Lanka’s perfume goldmine

Walla Patta, scientifically known as Gyrinops walla, is a commonly seen sub canopy tree that grows in home gardens as well as in wet zone forests. So it came as a surprise when authorities learned of illicit operations to smuggle this seemingly insignificant tree out of the country.

Not long ago, Walla Patta was found to produce a resinous substance called “Agarwood” (also known as oud), which is used as a base for the world’s most expensive perfumes. No one in Sri Lanka knew Walla Patta had this valuable property until recently.

“Agarwood specialists haven’t had a chance to study Walla Patta,” Dr. Samantha S. Fernando, biodiversity specialist and researcher attached to the University of Peradeniya, told the Sunday Times. “International specialists say they don’t know if Walla Patta can actually produce Agarwood, they haven’t even seen the plant. Even scientists and law enforcement officials didn’t know about this, but the smugglers knew. ”
A Walla Patta smuggling operation was apprehended “for the first time in history” in Kalawana, Ratnapura, earlier this year, by a rainforest officer who saw Indian men carrying bags of wood chips. A follow-up investigation revealed the smugglers were using the wood to extract Agarwood

.

In the latest bust, Norton Bridge police arrested eight people including an Indonesian national for illicitly felling and transporting Walla Patta. Norton Bridge Police OIC Bandara Devatagedara said the arrestees had with them two tins of perfume oil with pictorial labels depicting the Walla Patta tree.

“The Indonesian knew how to take the important parts of the tree,” Inspector Devatagedara said. “Our people didn’t know. He had even brought special knives and equipment to extract Agarwood from the trees.”
“Authorities are still investigating the scale of these smuggling operations. Smugglers are believed to sneak Agarwood out of the country hidden with other products such as palm oil,” the inspector said.

Walla Patta is not protected under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, but cannot be taken out of the country without permission.

“Because Walla Patta has indigenous medicinal properties, to allow sustainable use, the tree is not protected under Section 42 of the Ordinance,” Environmental Lawyer Jagath Gunawardena said. “But under the Forest Conservation Ordinance, any part of a tree growing in a forest is ‘forest produce,’ and cannot be felled, collected, transported, kept in possession or exported in any form without permission from Forest Conservation Department.”

Walla Patta is listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and therefore, cannot be taken out of the country without a CITES permit, Mr. Gunawardena added.

Forest Conservator General K.B. Ariyadasa said the Forest Conservation Department had banned Walla Patta felling and exports.

“Now we have banned Walla Patta felling in protected areas,” he said. “But they continue in private lands. Right now, we don’t allow exports either, even from private lands. We need to continue investigations into the value and uses of this plant.”

Smuggling reveals the true value of Walla Patta

“Agarwood is traditionally extracted from plants in the genus Aquilaria. There are about 15 plants in this genus that can produce Agarwood, mostly in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and China,” Dr. Fernando said.

Agarwood is formed when the trunk and roots of a mature Aquilaria tree is infected with a parasitic fungus. The infected tree excretes a resin to fight off the fungus, which darkens and solidifies in the heartwood of the tree, and is called Agarwood. Once extracted and processed into oil, it’s known to emanate a “sweet, deep but balanced” fragrance. Due to its alcohol-free status, Agarwood oil and perfumes are highly prized by Middle Easterners.

The genus Aquilaria is not found in Sri Lanka. However, there’s another genus called Gyrinops, also used to produce Agarwood, but not as popularly, and Walla Patta belongs to this genus.

“Historically, it wasn’t known that we could make Agarwood from Gyrinops plants in Sri Lanka,” Dr. Fernando said. “It was never recorded that we could make Agarwood, if we had known, we would have also made it.”

“Locals mostly use Walla Patta for bark fibre ropes for limb casts or “patta baedeema,” and as medicine for serpent stings, toothaches and so on,” Peradeniya Botanical Gardens Director General Siril Wijesundara said. Most locals are ignorant of the commercial value of the product and the nature of Agarwood.

“Some villagers came to us and said some ‘misled’ foreigners paid them for infected (‘una baessa’) Walla Patta trees,” Dr. Fernando said. “They think Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 is good money for a tree that’s not even healthy.”

