From Chinnar better days foreseen for the Star among tortoises

By Ignatius Pereira

They are poached; not for meat but for solitary confinement as pets at homes in East Asian destinations. In Feng Shui, an Indian star tortoise (Geochelone elegans) at home brings good luck and longevity to the owner and his family.  Endemic to India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka these chelonians get their name from the yellow star like patterns on their black shells. In India they are protected under provisions of the wildlife Act. In India, there are two major races of the star tortoises – the southern type inhabiting Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala; and the north-western type inhabiting Gujarat and Rajasthan

The East Asian superstition led to star tortoises being ruthlessly poached from its natural habitats since smugglers were willing to pay the poachers amounts ranging from Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 40,000 (US$ 440 to 580) a tortoise. It is said that in the East Asia regions each star tortoise could fetch more than US $ 2,200. When forest authorities tightened their vigil on star tortoises, there was even an attempt by smugglers to breed star tortoises in captivity but did not succeed to expected levels. The authorities busted that too. The poaching resulted in the star tortoise status moving from least concerned to vulnerable in the IUCN stats.

At intervals the authorities intercept and seize large numbers of these tortoises from smugglers directly and even from airports before they could be smuggled out. In August last year a creep of 2,500 star tortoises were seized from Chennai. A 2015 study by the London based international animal welfare organisation, World Animal Protection says that from some of the south-eastern regions of India alone about 50,000 star tortoises are being poached annually. The seized star tortoises are handed over to the Forest authorities to be rehabilitated inside forest areas considered apt star tortoise natural habitats.

The Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) in Kerala, India is one of the natural habitats of the star tortoise. With nod from the Wildlife Trust of India, all the star tortoises saved from smuggling attempts in Kerala are rehabilitated in this sanctuary. The sanctuary comes under the jurisdiction of the Eravikulam National Park (ENP) in the Western Ghats that is famous for its Nilgiri Tahr population.

The CWS located in the rain shadow region of the Western Ghats is also a natural habitat for the endangered grizzled giant squirrel in India. The sanctuary is largely a thorny scrub forest comprising a large amount of some flora that are on the menu of the star tortoise and that is the reason along with the apt climatic conditions that made the sanctuary a natural habitat for these chelonians.

While star tortoises have turned out to be the most expensive pets collected from the wild in India, so far there has not been a study on these tortoises from the side of the Kerala forest authorities. That shortcoming is now being rectified. Earlier this month the forest authorities launched a scientific research study exclusively on star tortoises inside the sanctuary. The green signal for the study was given by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Dr. Amit Mallick.

Mr. P.M. Prabhu is the Assistant Wildlife Warden of the CWS and he will head the field study team that comprises the biologist from the Munnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Mr. P. Rajeevan and the Eravaikulam Wildlife Assistant, Mr. Saleesh. The help of tribes people dwelling inside the CWS will be sought. The study will be supervised by the Wildlife Warden of ENP, Mrs. R. Lekshmi and the Filed Director of the Periyar Tiger Reserve, Mr. Georgi P. Mathachen.

Mr. Prabhu says that rehabilitating star tortoises rescued from smugglers is a delicate task since species identification has to be done and that is a job that has to be meticulously carried out.  The species native to the north-western parts of the country cannot be released in the habitats of the southern species and vice-versa. The job gets difficult since sometimes a single creep of seized star tortoises can comprise both the species.

 As with other chelonians, presumably the eggs and small hatchlings and juveniles suffer the highest levels of mortality, with increasing survivorship as tortoises reach adulthood. Thus average lifespan might be considerably lower that potential lifespan.

While some scientific studies on star tortoises have been carried out and published, no studies on natural survivorship or lifespan in nature are available. The study by the team led by Mr. Prabhu will be comprehensive covering all aspects for two years. Mr. Prabhu can be contacted on phone number (00971) 8547603220..