The Animals and Birds of the Riverine Tract Ecozone

Little Bittern

The Little Bittern or the Lxobrychus minutus in 36 cm in length. They are found near the marshes or the reed beds, and are a resident in South Asia and North West China.The males have a black crown and black underparts, the sides of the head and the neck are greyish pink or vinous. The female is black largely replaced with chestnut brown shoulder patch. The juveniles are dark brown with rufous streaking. Its voice resembles that of a frog.

White Stork

Ciconia boycina measures up to 112 cm. Its bill is thick and long and is blakish-grey. The body is white and its flight feathers are black. The breeding species have orange legs and a blue iris. The non-breeding species have reddish orange legs and the iris is yellow. It makes clatters mandibles together to make castanets -like sound. It is found in the lowland marshes, lakes,

and breeds in the nearby woods. It breeds in the south part of the far East Russia, the north part of East Asia and moves to the south part of East Asia in the non-breeding period.

Indus Dolphin

The Indus Dolphin scientifically known as Platanista indica. The Indus Dolphin has some special characteristics which give it some uniqueness. It is only found in the River Indus, however, its relative resides in the Ganges River. The River Indus has a large amount of silt as a result very little light penetrates below the surface of the water.

To adapt to this environment the Indus Dolphin gradually lost its ability to utilise light sensitive organs such as the eyes. However, the requirement of its food and other purposes in the muddy water enabled the Dolphin to develop a sophisticated sound system called the "Sonar System" or echo location. This helps the Dolphin to locate its prey in the surroundings. This Dolphin has faced a number of threats especially from the building of barrages on the River Indus that restricted its movements and made it easy for the people to catch them. Due to over-hunting and pollution, this mammal has become extinct. Only 150 of them are found in the River Indus, according to the study carried out in 1974.

In outline it is a typical Dolphin, with a sleek fusiform body the caudal region being laterally compressed and very slim. It differs from other Dolphins in the broad spade shaped flippers and the rostrum or the beak, which is relatively long and very slender. It has two rows of non-differentiated conical teeth in both jaws, which are backward curving and interlock when the mouth is closed. In Colour, this Dolphin is pinkish or purplish grey-brown. Being paler ventrally. The skin is soft and satiny.

Dunlin

Calidris alpina or the Dunlin has a longish black bill, somewhat down curved at the tip, and it has black legs. A large black patch on the centre of the belly distinguishes the breeding species. The non-breeding species have a uniform grey brown upperparts. The under parts are white with faint grey- brown streaks on the sides of the breast.
The juvenile are blakish brown with the chestnut edging, their belly and flanks are white with dark brown streaks. Dunlins are mostly found near mudflats, inlets and riverbanks. It breeds in north part of North Asia and spends the non-breeding time in the South and East Asia.

Moorhen

Gallinula chloropus measures 32.5 cm in length. Moorhens are dark with a brownish tinge on the upperparts and greyish tinge on the underparts. The sides of the undertail-coverts are white. Other than the anterior third of the bill, that is yellow, the rest and the frontal shield is red. The immature are like the adults; however, their frontal shield is not developed. The juvenile is brown with the lighter flank lines. It is a resident of Asia and is found near the marshes and in places with any kind of vegetation.

Pheasant Tailed Jacana The Hydrophasianus chirurgus measures up to 55 cm in length. It is white winged with a strikingly long black tail in breeding plumage. Its bill, legs and feet are bluish grey and its iris is dark. The breeding species have a black line that separates yellow hindneck from the white foreneck and face. It has black rear crown. Its underparts are black from the breast downwards. The Non-breeding species have a shorter tail;

its underparts are white with a dark breast band. It has dark eye stripe that joins the dark line down the side of the neck. It is found in or near the marshes, small lakes, ponds and dense vegetation. It is a resident of South and South East Asia; northern breeders move south in the non-breeding period.

