AHMEDABAD: In a landmark moment for wildlife conservation, Gujarat has recorded the birth of a Great Indian Bustard chick in the wild after nearly a decade. The chick hatched on March 26 in the grasslands of Kutch, marking a significant breakthrough for one of India’s most endangered bird species.Forest officials confirmed and Bhupendra Yadav, Union minister for environment, forest & climate change, tweeted about the birth. Officials said that post-birth, the mother GIB and chick could not be traced by forest guard fuelling apprehension of an untoward incident. However, the mother-chick duo were sighted on Saturday triggering a congratulatory wave in the local forest community. The entire development was being kept under wraps with only few seniors involved even the experts from IUCN were not involved in the process.Yadav termed it a “significant milestone” in India’s conservation journey. “Gujarat witnessed the birth of a chick after a decade, in Kutch, through a novel conservation measure known as the Jumpstart Approach. The effort was planned a year back which was coordinated by the MoEFCC, along with the state forest departments of Rajasthan and Gujarat and the Wildlife Institute of India.”The last successful breeding of the species in Gujarat was recorded in 2016. Since then, the situation had worsened dramatically, especially after the disappearance of the last known male bustard in the state in September 2018. This male GIB who went missing in 2016 was the last born in the wild in the state. With only three surviving females left in Kutch, all subsequent eggs laid over the years were infertile, pushing the species to the brink of local extinction in the state.Forest officials revealed that the breakthrough came through a first-of-its-kind inter-state conservation initiative known as the “jumpstart approach.” Under this method, a fertile, partially incubated egg was transported from Rajasthan to Gujarat and carefully placed in a wild nest. The egg was brought from conservation breeding centres in Rajasthan after initial reluctance from Rajasthan, which was later resolved following intervention by the Wildlife Institute of India and MoEFCC.The operation involved transporting the egg over a 770-kilometre distance from Sam in Rajasthan to Naliya in Gujarat. Officials created a halt-free corridor to ensure the safety and viability of the egg during the 19-hour journey in a portable incubator. The egg, already incubated for about 21 days, was placed in the nest on March 22 when the female temporarily left to forage.Experts explained that female bustards egg hatches typically after around 22–24 days of incubation. The female would abandon the egg after hatching it for nearly 25-28 days.“The partially hatched egg was replaced by March 22 and was successfully hatched four days later, on March 26, completing a carefully timed and executed conservation effort.This is the first inter-state jump start initiative of the GIB in the country, that was successfully executed in Gujarat. It is important to mention that in Gujarat only three female GIBs are surviving in the grasslands of Kutch, leaving no possibility of having a fertile egg in the wild.
