Common Name: Great Bustard
Scientific Name: Otis tarda tarda
IUCN status: Vulnerable
Population and distribution: Global population around 44,000 – 57,000, range is across Eurasia from Iberia and Morocco to China.
Behaviour: Male and female have separate groups (droves), slow gait, long and deeply fingered wings, generally silent, sometimes nasal bark when threatened, can’t perch (due to absence of opposable hind claw)
Feeding habit: Omnivorous -- young shoots, leaves, fruits, flowers. Insects and lizards are also consumed. Young birds are mainly carnivorous.
Habitat: Prefer lowland, river valleys, and undulating open country, adapted to agricultural landscapes
Breeding: Females are very selective, males elaborately display, males mature at four years and females at two years, polygamous, the largest sexual size dimorphism in body mass.
Nesting: Males have no role in nesting, female alone takes care of incubation and hatching, nests on the ground, usually two eggs.
“David, how do you ensure that the chicks do not imprint on humans while being raised in captivity?”. David, maintaining his momentum, replied, “A dehumanising suit with no obvious hands and legs helps to avoid human imprinting. Use of a puppet feeder also helps”.
We had been conversing for over three hours about how David Waters (Founder and Executive Officer, The Great Bustard Group) and his team have successfully reintroduced one of the heaviest flying birds, the Great Bustard, Otis tarda tarda (GB hereafter) to the UK.
This story is from the December 2020 - February 2021 edition of Saevus.
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This story is from the December 2020 - February 2021 edition of Saevus.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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