“In fact, world market prices for Agarwood goes up to US$ 60,000 (about Rs 7,700,000) per kilo for first grade products and US$ 25,000 per kilo for third grade products,” Mr. Gunawardena said. The exact value of Agarwood extracted from Walla Patta is yet to be determined.

“Currently, the most valuable resin in the market is Aquilaria malaccensis,” Dr. Fernando said. “We don’t know if Walla Patta is more valuable. It’s like our universities and government bodies are searching in the dark.”

There’s only one known published scientific study on the subject; “Agarwood-type Resin from Gyrinops walla Gaertn: A New Discovery,” conducted by University of Sri Jayawardenapura Professor Upul Subasinghe and colleagues. The study compared resin from Walla Patta against commercially available Aquilaria resin and concluded that major compounds from Aquilaria Agarwood is also present in Walla Patta Agarwood.

“The compounds may be present in different percentages, but they are there,” Dr. Subasinghe said. “Therefore, there is a similarity, but we need to do more research with high tech equipment.”

Dr. Subasinghe, with an academic background in ecology, suspected Agarwood properties of Walla Patta as the plant belonged to the Agarwood-producing family. He thought he was the first to know, until he heard about smuggling operations from people in Balangoda and Kalutara.

“Regarding smuggling, my gut feeling is that they may mix Walla Patta resin with foreign products and sell it for low prices,” Dr. Subasinghe said. “This has a huge value in the open market, if we can prove Walla Patta resin value with further research based on similarities, the government could cultivate this on a major scale like rubber. As scientists we can only suggest.”

In other countries, there are Aquilaria plantations and farmers artificially inoculate the tree to make Agarwood. Mr. Ariyadasa said, cultivation in Sri Lanka for commercial purposes is also possible with more research. Dr. Fernando said there is much to be known before commercial cultivation, such as the type of fungus that the tree reacts against and how to artificially inoculate to produce the same results.

“Honestly, this is like a gold mine for Sri Lanka,” Dr. Fernando said. “First, we need to stop the smuggling, otherwise the trees won’t remain for research. This will be a good source of income from our rich biodiversity, and will be more environmentally sustainable than growing tea in the wet zone. Also, we need to claim patent rights for Walla Patta Agarwood before other countries do. We have a good defence, as Gyrinops walla (called after the plant’s Sinhala name) was first recorded in Galle in 1780 by J.G. Konig.”

Gold mine threatened

“Because of the recently discovered monetary value of Walla Patta trees, combined with the general lack of knowledge, unnecessary felling of the tree has increased. Most people don’t understand healthy trees have no commercial value, but cut them down, hoping to sell them anyway,” Mr. Ariyadasa said.

In addition, the infection occurs inside the bark of the tree, therefore, some cut the trees just to check for infection.

“The tree is not in the endangered situation, but the threat still exists, as word has spread that Walla Patta is valuable,” Mr. Ariyadasa said. “Few know about Agarwood. The infection occurs in only about 10% or 15% of trees, so we need to advise people against unnecessary felling,”

Dr. Fernando said there are no proper governmental safeguards for the tree, considering its enormous value.

“There’s a saying that Agarwood is worth more than gold,” he added. “So, it’s still worthwhile for the smugglers to pay our minuscule fine for violating the law, and still illegally export. It’s that valuable. These operations have been going on for six or seven years.

We need to take immediate steps to protect this plant. But government bodies work slower than most; by the time they go from one meeting to another, smugglers have taken the plant out of the country.”

Source:http://www.sundaytimes.lk/121209/news/lankas-perfume-goldmine-23702.html

Wallapatta agarwood the new illegal million-rupee racket

An attempt to smuggle out wallapatta agarwood worth Rs. 12 million was prevented by vigilant Customs officers last week.

The offender had 16.8kg of the substance concealed in his baggage, Samantha Gunasekara of the Customs Biodiversity Protection Unit said. It had been cleaned and considered to be grade 1 quality.

The offender was at Bandaranaike International Airport to board a Bangalore-bound flight. Preliminary investigations revealed that he was only a carrier, and investigations are underway to find the source of the agarwood.

