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A patch of vibrant wilderness

It is unlikely that Indian generations born after the 1960s would be familiar with the hedgehog, a nocturnal mammal (but not altogether averse to occasional daylight forays).

A patch of vibrant wilderness

An alpha blackbuck at the sanctuary. Photo by the writer



Lt-Gen Baljit Singh (retd)

It is unlikely that Indian generations born after the 1960s would be familiar with the hedgehog, a nocturnal mammal (but not altogether averse to occasional daylight forays). On encountering a human being, the mammal instantly retracts his face, slender neck and tiny legs inside the skin-wrap (a la Houdini) and rolls himself into a round lump, the size of about two cricket balls. But you will be well advised not to pick it up because its entire outer surface is covered in a dense mat of some 3000, bristling spines!

Before the Green Revolution had rooted in the vast fallow tracts of our countryside, it used to be exciting to spot hedgehogs with the help of local guides, especially in Rajasthan and Punjab. Sadly, today their entire population is reduced to perhaps two digits but one sure destination of sighting a hedgehog lies at Tal Chappar; a patch of protected wilderness of just 917 hectares, essentially a tabletop flat grassland, in Rajasthan’s Churu district. Tal Chappar’s limited confines and its immediate surroundings (a mere 250 km apart both from Bikaner and Jodhpur) taken together are incredibly rich both in the variety of Raptor species and especially for the presence of numerous herds of blackbuck, India’s best-known antelope.

But where the hedgehog steals a march perhaps over all other creatures of Tal Chappar is by way of its association with a forgotten but fascinating folk legend. Known to the rural communities by his vernacular names as “Chhledda” and “Chahaa”, it was believed that if a lone farmer walked home from his fields on a dark night, he was sure to be shadowed by a mischievous evil spirit, always keeping two paces behind. This unsettling thought played on the nerves of the lone wayfarer but if he dared to look over his shoulders, the spiky black ball would instantly begin to expand in size and weight till the person fainted, never to walk dark nights alone, ever again! 

However, for most visitors the star attraction of Tal Chappar is its few hundred blackbucks (males, females and newly dropped fawns) which dominate the entire landscape. As of now, this antelope is endemic to India alone because in neighbouring Pakistan it was shot to extinction by the late 1960s. One can walk the wilderness leisurely in about four hours, along its longest axis from end to end, between dawn and mid-morning and all the while as though mobbed by blackbucks! The newly dropped fawns especially captivate, as they dart about challenging Usain Bolt’s 100m sprint record. And return in the same spirited abandon, to suckle their doting mothers!

Momentarily, the visual focus may be interrupted by the silent shadow of a big bird in low flight overhead. A closer look through binoculars narrows the identity by virtue of its huge wing-span to either the steppe eagle or the white-tailed eagle, both of which are opportune predators of the newly dropped or injured fawns. The lactating does are genetically wired to pass the danger warning of the predator-in-vicinity and so all mothers and “aunts” hurriedly close ranks around the hapless fawns! Fortunately, both these raptor species are only winter passage-migrants and the predation remains within the bounds of maintaining the “natural balance” matrix. That apart, both raptors are graceful in flight and very handsome in their own right. 

But the beauty and grace of the male blackbuck and the doe are on best display during the mating season when the females congregate in several small, gender exclusive groups and in time, one buck (who first establishes dominance by driving all other suitors away) attaches himself to his chosen group. The alpha buck then sets about exhibiting his prowess to the ladies of his harem, in all earnestness. The buck parades before them with a look of playful arrogance, his head thrown back till the tips of his long, grooved horns touch the tail region. The next moment, he may break into a sprint, clocking 40-60 kmph in mere seconds, from a cold start. That display over, he struts back on a smooth trot but the next moment, it may take his fancy to display his agility by leaping 4 to 6 feet straight up in the air and then run circling around, by now his admiring harem! The wooing ritual goes on till a doe throws her lot with the performing Buck (conforming to Darwin’s belief in “Natural Selection”) by breaking away from the group. There are simply no rapes, in the animal kingdom. 

By mid-morning the mammals have nibbled their meal and seek out shady resting nooks while birds perch on shrubs and trees, for a brief siesta. That is also the signal for the visitor to return to the modest, Forest Department Rest House. This is the phase of the visit when Tal Chappar reveals its wealth of its avifauna some of which are confined to desert habitats only; several species of the wheatear, the yellow-vented bulbul, the demoiselle crane and on a lucky day the spotted sandgrouse, too. Just as Madhya Pradesh has the sobriquet of the “Tiger State” of India, Rajasthan would justly be the “Peacock State” and Tal Chappar, the National Bird’s favourite niche. Even at the risk of being branded chauvinistic, let me state that the male Indian peafowl is the largest among the pheasant species in the world and simply the most gorgeous of plumage, of all!

In one corner of Tal Chappar, which is contiguous with a modest expanse of sand dunes, the sighting of a few chinkaras is also a certainty; the only species of the gazelle in India, barring a few chiru or the Tibetan gazelle, which may occasionally be encountered in Ladakh. It is a chestnut coloured, elegant animal with two spiky horns, seldom more than 10 inches long and a compact body supported by legs that would be the envy of designers of stiletto shoes for the Parisian clientele! This animal, too, has been hunted to extinction, both from Pakistan and Iran and presently its sole refuge remains in India.

There is an interior road along one boundary, both verges of which have thick growth of soo-babul which is a favourite browse for the Neelgai. Like the blackbuck, neelgai too is an antelope endemic only to India and Tal Chappar has many magnificent specimens on offer. And if one chooses the time of visit prudently, Tal Chappar would have on display a few floral blooms of the seldom seen, desert hyacinth. For others, the high point of the visit may be the sighting of a purple sunbird attracted to the aakra (calotropis prowa) blossoms and watch how this tiny bird dexterously insert his disproportionately long, slightly curved and pointed thin beak deep inside the corolla (the cup to which are attached all the petals), without damage neither to the anthers nor the petals of a flower and suck in the nourishing nectar, moving from one to the next flower! 

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