man himself. The wildlife is so fascinating and enchanting
that our first prime minister, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru once said in his forward
note in E.P. Gee's Book 'The Wild Life of India', "It is much more exciting and
difficult to shoot with a camera than with a gun." Despite the growing awareness
about wildlife conservation, we still have to go a long way in order to achieve the
goal. The father of nation, Mahatma Gandhi said, "The greatness of a nation and
its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." Therefore,
our endeavour would be to sensitize people about wildlife through various means.
Obviously book is one of them.
Ever since the introduction of wildlife in the academic curriculum of Veterinary
Science, there has been an avid interest about the wildlife among the student
community. Simultaneously, it has expanded the horizon of employment
opportunity for the students other than their traditional jobs. Although,
veterinarians have been restricted their activities to the health care of wild and
zoo animals, the need of the hour, however, is to expand their involvements in
other branches of wildlife science. In fact, they should play a cohesive role in the
gamut of wildlife including wildlife biology, conservation and man-animal conflict.
Therefore, there is a need of thorough understanding of the subject in the present
perspectives.
With this background frankly speaking there is no dearth of books on wildlife.
Every year people from various sections have poured their knowledge in the
arena of wildlife through different forms such as new research findings, writing
of books and awareness programmes by socially sensitive organizations. Books
available in this field either have been written primarily on game purpose or they
are purely meant for the requirement of academic interest. However, looking at
the science wildlife so vast and varied in nature, it is a herculean task for an
author to incorporate entire aspect within limited pages of a book. Therefore, an
effort has been made to incorporate the information on wildlife in such a way so
that it serves the purpose of wide readership. This book is an out come of more
than ten years rigorous work on collection of information on wildlife. The different
chapters have been carefully selected in order to meet the requirement of graduate
students· of Indian universities. The present book contains three sections with
twenty three chapters. The section one has ten chapters dealing with the
information about general wildlife. This is extremely important for knowing the
v
present status of wildlife in the country. The section two discusses the biology of
wild animals highlighting the distribution, habitat and other salient biological
features. The section three on the other hand highlights feeding, housing,
management and health care of wild and zoo animals. Each chapter in different
sections has been focused with the objective of getting acquaintance with the
fundamental and relevant information about wildlife preferably to Indian context
within a short space as maximum as possible. Another purpose is to marriage the
anecdotes narrated in game books with some recent work available in the
literature and need for the competitive examinations so as to give an in-depth
exposition to various facets of wildlife. I hope that this book will provide useful
and concise information to the students from different fields such as veterinary,
zoology, botany and environmental science. This will also help the general readers
who have not attended the formal course of biological science. However, the
final assessment of the book will be done by learned readers and their valuable
suggestions and constructive criticisms would be incorporated in subsequent
editions.
Wildlife science is a conglomeration of multidisciplinary subjects. So many people
have extended their helping hands in preparing this book, I fear that some of
them may be inadvertently skipped. My profound gratitude to Dr. L.N. Acharyo,
the veterinarian of international repute in the field of wildlife science, for editing
the major portion of this book. Surely without his whole hearted guidance and
valuable suggestion I could not venture this kind of work. My students Sandhya
and Neha deserve sincere appreciation for their brilliant illustrations. I am grateful
to Dr. Sudhakar Jogi, Dean, College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry,
Durg for his instrumental role in strengthening of wildlife in the college. Relevant
books and literature supplied by Dr. Sandip Tiwari, Dr. 5.5. Bargoli, Dr. Nalin
Sharma and Dr. S. Roy is worth mentioning. The academic staff from the
Department of Livestock Production and Management were very cooperative
during my virtually one point programme on relentless writing of this handbook.
My stay at Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun for library work was extremely
warm and joyful. This was possible due to sincere cooperation and help from the
Director, erudite faculty members and library staff. Cooperation and help from
the library staff from the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar,
Ravishankar University, Raipur and College Library, Anjora will never be
forgotten. My special thanks to Mr. Suneel Gomber, International Book
Distributing Co, Lucknow for his pragmatic vision in publishing the book. I have
acknowledged the materials taken from different sources in the respective tables
with a full reference lists in the end. However, any omission is considered not to
be an intentional one. Finally my wife Sonali and son Aaranyak have a sigh of
relief after burn the midnight oil.
31 December, Anjora Ajit Kumar Santra
vi
Contents
SECfION 1: GENERAL WILDLIFE 3-113
CHAPTER 1: WILDLIFE AND ITS IMPORTANCE 3-6
Introduction ; Importance of wildlife- Commercial value, Biological
value, Recreation and game value, Scientific and educational value,
Aesthetic value, Social and ethical value, Negative aspect.
CHAPTER 2: DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS OF SOME
TERMINOLOGIES RELATED TO WILDLIFE 7-28
Wildlife; Ecology; Environment; Biome; Ecosystem; Ecological niche;
Ecological equivalents; Habitat- Terrestrial habitat, Marine habitat,
Freshwater habitat and Estuarine habitat; Habitat components-Water,
Food, Cover and Space; Home range; Territory, Core area; Critical
area; Wildlife corridor; Dispersal; Migration; Introduction;
Reintroduction; Translocation; Carrying capacity; Pinch period;
Flagship species; Indicator species; Keystone species; Hot spot; IUCN
Red List Categories- Extinct, Extinct in wild, Critically endangered,
Endangered, Vulnerable, Low risk, Data deficient and Not evaluated;
Wildlife census; Ecotourism; Chemical restraint.