Agarwood is a product of the wild tree, wallapatta, and it is illegal to own or take out a forest product without permission but because of its high value criminals collect and export it illegally.

Wallapatta is scientifically classified as a sub-canopy tree growing in wet zone forests as well as in home gardens in these areas. The tree creates a resin called agarwood in its core as a reaction to a fungal infection, and this is used as a base for perfumes.

Perfumes produced using agarwood are expensive because of the resin’s scarcity, so a wave of illegal felling of wallapatta has been reported, several dozen cases from different parts of Sri Lanka in the first weeks of 2014.

In the latest case, Morontuduwa police arrested three men for cutting down a wallapatta tree and transporting in a van. Because the agarwood has to be exported illegally, stringent measures have to be put in place to nab the offenders who mastermind this racket.

Only some wallapatta trees affected by fungi manufacture the agarwood resin. Since there is no way to detect whether a wallapatta tree is secreting agarwood, trees are being felled indiscriminately for quick profits.

Prof. Nimal Gunatilleke, who has studied the growth of wallapatta, warns that extensive removal of large mature trees could affect the survival of wild wallapatta trees, already categorised as “vulnerable” to extinction on the National RedList.

Prof. Gunatilleke points out that investigation of the tree’s reproductive ecology and low-cost propagation methods of wallapatta were needed to restore the growth of the tree in the forest and to increase domestic growth to reduce pressure on this rapidly dwindling natural resource.

The Director General of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) said regulations to protect wallapatta have been drafted. He said the cultivation of wallapatta would be encouraged under stringent monitoring conditions.

Source:http://www.sundaytimes.lk/140216/news/wallapatta-agarwood-the-new-illegal-million-rupee-racket-85990.html

In the wilds among men counting elephants

After a long bumpy ride to the heart of the Minneriya National Park, we saw hundreds of them – adults, sub-adults, juveniles and calves – lumbering towards a water-hole. The two observers of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) quickly started counting and making note of the number of elephants.

The observers had spotted 187 elephants at the waterhole from 6 a.m. till noon on the second day of the islandwide elephant census conducted by the Department of Wild Life Conservation. “We can’t be sure of the count. But, I don’t think I will make an error as elephants are not new to me,” said one observer. Elephant surveys are usually conducted during the peak drought period. In this method, known as the waterhole count, elephants are counted when they go in large numbers to big water- holes. The smaller waterholes dry up during the drought.

A man takes down data as elephants gather at the water-hole in Minneriya

The islandwide census which was a 48-hour survey from 6 p.m on Thursday to 6 p.m. on Saturday was the first of its kind in the country. There were 1,553 observation points islandwide and upto 4,000 observers – wildlife department officials, volunteers and military personnel participated in the programme, DWC Deputy Director S.R.B. Dissanayake, said.
He said, volunteers and military men were given a training on how to conduct the census. In some areas villagers and civil defence forces also assisted the department officials, he said. The observers with pencil and sheet of paper in hand marked the location where the elephants were sighted, the time, category and male-female ratio.
DWC official W.B.M. Wijesiri said although the animals did not pose a threat unless they were disturbed, the observers carried a shotgun for safety. He said, one of the main classification of the jumbos was gender and to do this they observed their shapes. “While female elephants have straight and flat backs, the males have rounded backs,” he said.
However, counting and categorising the large number of elephants from the observation points, which are quite a distance away from the animals can give rise to inaccuracies. Our own count on the number of elephants near the lake was more than 400. Moreover, we noticed baby elephants hiding behind their parents and this would have posed a big problem for the observers.

