New Amphibian specie found in India..

New Amphibian Specie Found In India..

A new family of caecilians, the most enigmatic branch of the amphibians, has been discovered in northeastern India.
The animals, which at first glance resemble worms, live in forest soil and are most closely related to an African group of caecilians.
The females incubate their young for several months without eating.
Writing in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B, the scientists say the animals may be threatened by population growth and slash-and-burn agriculture.
Caecilians are very hard to spot as they live either underground or under leaf litter that lies on the soil.
The new discovery was the result of about 250 soil-digging expeditions over five years that covered every northeast Indian state.
"Caecilians are the most cryptic group of animals, and it's not possible to identify whether it's a new species or genus or family just after collecting it," said SD Biju from the University of Delhi, who led the project.
"We studied the molecules (DNA) and the morphology, both internal and external, to identify the species," he told BBC News.
When the analysis was complete, the researchers found they had not only a new species on their hands, but the first representative of a hitherto unknown family.
This is the 10th caecilian family to be identified, and the team named it Chikilidae, derived from the name used in the local Garo tongue.
DNA evidence suggests the family split from its closest African relatives more than 140 million years ago, when the ancient super-continent of Gondwana fragmented, separating present-day India and Africa.
Unlike the familar frogs and salamanders, caecilians are limbless and smooth.
Their eyesight is very limited and their skulls adapted for burrowing.
Reproduction and rearing of the young are varied. The most unusual known example is a species where the babies eat the mother's skin, which she sheds for the purpose.
Chikilidae'shabits are not quite so spectacular, though the mothers stay wrapped around their developing eggs for 2-3 months at a time, apparently not eating at all during this period.
Although Chikilidae turned up in about a quarter of the survey sites and so might be quite abundant, Prof Biju believes its future is not assured.
"We found them not only in the forest area but also very close to human settlement," he said.
"So conservation of this group is extremely challenging."
Some of the animals have reportedly been killed by villagers who mistook them for poisonous snakes. In fact, they carry no venom.
One positive point for the new discoveries is that the region seems to be free of the fungal disease chytridiomycosis, which has devastated amphibian populations in many parts of the world.
Globally, amphibians are the most threatened group of animals, with about 40% of species on the internationally-recognised Red List.
But new discoveries are regularly made, though most come from rarely-visited regions of rainforest rather than quite densely-populated areas.
Prof Biju has been involved in discovering scores of other new amphibian species in India, where he has been dubbed "FrogMan"

The six main reason for vultures extinction.........

Here are the six top reasons according to the researchers for the rapid decline of vulture population in India.

1. Electrocution

The researchers had rescued an Oriental White-backed Vulture, Gyps bengalensis, which was found in an open field at Bhangaon village in Shrigonda taluka. They conducted studies on the bird and found that it was emaciated but was not poisoned.

When the bird was eventually released, it unfortunately got electrocuted from electricity wires almost 60 km away from the point of release. The researchers thus believe that electrocution, a reason hitherto not mentioned might be leading to more number of vulture deaths.

2. Food Shortage 

Another reason for the decline in vulture population quoted by the experts is shortage of food. This is because the central government has given a directive to villagers to bury the carcasses of dead animals in order to keep villages clean. While the effort is good, the lack of animal carcasses leaves the vulture hungry and without food.

3. Diclofenac

The people of Ela Foundation do not believe that this chemical is harming the vultures as much as projected. This is because the shelf life of Diclofenac is 6 hours and if the vultures do eat the carcasses of animals who have been administered the drug, the chances of the chemical reaching their body is very less.

Pande believes that though the use of the chemical may be one of the causes for the vulture deaths, it may not be the sole reason as the drug has also been banned from use and its usage has reduced if not totally stopped.

4. Malaria

Some of the vultures they studied were found to be suffering from Malaria. This had led them to conclude that this too may be one of the reasons vultures are dying in the wild.

5. Pesticides

Many farmers spray cattle carcasses with the pesticide such as Organo-chlorineand Organo-phosphorous to prevent them from spreading foul odour. This pesticide infested carcass may be eaten by the vulture leading to its death. The scientists have found instances where hundreds of vultures have died this way.

6. Lack of Nesting Trees 

Some species of vulture like the Oriental White-backed Vulture prefer to make their nest on coconut trees. But when the trees are chopped off, the vultures lose their home. Some trees may also wither away due to the frequent vulture droppings on the trees, and therefore many times they are cut even though they are healthy.

There are therefore number of reasons leading to decline in vulture population. If the concept of vulture restaurants already started in few locations in India is taken to various parts of the country, it may serve as a beneficial and safe way to provide vultures with food and help them live longer.

White Rumped Vultures

Vultures are in trouble across the world. Of the 21 species included in this category, 8 are threatened with extinction and 3 more are considered “near threatened” by the IUCN’s Red List. But few have declined as dramatically as the Asian white-rumped vulture. Once among the more abundant large birds of prey, numbering in the tens of millions, white-rumped vultures are now down to fewer than 10,000 birds.

On wings spanning almost seven feet and characterized by white undersides, white-rumped vultures can soar to 9,000 feet. Like all vultures, the birds are scavengers that dispose of animal carcasses that would otherwise contaminate land and water and pose a risk of disease.

Asian white-rumped vultures range from Pakistan to Vietnam and have been reported in Afghanistan and Iran. They are considered extinct in southern China and Malaysia, and one of the most viable populations lives in the northern and eastern plains of Cambodia. WCS leads the Cambodia Vulture Conservation Project, a collaboration between various NGOs and governmental agencies, to help preserve this stronghold for three critically endangered species: the white-rumped, slender-billed, and red-headed vultures.

Fast Facts

Scientific Name

Gyps bengalensis

Asian white-rumped vultures socialize in flocks and nest in tall trees or cliffs, often near urbanized areas. Usually, the male gathers the twigs and the female arranges them to build the nest. Asian vultures were once ubiquitous in South Asian cities. Their decline has dealt a blow to India's small Parsi ethnic minority, who are prohibited by their religion from burying or burning their dead, and depend on carrion-eating birds to help dispose of corpses.

Challenges

Asian white-rumped vultures have dramatically declined since the 1990s, in part due to loss of habitat and nesting grounds, primarily a result of urbanization. As populations of large ungulates and herds of free-ranging cattle have declined, vultures have also lost their food supply. But the greatest threat comes from South Asian farmers’ use of the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac to treat their livestock, which causes renal failure in vultures that feed on cattle carcasses. Though the Indian government now prohibits manufacture of diclofenac, remaining stocks are still in use as enforcement of its ban is lax and alternative drugs are more expensive. Conservationists are concerned that the birds’ declines will be difficult to reverse and that some species may be extinct within a decade. The white-rumped vulture is one of the hardest-hit species; its populations have plummeted 99.9 percent within a decade. Further challenging conservation efforts: White-rumped vultures lay only one egg at a time.

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