CHAPTER 3: ZOOG EOGRAPHICAL REGIONS AND WILDLIFE
DISTRIBUTION IN INDIA 29-35
Introduction; Neotropical region; Nearctic region; Palaearctic region;
Ethiopian region; Oriental region; Australian region; Wildlife
distribution in India-Himalayan mountain system, Peninsular Indian
sub-region and Tropical evergreen forests; Biogeography of India.
CHAPTER 4: BIODIVERSITY AND SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT 37-43
Definition of biodiversity; Importance of biodiversity; Threat to
biodiversity; Measures to protect biodiversity; Sustainable
development.
CHAPTER 5: WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND CONFLlCf 45-64
Conservation of wildlife; Reasons for dwindling of wildlife resources;
Wildlife conservation measures; Wildlife conservation projects -
Project tiger, Gir lion sanctuary project, Himalayan musk deer project,
Manipur brow-antlered deer project, Project hangul, Crocodile
breeding project, Project elephant and Eco-development project;
National wildlife action plan(2002-2016); Conservation and conflict.
CHAPTER 6: PROTECfED AREAS, BIOSPHERE RESERVES
AND WETLANDS 65-80
Protected area; National park and sanctuary; Biosphere reserve;
Wetland; Classification of wetlands; Management of wetlands; Ramsar
Convention on Wetlands.
CHAPTER 7: FOREST AND WILDLIFE 81-91
Definition of forest and other related terminologies; Importance of
forest; Status of forest; Forest policies and programmes; Forest types;
Forest and wildlife.
CHAPTER 8: ORGANIZATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS
INVOLVED IN WILDLIFE CONSERVATION 93-99
Introduction, National Board for Wildlife; Wildlife Advisory Board;
Bombay Natural History Society(BNHS); Wildlife Institute of
India(WII); Wildlife Preservation Society of India; Central Zoo
Authority(CZA); World Wide Fund for Nature-India(WWF-India);
Wildlife Trust of India(WTI); Other national organization;
International organizations.
CHAPTER 9: ZOOS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT 101-108
Introduction; History of zoo; Objectives of zoo; Zoo layout; Zoo design
and housing; Zoo nutrition; Management of zoo; Staff position of a
zoo.
CHAPTER 10: WILDLIFE TRADE AND LEGISLATION 109-113
Introduction; Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972(as amended up to 2003);
CITES (Convention on International trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora); TRAFFIC (Trade Records Analysis of Flora
and Fauna in Commerce) - International.
SE!CfION 2: WILDLIFE BIOLOGY 115-204
CHAPTER 11: ZOOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF MAMMALS,
REPTILES, AMPHIBIANS AND BIRDS 117-123
Class: Mammalia; Classification of mammals; Class: Amphibia;
Class:Reptilia; Classification of reptiles; Class: A ves ; Classification
of birds.
CHAPTER 12: SALIEN.T FEATURES OF SELECfED WILD
MAMMALS 125-183
Order: Monotremata-echidna and platypus; Order Marsupialia
kangaroo and koala; Insectivora-hedgehog; Chiroptera-Indian fruit
bat and vampire bat; Order Primates-ape Chimpanzee, Hoolock
viii
gibbon, Macaque and Langur; Order Pholidota-pangolin;
Lagomorpha-rabbit and hare; Rodentia- rat and mice, chinchilla,
hamster and porcupine; Order Carnivora-cheetah, lion, leopard, tiger,
snow leopard, small cat, hyaena, Viverrid, mongoose, bear, Asiatic
black bear, sloth bear, Procyonid giant panda, red panda, cavid,
wilddog, dhole, Mustelid and otter; Order Proboscidea-elephant;
Order Perissodactyla-rhinoceros, wild ass and zebra; Artiodactyla
dear, swamp deer, sambar , cheetal, muntjac, musk deer, chevrotain,
Antelopes, blue bull, blackbuck, chinkara, four-homed antelope, yak,
mithun, Indian bison, wild buffalo, wild sheep, wild goat, goat
antelope, wild pig, camelid, camel, giraffe and hippopotamus.
CHAFfER 13: SALIENT FEATURES OF SELECTED WILD
REFfILES 185-196
Turtle-olive ridley turtle, tortoise, terrapin; Crocodile- gharial, marsh
crocodile and estuarine crocodile; Snake- Indian python, Russell's
viper, Indian cobra, king cobra and common Indian krait.
CHAFfER 14: SALIENT FEATURES OF SELECTED WILD
BIRDS 197-204
Ostrich, pelican, flamingo, stork, crane, jungle fowl, peafowl, common
quail, pigeon and parrot.
SECTION 3: FEEDS AND FEEDING, RESTRAINT, HOUSING
AND MANAGEMENT, AND HEALTH CARE 205-329
CHAFfER 15: FEEDS AND FEEDING OF WILD AND ZOO
MAMMALS 207-232
Monotremes- echidna and platypus; MarsupiaIs- kangaroo, wallaby
and koala; Insectivores- hedgehog; Chiropterans - fruit bat,
insectivorous bat and vampire bat; Primates- Pangolin; Lagomorphs
hare and rabbit; Rodents- Carnivores: Felids-hyaena; Viverrids
mongoose; Bears-Himalayan black bear and sloth bear; Mustelids
otter; Procyonids- Canids- dhole, jacal; Elephant; Perissodactyls
rhinoceros, zebra, wild horse and wild ass; Artiodactyls- wild pig,
hippopotamus, mouse deer, giraffe, camelids, deer, cheetal, muntjac,
swamp deer, Antelopes, nilgai, blackbuck, chinkara, wild sheep and
goat, goat antelope, wild cattle, yak, mithun and wild buffalo.
CHAFfER 16: FEEDS AND FEEDING OF WILD AND
ZOO REFfILES 233-236
Chelonians, crocodilians and snakes.
ix