Observers perchd on an observation post await the arrival of elephants

Commenting on our query about accuracy, the Deputy Director, Mr. Dissanayake said, if the observers are trained properly, precision can be ensured. “We are not counting the elephants one by one, this is more a survey. More than the numbers, we are collecting information on the population structure of the elephants - proportion of calves, adults and the percentage of juveniles,” he said.
As I was speaking to Mr. Dissanayake he suddenly yelled ‘run’. An elephant was charging towards the area where our jeeps were stopped, where photographers were clicking pictures and we were talking to the Deputy Director.
We jumped into the closest jeep and beat a hasty retreat. After following the convoy of jeeps for about 90 seconds, the jumbo gave up. Wild Life officials told us that the elephant had lost its young recently and hence the reason for its aggressiveness.
Mr. Dissanayake said another aspect of the survey was to find out how healthy the elephant population was. Based on the results, the DWC hopes to cordon off more protection zones for the elephants. He also said to curb the human-elephant conflict in unprotected areas, electrified fences will be put up to protect the villagers and their fields, he added.
However some scientists question the accuracy of the waterhole method. A wildlife biologist, who did not want to be identified, said this method of census was used in India several times but had been proved a failure. “The census is not scientifically sound. You can’t cover every waterhole.”
The biologist said that most elephants are found outside national parks and come out at night, but, this survey concentrated on the interior of the parks. Elaborating that this method was more assumption-based, the scientist said there was no guarantee that all the elephants would come to the waterholes. Moreover, Minneriya is a place where elephants can be spotted easily, whereas, there are several other places where the elephants do not come out to the waterholes.

How many calves hiding behind their elders may have been left out in the census? Pix by Sanka Vidanagama and Kanchana Kumara Ariyadasa

“I believe the census is pointless. One should concentrate on unknown areas. Scientists pulled out from the census because of the methodology. There are thousands of waterholes in the South and the Central areas and you can’t man every one of them,” he said.
The biologist pointed out that the elephants that were counted in Minneriya may even go towards the Kaudulla National Park, which is just a few kilometres away, thereby increasing the chances of being counted twice over.
As quick-fix methods, such as the waterhole counts, are not accurate, technical methods need to be implemented. However, the latter requires a high degree of training, skill, expertise, funds, time and dedication, according to him.
Meanwhile, Wild Life minister S.M. Chandrasena told a news conference at Minneriya on Friday, that the aim of the census was to get an idea of the number of elephants in the country.“We don’t have a special reason to count tuskers. People say we are going to give away some tuskers. I can't handover tuskers to anyone as I wish. And, I don't want to,” Mr. Chandrasena said.


He said, he wanted to ensure that the country’s wildlife was protected adding that the elephants used for Peraheras (pageants) are from the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage and not from the wild. Reacting to the minister’s statement, Environmental lawyer Jagath Gunawardena said he was glad that the minister had changed his decision about the tuskers.
He said although they wanted to participate in the census, they pulled out on a matter of principle.
Mr. Gunawardena said partial surveys conducted earlier have revealed that 60 per cent of elephants were old, whereas, it shouldn’t be more than 40 per cent while juveniles and sub-adults constitute half the population.

Source:http://www.sundaytimes.lk/110814/News/nws_14.html

Conflict over jumbo census

Water-hole count enables population structure and composition assessment:DWC Extent of occurrence, area of occupancy more relevant, says expert

