Year.....
2021
Place......A remote jungle in northeast India
Time......April dawn
High in the thick canopy of the jungle, Raj and his Uncle Dhalni watched a group of apes munching on wild fruit. The creatures swung from branch to branch, leader on the watch, alert. What a fascinating holiday this was turning out to be! His school buddies would have been envious!
Uncle Dhalni was a wildlife researcher. He was in the northeast on a project to study India's only ape, the Hoolock Gibbon, and the effect of climate change on their habitat and future. Uncle needed someone to help with the documentation process. Raj was fluent with laptop use, so........
There they sat, watching as the family - father, mother and two young ones - fed in the canopy. They had followed the primates up to the hilltop, and listened to them howl. The jungle echoed with their calls!
As they moved, they picked berries off the branches, a spider or two, some leaves...
Chomp....howl...jump, swing....howl....
Raj videotaped quietly. By midday the family had reached the hilltop. Raj and Uncle Dhalni returned to the base for lunch.
As they ate hungrily, Raj listened to Uncle Dhalni describe the life of the Gibbons.
"Gibbons wake up early in the valleys. They live in small family groups of up to six in all. At daybreak, one will howl, then another and so on, till all the Gibbons are 'reporting' to each other, and the days routine begins," Uncle said.
Raj laughed. "What loud howls!" he chuckled.
"By noon," said Uncle, "they quieten and rest till evening. The howls build up again, till dusk. Then they return to their nightly roost in the valley."
"I notice," Raj said, "that they use the same path from branch to branch each day!"
Dhalni noted that Raj was already showing signs of becoming a true researcher, with his patient observance. "Yup!" he said. "Good work! Thats exactly what they do, and that is where climate change is affecting them."
"As the monsoons decrease with each passing year," Uncle said," its becoming way too hot in the northeast. The trees are used to more moisture, along with the insects, birds and plants that also require a more humid, moist atmosphere. Now they're dying out. That means fewer berries. Tree leaves fall earlier than normal too. We are worried about the future of India's only ape!"
Raj nodded. With less to eat, Hoolock Gibbons might become extinct in a decade or two! What a rotten thought! He had to do something!
In June, Raj went to class IX. He and his friends formed a Hoolock Gibbons Aid Fund. They held a huge rally to save India's ape from extinction. A lareg sum was collected. Researchers used the sum to carry on research in the northeast. A wildlife centre there successfully multiplied two Hoolock Gibbon families! Once able to feed themselves, they were let free in the wild again.
Raj and his friends hope they will do well. They sure proved that working together can make wonders happen, didnt they?
Place......A remote jungle in northeast India
Time......April dawn
High in the thick canopy of the jungle, Raj and his Uncle Dhalni watched a group of apes munching on wild fruit. The creatures swung from branch to branch, leader on the watch, alert. What a fascinating holiday this was turning out to be! His school buddies would have been envious!
Uncle Dhalni was a wildlife researcher. He was in the northeast on a project to study India's only ape, the Hoolock Gibbon, and the effect of climate change on their habitat and future. Uncle needed someone to help with the documentation process. Raj was fluent with laptop use, so........
There they sat, watching as the family - father, mother and two young ones - fed in the canopy. They had followed the primates up to the hilltop, and listened to them howl. The jungle echoed with their calls!
As they moved, they picked berries off the branches, a spider or two, some leaves...
Chomp....howl...jump, swing....howl....
Raj videotaped quietly. By midday the family had reached the hilltop. Raj and Uncle Dhalni returned to the base for lunch.
As they ate hungrily, Raj listened to Uncle Dhalni describe the life of the Gibbons.
"Gibbons wake up early in the valleys. They live in small family groups of up to six in all. At daybreak, one will howl, then another and so on, till all the Gibbons are 'reporting' to each other, and the days routine begins," Uncle said.
Raj laughed. "What loud howls!" he chuckled.
"By noon," said Uncle, "they quieten and rest till evening. The howls build up again, till dusk. Then they return to their nightly roost in the valley."
"I notice," Raj said, "that they use the same path from branch to branch each day!"
Dhalni noted that Raj was already showing signs of becoming a true researcher, with his patient observance. "Yup!" he said. "Good work! Thats exactly what they do, and that is where climate change is affecting them."
"As the monsoons decrease with each passing year," Uncle said," its becoming way too hot in the northeast. The trees are used to more moisture, along with the insects, birds and plants that also require a more humid, moist atmosphere. Now they're dying out. That means fewer berries. Tree leaves fall earlier than normal too. We are worried about the future of India's only ape!"
Raj nodded. With less to eat, Hoolock Gibbons might become extinct in a decade or two! What a rotten thought! He had to do something!
In June, Raj went to class IX. He and his friends formed a Hoolock Gibbons Aid Fund. They held a huge rally to save India's ape from extinction. A lareg sum was collected. Researchers used the sum to carry on research in the northeast. A wildlife centre there successfully multiplied two Hoolock Gibbon families! Once able to feed themselves, they were let free in the wild again.
Raj and his friends hope they will do well. They sure proved that working together can make wonders happen, didnt they?
* Illustration - Leela Gour Broome