Black Winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus or the Black Winged Stilt measures up to 32 cm in length it has a distinctive large black and white wader with a long bill and extremely long pink legs. Its bill is black and its iris red. The Adult has a white plumage and a black back; it has black wings and has a pale grey tail. The head of its male is whiter than the female. The mantles, scapulars and tertials are black in males and brownish in females. The juvenile is brown with pale fringes to feathers giving a scaly appearance.

It is found in the open inland marshes, ricefields, coastal and estuarine mudflats. It breeds in Central Asia to South and Continental South East Asia; northern breeders migrate south.

Indian Saw Back Turtle

The Kachuga tecta is a small sized (230 mm carapace in length) terrapin of the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra river systems. The single midback keel ends in a backward pointing spine on the pentagonal third vertebral shield. Carapace olive green with small black spots with an orange or red band on the first three vertebral shields. Plastron yellow in adult and is orange with distinct black spots in the young. Its head is black above and yellow on the sides. The neck is black with thin yellow lines and it is a herbivore.

Brahminy Terrapin

Or Kali Kauntha , is widely found in the Indus, Ganges and the Brahmaputra River systems. The median keel is disjointed and is in the form of a projecting knob at the hind end of each vertebral shield. Its shell is dark brown with keel and first three coastals black. It is herbivorous. This species is commercially exploited and its breeding habits are little known.

Mud Turtles

Or the Lissemys punctata are often kept by religious establishments. Mud Turtles are an essential ingredient of Vedic sacrifices. A deep depression is made in the centre of the area of the vedi (Altar) and an alive turtle is kept in it with sufficient food to keep it alive. The sacrifice is considered auspicious if the turtle is alive and the altar is destroyed.

Gharial

Gavialis gangeticus its is easily distinguished from other crocodiles by the long and narrow snout which ends in a bulbous tip. It measures upto 6.75 meters in length. The jaws have on each side 27 to 29 undifferentiated teeth in the upper jaw and 25 to 26 teeth in the lower jaw. The adult is dark olive or brownish olive. They are white or yellowish white below. The young are greyish brown with five irregular transverse bands on the body and nine on the tail.

The Gharial is confined to the Indus, Ganges Brahmaputra and the Mahanadi River systems in the Indian sub-continent and the Irrawaddy and Arakan river system in Burma. Presently the main habitat is in Chambal, Girwa, Rapti and the Narayani rivers of the Ganges system. The species is now rare and endangered. It is a facile swimmer; it is clumsy on land propelling itself with it legs in a sliding movement when coming out to bask. It rarely moves far from the river bank. Young Gharial makes a groaning noise when disturbed. Adults have been heard bellowing and to make a groaning noise when in distress. Breeding males hiss loudly, the ghara possibly acting as a resonator.

It preys on fish and occasionally on turtles, birds and small mammals and is also said to feed on corpses. The fish caught is manipulated by the jaws and is swallowed head first.

The mating behaviour is similar to that of the other crocodilians. Mating occurs in the cold winter months of December - January. Gharials nest in late March and early April. The nesting season is said not to vary by more than 10 days in any year and all the females in the area nest more or less within a week. Hatchlings are taken by birds of prey and large wading birds and in winters by large turtles and fish. Gharials have lived in captivity for 29 years.

Mugger or Marsh Crocodile

Crocodylus palustris or the Mugger is rarely over 4 meters in length. It has a broad snout without distinct ridges infront of the eyes and a row of four distinct, sharply raised scales just behind the head called post occipitals. Its back is armoured with sixteen to seventeen transverse and six longitudinal series of bony plates embedded in the skin. It is usually olive coloured above with specklings of black which are more evident in the young; its underparts are usually yellowish white or white.

It inhabits rivers, lakes and other large bodies of water in the plains and end up to 600 m in the hills, throughout the Indian subcontinent. It hunts more or less exclusively in water, the diet composes of fish but any animal that can be overcome is taken. Once a prey has been sighted in the shallows or at the edge of the water, the attack is made under water and at speed.

It usually remains silent but hiss loudly when in danger from the enemy. Adults occasionally roar, a call said to resemble the bellow of cattle. Mating season is observed from mid January in the southern to March in the northern parts of the Country.