By Kumudini Hettiarachchi

Futile and flawed, are how many experts called the much-trumpeted “elephant survey” carried out by the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) which ended this morning. The danger of a flawed survey lies in the fact that it may be used as a planning tool for elephant management which in turn would then be questionable, stressed wildlife biologist Manori Gunawardena, explaining that the survey methodology does not take into account elephant behaviour. Pointing out that although the elephants at Minneriya are very visible during the day, most elephants outside National Parks come out only in the night, she says that it is “very difficult to count them”. Ms. Gunawardena should know as she has been studying the social behaviour and demography of elephants in the North Central Province for the past 12 years, getting muddy and grubby at many a waterhole including the Minneriya tank. The DWC, however, claims in its ‘Survey of Elephants in Sri Lanka’ leaflet that its current venture is “known as the water-hole count”. The advantage of the water-hole count is that it enables the management authority to find out the population structure and composition in addition to numbers, according to the DWC. “It will enable the DWC to determine the proportion of calves relative to the adult females and to identify and record the number of tuskers – the most vulnerable animals.” Unless there is much practice and training and there are only one or two elephants it is impossible to put them into an “age class” or “size class”, says Ms. Gunawardena, citing the example of elephant herds coming to water at one point of a tank and then cutting across the forest later to get back to the water at a different point of the same tank. “Elephants keep crisscrossing all the time,” she said. At Minneriya there may be high visibility and excellent observation conditions but take the case of a wewa outside the National Parks. Would it be possible to count a large number at night in the moonlight, and especially when they keep coming back to water, she asks, adding that a survey done without taking into account elephant behaviour movement is flawed. Scientists also question the rationale of such a survey effort, when the concentration should be on identifying key areas that need conservation. An island-wide survey of elephant distribution and human-elephant conflict would be more relevant for management purposes, they say. Conservationists expressed fear that the survey was done to fulfil hidden agendas that are detrimental to conservation. The Indian scientific community, meanwhile, has urged Sri Lanka not to get entrenched in the “water-hole count” methodology as they are desperate to dislodge it from government practice across there as it has failed, sources pointed out. The Sunday Times learns that, the Co-Chairman of the IUCN Asian Elephant Specialist Group, Ajay A. Desai has expressed reservations about the water-hole count to many conservationists in Sri Lanka. “Population estimation is best done using the most standardized methods i.e. line transect or dung count,” Dr. Desai has said in an e-mail, being extremely critical of “pointless and questionable methods” such as water-hole counts which have been tried and found to be failures in India. He has wondered why Sri Lanka is repeating the mistakes made by India. Meanwhile, back in 2008 in ‘Gajah’, the Journal of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group (available online at http://www.asesg.org/ PDFfiles/Gajah%2028% 20Aug%2008.pdf), another elephant expert Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando had questioned the need to get the “number” of elephants in a country, region or for that matter globally. Why do we need to know the ‘number’, Dr. Fernando of the Centre for Conservation and Research has questioned, explaining that as Asian elephants live in low visibility habitats and are secretive and largely nocturnal, the numbers are elusive. He also questions how we can use the ‘number’ to plan conservation strategies. “Can we determine a-priori how many elephants we want to have in a country, will we cull them if there are more, or can we ask them to breed more if there are fewer?” he asked. Dr. Fernando who has been in the jungles, studying elephants for over 18 years states that counting of elephants is done in various ways that range from ‘quick and dirty’ to highly technical. It could be direct aerial, vehicle, foot and waterhole counts of elephants; indirect estimates based on sign, dung and footprints; and individual identification based on genetics or photography and mark-capture or rarefaction curves. He states that counts are probably of value at local scales, for planning and monitoring the impact of management activities. However, it needs accuracy and precision, he cautions, warning that “unfortunately, the quick and dirty methods are neither accurate nor precise, so we have to rely on the more technical methods. These require a high degree of training, skill, expertise, funds, time and dedication.” Dr. Fernando suggests that IUCN criteria such as ‘extent of occurrence’ and ‘area of occupancy’ are more relevant for management at country-wide scales than the elusive ‘number’. Around 4,000 people including 1,200 DWC staff undertook the survey after being stationed at “1,553 points” in the seven wildlife regions on the night of August 11, said a DWC spokesperson. Each point was manned by a wildlife officer and two others or a wildlife officer and one other, who were on attala (platforms in trees) or close to the waterhole, armed with binoculars, a DWC spokesperson said, explaining that those who helped with the survey included students from the Rajarata and Peradeniya Universities, recruits from the Civil Defence Force and villagers in the area. In the north, the survey was carried out by DWC officials and soldiers. The seven regions are north-western (Kurunegala, Puttalam, Anuradhapura and Vavuniya); Mahaweli (Polonnaruwa, Trincomalee, parts of Matale and Badulla); central; east; southern; Yala-Bundala; and north. Referring to the modus operandi followed, the spokesperson said, on Thursday night they observed the elephants which came to the water-holes and the count proper began on Friday and Saturday, with the operation winding down this morning. When asked whether there was the likelihood of one elephant being counted twice or more times, the spokesperson said it was unlikely. Those doing the survey were well-versed in taking down the vishesha lakshana (special features) and identifying each elephant from the shape of the ear, the placement of pigmentation (gomera), the tail details etc. However, as most elephants come to water in the night, the practicality of this was questioned by scientists. “Many thousands of watering points are used by elephants including large reservoirs with perimeters of many tens of kilometres, rivers and streams which cannot be manned adequately,” a source said. Another pointed out that the number of elephants counted will be proportional to the number of points as most enumerators will feel compelled to report that they saw some elephants. Many teams were deployed at points where large numbers of elephants were known to gather like Minneriya - Kaudulla, the spokesperson said, when the Sunday Times asked how 400 elephants could be counted when they converged on the tank-bed at the same time. Queried why the teams have been tasked with noting the detailed description of the elephants’ tusks, the spokesperson said it was nothing new. The same document had been used in the 2008 survey in the Mahaweli region. All the survey data will be analyzed to formulate a conservation strategy, the spokesperson added. One of the pages of the document used by officers conducting the census Rs. 23 million from Wildlife Fund; 2000 bags from Florida centre The Cabinet approved Rs. 23 million from the DWC’s Wildlife Fund for the ‘Survey of Elephants in Sri Lanka’ while a hotel chain forked out Rs. 1.8 million for the counting in the Yala area, the Sunday Times learns from the DWC. An interesting “input”, confirmed by the DWC, was the provision of 2,000 bags for those involved in the counting by Bruce Read of the Ringling Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida, America. A web search shows amidst all the propaganda material about “caring for Asian elephants” that the Ringling Bros. Center is largely an elephant breeding centre that provides baby elephants for circuses. Incidentally, the Ringling Bros. Center also boasts on its website that among the experts from around the world who visit it are Dr. Raman Sukumar and Dr. Charles Santiapillai, a long-time collaborator of Bruce Read. Both Dr. Santiapillai linked to the Peradeniya University and Dr. Sukumar from India have been associated with the survey, DWC sources said. Source:http://www.sundaytimes.lk/110814/News/nws_13.html

