Just 150 left, glimmer of hope for great Indian bustard after first-ever artificial insemination birth in Jaisalmer

“This is an extremely important step in the conservation of the GIB, which is an endangered species,” said Pavan Kumar, Chief Wildlife Warden of Rajasthan. He said a similar initiative had been started in Abu Dhabi, where a project by the International Fund for Houbara Conservation has been using artificial insemination to hatch the houbara bustard.

“A team of researchers from the Wildlife Institute of India went to Abu Dhabi to learn the techniques of artificial insemination to implement it on the great Indian bustard. In this manner, we will be able to save other endangered species also,” said Pavan Kumar.

According to the government, there are fewer than 150 GIB – birds that are found only in India. Most of these are found in Rajasthan.

Increased human activity in their habitat, predators preying on their eggs, and deaths due to overhead power lines are seen as being among the causes of the bird’s population decline.

In 2020, a study carried out by WII in the 4,200-sq-km of the great Indian bustard (GIB) habitat in and around Desert National Park in Rajasthan estimated that power lines had killed around 84,000 birds of multiple species every year. This included the endangered GIB, which are particularly vulnerable because of their narrow frontal vision and large size.

In April 2021, the Supreme Court had ordered that all power lines in the GIB habitat be buried underground. However, earlier this year, the apex court said it would review its 2021 order after the central government found that it would be “practically impossible to implement” over long distances.

As part of conservation efforts, the Centre, the Rajasthan government and WII have been collaborating on a captive breeding programme for GIB. The artificial insemination method was successfully implemented as a part of this project. The plan is to eventually release the captively bred birds into the wild.

According to wildlife experts, while the birth of the GIB chick by artificial insemination is an important step in conservation efforts, it is too early to speculate on the extent of the impact this could have.

Wildlife biologist Sumit Dookia, from the University School of Environment Management at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, said, “This is part of a captive breeding project that has been going on since 2019. While this is a positive step in the right direction, it will take at least 25 years to be able to develop enough birds (in this manner) to allow for natural increase of their population after they are released in the wild.”

“Moreover, these efforts will not be fruitful until we are able to save the wild GIB habitat, which is getting destroyed due to human footprint and development activities,” he said.

Dookia said the great Indian bustard lays one egg – the size of three chicken eggs – a year. The eggs are laid on ground nests, and due to their size, they become easy prey for other animals. While the birds try to find isolated areas to lay the eggs, changes in their habitat have meant that such locations are harder to come by. Once the egg is hatched, the bird raises the chick for two years before laying another egg, according to Dookia.