Wildbuzz | Tombstones of the lost wilderness

Armed with a “legal” deed for properties underwritten by an administration which cleared the jungle, homo sapiens are convinced the land they occupy ethically and lawfully belongs to them. But the land upon which they had built a house/ office/ school was the property of wild creatures since aeons. No one sought their assent before eviction nor were they paid land acquisition compensation in cash or kind! These creatures are the victims of the most ruthless land mafia that evolution will ever know.

Monica Sharma from Panchkula’s Sector 28 is a financial sector professional. She was out with her daughter and husband taking a drive after dinner to relieve her child’s examination stress. The Sharmas glimpsed sambars and neelgai roving for food in a landscape with desolate isles of jungle. It was a night dominated by Frankenstein buildings and lights glaring like an interrogation cell.

Sharma was stricken with anxiety: these creatures faced the hazard of hit-and-run collisions. “My eyes were moist when a deer with magnificent antlers appeared unbidden like a gift next to our car. It was hauntingly beautiful — looking curiously into our eyes and with an innocence into my camera. It seemed unaware of the dangers of city traffic,” Sharma told this writer.

In those moments of a fleeting encounter with a vanishing wilderness, the horrific truth of her urban roots struck Sharma. “We were encroaching upon their land. It was not just one glance from this one animal. It was the look of an entire race of creatures on the verge of their land being snatched and taken away. As city dwellers, we are accustomed to the sights of concrete houses, shops, factories and malls. Much before we erected these so-called markers of development, the earth belonged to animals who were the original inhabitants. We took over their land, their shelter and food for an economy that does not complement nature’s currency. Their loss of habitat, their desolate search for sustenance, the risks they are exposed to will leave a tale of despair and annihilation for bio-diversity,” said Sharma.

Sharma ended her soliloquy with a feeling that visits few of us: “I felt species loneliness — a profound human sadness that stems from an estrangement from nature.”

Chirping frog on a Monet pad

At our resort in Calwaddo Benaulim, Goa, the vocalisations of some wild creatures completely foxed me. As we reached during the day, the palm and other trees were alive with queer sounds emanating from the dense foliage. The vocalisations sounded exotic bird-like but I could not see any of my feathered friends. Then a squirrel, very unlike the ones we see in North India, emerged from the leaves and gave me a wondrous new twist to nature’s songs.

As the night crept in and a crescent moon hung over the sea like a luminous lamp strung from the heavens, the pond outside our room was beset with ‘chirps’. It was a very lively medley and relay of sounds that criss-crossed the water. It seemed as if the creatures were playing a kind of tennis match with their tongues from hidden positions.

There were no birds to be seen in the dark water, which was beset with orange water lilies and their gorgeous pads. It was straight out of a Claude Monet water lily painting but with Indian characteristics. I wondered then, were the sounds produced by some kind of a nocturnal insect that I was just not familiar with?

The mystery was resolved during the third night of our stay. I glimpsed a small frog perched on a lily pad right next to the banks of the pond. It was emitting the ‘chirps’ and looking straight up and unafraid at me. In my rambles across North Indian jungles at night since my childhood, I had never heard a frog speak thus!

Experts identified the frog from my pictures as a species of the genus Euphlyctis. This genus is also known as “skittering frogs” because they skip over water like a pebble thrown at an angle across a placid lake. They inhabit ponds and slow-moving streams, and float on water effortlessly. They skitter away briskly when disturbed or indulging in their natural behaviours.

Eight species of the Euphlyctis genus are found globally, of which seven are encountered in India. Some skittering frogs have vocalisations that resemble someone popping bubble-wrap material used for protecting fragile goods during shipping!

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