The elusive New Year messenger

Today is Avurudu but have you heard the messenger of the New Year, the koha? �The song of the koha, or the Asian Koel, is a special part of the Avurudu season, like the Western cuckoo is termed the first harbinger of Spring. But do we hear the koha’s melodious song as frequently as in the past or is it fading away like other Avurudu symbols such as erabadu flowers and cadju puhulam?

Some readers reported hearing koha’s song less frequently this year. “I haven’t heard the koha in my neigbourhood,”lamented Gayani Karunatilake, who lives in Nugegoda.�Reaction is varied. Responding to a query posted on the Facebook group“Nature”, Kavinda Jayasooriya said he noticed koha calls had increased this year.

Posting on the same group, Jagath Gunawardane, an ardent birdwatcher, said that based on his observations the koha’s call was less frequent now. “The calling reached a peak during the last days of March, and now we are having a reduction in calling. It will be even less during the New Year days,”he predicts.

Sarath Ekanayake, had a different view. “During March-April this year, kohas could not be seen or heard in my surrounding area around Kandy,” he said.

“I saw the koel in February but haven’t heard the calling.”�Mr Ekanayake also shared an interesting observation from a villager of Ambalangoda who said the koha was being found in large numbers in home gardens in the area, sometimes in flocks of five to seven birds.

Another interesting observation that the koha is now making that “culturally important” call not only in April, but in a highly random manner throughout the year. �The Asian koel is omnivorous, and the large numbers of crows solve their housing needs so the bird can adapt to rapid urbanisation. Ornithologists in general do not see a decline of its numbers. “But no one can say that even the koha is perfectly safe as there can be unexpected phenomena affecting even common birds,” says Chandima Fernando of the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka (FOGSL).

“The house sparrow was once very common around Sri Lanka. But they are not to be seen any more in many areas. This population decline could have occurred over a period of time but because we haven’t monitored them, we didn’t realise they were in trouble,” he said.

Addressing the Annual BirdWatchers’ Conference organised by FOGSL on March 30, Mr. Fernando said everyone could help in the conservation of birds by properly documenting and sharing those casual observations.

“If you observe the birds around you throughout the year, you can easily monitor any changing patterns of different birds” he added. “Different people have different perceptions on whether the Asian koel is found in their gardens as frequently as last year and whether its song is heard.

“If we kept a record last year on days we heard the koha, or the numbers in which they visited our gardens, then we can compare those records and make conclusions as we have a data set to compare.”�These simple observations collectively could be used as scientific data to monitor any decline or change in population.

Mr. Fernando also revealed that FOGSL plans to launch another Citizen Science program called “Garden Bird Watch” and welcomes the Sunday Times readers interesting in joining the initiative to send an e-mail to fogslcs@gmail.com or call FOGSL secretariat on 011-2501332.

Perhaps this Aluth Avurudu is the best time to pay some attention to the common birds. Why not start by observing the koha this year? If you can capture any photographs of kohas, send them to the Sunday Times.

The bandit bird

The Avurudu song of the koha is the song of the male vying with other cuckoos to impress a mate. The melody signals the start of the breeding season, which usually coincides with the April festive season.�As the koha’s melodious song is seasonal it is commonly believed that the Asian koel is a migratory bird but Prof.Sarath Kotagama says this is a misconception. The Asian koel could be seen in our home gardens throughout the year if we look closely.

The Asian koel, like many other cuckoos, lay eggs in the nests of other species. Different cuckoos target the nests of different birds. Our beloved “Avurudu koha”selects the crows as foster parents for its young.�The male koel deliberately distracts the crows to allow the female koel to lay its egg in the crow’s nest. A single egg is usually laid, and sometimes the female egg even throws out the host’s egg.

Some baby cuckoos eject the host fledgeling but the koha young are not hardwired to that bad habit. Nevertheless they are very active and quick and eat most of the food brought to the nest by the foster-parents, which eventually causes the baby crows to starve.
By the time the crow mothers realise something is wrong the koel is strong enough to flee the nest and the angry foster parents.
The male Asian koel is blackish with red eyes, while the female is spotted and often mis-identified as a different species.

Source:http://www.sundaytimes.lk/130414/news/the-elusive-new-year-messenger-40857.html

Huge shell-creatures dragged out live to satisfy foreign demand

Foot-long helmet shells were among rare and protected species found being smuggled out of Sri Lanka as worries grow that demand for perfect shells is leading to a disturbing practice of wresting the molluscs live from the seabed for big money from buyers. �A Chinese male nabbed at Katunayake airport on April 2 had nine shells a foot in diameter, among them some of the most highly-valued and rare species, according to Samantha Gunasekara of the Customs’ Biodiversity Unit.

A graveyard for shells.

The culprit, a worker at the Norochcholai Power Plant, was given a warning before being released. The shells were confiscated.
Mr. Gunasekara told the Sunday Times there appeared to be an increasing demand for Sri Lankan shells in foreign markets. Last week, this paper reported that coral and shells found on March 28 in the baggage of three Chinese working at Mattala Airport had been skilfully dug up from the seabed, suggesting that an organised operation was at work.

In October last year, another man was found trying to smuggle out high-value shells. It was a well-planned shipment that indicated the demand for Sri Lankan shells had given rise to organised smuggling attempts, Mr Gunasekara said.

Prasanna Weerakkody; a marine naturalist, said it was unlikely that the helmet and spider shells found in the April 2 smuggling attempt had been washed ashore and collected legally. He believes the prime condition in which they had been found indicates they had been collected by divers from the sea bed.

Creatures with large shells mostly live in deeper sea, and by the time their shells get washed ashore, they get marked eing tossed and rolled along the ocean bed by the currents over a long distance and from collision with coral beds and other submarine obstacles.
When the shells are collected live they are piled on land or buried together with other shells, and the creatures within eventually die.
Mr. Weerakkody believes that people diving for sea cucumber, ornamental fish or chank (conch) shells are also now collecting the large helmet and spider shells.

Shanaka of Kalpitiya, who makes a living diving for sea cucumber and chank, said helmet and spider shells had not previously been collected on a commercial scale because they had not been in great demand. That was changing, he disclosed. The Chinese brought to work on the Norochcholai power plant were keen to obtain these shells.

While Shanaka made assurances that large shells such as helmet shells could still be seen on the sandy sea floor in deeper ocean, he also emphasised that divers react to demand in collecting shells for sale. The revelations send an important message that the authorities should be vigilant about this trend.

Experts warn tourism could create more demand for shells and that divers would increasingly resort to collecting the shells live from the seabed rather than harvesting them when they are washed ashore.

In popular tourist destinations such as Hikkaduwa or Kirinda there are many shops selling a variety of shells. Although they do buy shells found on beaches, they offer suppliers a higher price for shells collected live because of their prime condition.

An expert on aqua-life attached to Wayamba University, Dr Sewvandi Jayakody, said that on March 31 she had found a youth collecting live cowries from the reef at Hikkaduwa. (The cowrie is a gastropod snail that makes the kind of speckled decorative shell used for the Avurudu game of pancha).

The boy she had accosted had the pockets of his three-quarter trouser full of cowrie shells, and her query he said he had only been collecting dead cowries.�On inspection, however, Dr Sewvandi had found live cowries, including a tiger cowry – a species in high demand.

When she threatened to inform the police, the youth had thrown the live cowries back into the sea.
Dr Sewvandi raised alarms about collection of live shells, saying this would be particularly dangerous for threatened species.
Already the conch – a gastropod species that makes chank shells – is decreasing in many areas due to over collection. Chank is the famous shell used as a musical instrument in traditional cultural events. The shell of this mollusc is the famous “hak gediya” (conch) played at traditional events.

Amazing seashells

Seashells are calcareous external coverings, or external skeletons, of two groups of marine Mollusks – gastropods or snails, which have shells formed in spirals, and clams or bivalves, with shells in two halves joined by a hinge, explains Dr Malik Fernando in his book “Shells of the Sri Lanka Seashore”.

Gastropods – the name means stomach-footed – are molluscs that creep along using a muscular, disc-shaped foot. Their soft bodies can retract for protection into the shell attached to the body.

Dr Fernando, who has also compiled a Provisional Checklist of Marine Aquatic Shelled Molluscs of Sri Lanka for the National Red List 2012 of Threatened Fauna and Flora, says there are more than 500 gastropod snail species in our oceans, but says the number should be much higher. Literature shows that gastropods are extremely diverse, with more than 40,000 species worldwide.

Mantle tissue located under and in contact with the shell secretes proteins and mineral extra-cellularly to form the shell. Seashells grow from the bottom up, or by adding material at the margins. Since their exoskeleton is not shed, mollusc shells must enlarge to accommodate body growth.

Collecting shells has been a popular pastime. But if there is something protruding from the opening, or you see a hard cover over the opening, this means it is still occupied. “Take a photo and leave the little guy where you found him,” advises Dr. Fernando.

Source:http://www.sundaytimes.lk/130414/news/huge-shell-creatures-dragged-out-live-to-satisfy-foreign-demand-40864.html

වස්‌ගමුව වනෝද්‍යානයේ ජාවාරම්කරුවෝ රජවෙලා!

ජයන්තිපුර

වස්‌ගමුව යනු විශේෂයෙන්ම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අලි ඇතුන්ගේ ප්‍රධාන වාසස්‌ථානයක්‌ වන අතරම මහවැලි ගඟේ සහ අඹන් ගඟේ ප්‍රධාන ජල පෝෂක ප්‍රදේශයකි. එවැනි වැදගත්කමක්‌ ඇති මෙම ජාතික වන උද්‍යානයේ වැලි කැණීමට විදුලි වැට ඉවත් කිරීම හේතුවෙන් එහි ඇති අලි ඇතුන් ගම්මානවලට කඩාවැදීම වර්ධනය වී ඇති අතර වැලි කැණීමට එන පුද්ගලයන් වන උද්‍යානයේ නොයෙක්‌ නීති විරෝධී ක්‍රියාවල නිරත වන බවද "දිවයින" ට වාර්තා වේ.

ජාතික වටිනාකමක්‌ ඇති මෙම වන උද්‍යානය හා එහි සම්පත් රැකගැනීම සිදු කරන්නැයි අදාළ බලධාරීන්ගෙන් ජනතාව ඉල්ලා සිටින අතර ඉතා කඩිනමින් මෙම නීති විරෝධී ක්‍රියා මැඩ පැවැත්වීමට කටයුතු කළ යුතුව ඇති බව පරිසර සංරක්‌ෂණ භාරයේ අධ්‍යක්‌ෂ සංජීව චාමිකර මහතා වැඩිදුරටත් කියා සිටියි.

Source:http://divaina.com/