Taxus wallichiana

Growth

It is a medium-sized evergreen coniferous tree growing to 20 m tall, similar to Taxus baccata and sometimes treated as a subspecies of it. The shoots are green at first, becoming brown after three or four years. The leaves are thin, flat, slightly falcate (sickle-shaped), 1.5–2.7 cm long and 2 mm broad, with a softly mucronate apex; they are arranged spirally on the shoots but twisted at the base to appear in two horizontal ranks on all except for erect lead shoots. It is dioecious, with the male and female cones on separate plants; the seed cone is highly modified, berry-like, with a single scale developing into a soft, juicy red aril 1 cm diameter, containing a single dark brown seed 7 mm long. The pollen cones are globose, 4 mm diameter, produced on the undersides of the shoots in early spring.^[3]

Species

Similar plants occurring further east through China to Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines are included in Taxus wallichiana as T. wallichiana var. chinensis (Pilger) Florin by some authors,^[2] but are more often treated as a separate species Taxus chinensis.

Medicinal uses

The tree has medicinal use in Ayurveda and Tibetan medicine. Taxus wallichiana is also a source of the chemical precursors to the anticancer drug paclitaxel.Taxus wallichiana is used for making tea by the Bhotiya tribal community in the Garhwal Himalaya. The stem bark of this species, which is locally known as thuner, is collected for this purpose. This species is also used as fuelwood by the local communities. In Himachal it is known to be medicine for some types of cancer.

Conservation

The Himalayan yew has been subject to heavy exploitation for its leaves and bark across most of its range through the Himalayas and western China. Declines have been particularly heavy in India and Nepal, with losses of up to 90% having been reported. The degree of exploitation in other locations in its range is less well known, but is also assumed to be serious. The species is currently classfied as endangered by the IUCN. It is present in several protected areas, and at least some conservation and propagation measures are underway, with an eye to its commercial value in the medicine trade.

Save the Rhino

Save the Rhino International (SRI), a UK-based conservation charity, is Europe’s largest single-species rhino charity, in terms of funds raised and grants made, and in terms of profile and positioning. They began fundraising for in situ rhino conservation projects in 1992 and were formally registered as a charity (number 1035072) in 1994. One of SRI's founder patrons was the British writer and humorist Douglas Adams, who was also known to be a conservation movement enthusiast.

Mission, aims and objectives

Save the Rhino International works to conserve viable populations of Critically endangered rhinos in Africa and Asia. They recognise that the future of wildlife is inextricably linked to the communities that share its habitat. By funding field projects and through education, the goal of Save the Rhino is to deliver material, long-lasting and widespread benefits to rhinos and other endangered species, ecosystems and to the people living in these areas.

The aims of Save the Rhino are:

• To increase the number of rhinos in genetically viable populations in the wild
• To enhance the integrity of ecosystems
• To ensure that local communities benefit from conservation activities

NB: Genetically viable populations are generally taken to mean those with a minimum of 20 individuals. In some areas, smaller populations have been known to breed successfully, although it is not know what the impact is on the long-term genetic diversity of such a population.

For rhino populations to qualify as being "wild", three conditions must be satisfied:

• They must be free-ranging within an area large enough to sustain a breeding group
• The area in question must consist of natural rhino habitat
• They must survive by feeding off natural vegetation in the area (i.e., without human intervention)

Primary objectives of Save the Rhino:

• To provide financial support for in situ projects focused on all five of the rhinoceros species
• To encourage and enable the sharing of information, experience and skills between rhino programmes, ex situ and conservation organisations
• To measure and improve the effectiveness of Save the Rhino's grant-making and charitable activities
• To raise awareness of the need for rhino conservation and communicate the work of Save the Rhino

Great Indian bustard

The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) or Indian bustard is a bustard found in India and the adjoining regions of Pakistan. A large bird with a horizontal body and long bare legs, giving it an ostrich like appearance, this bird is among the heaviest of the flying birds. Once common on the dry plains of the Indian subcontinent, as few as 250 individuals were estimated in 2011 to survive and the species is critically endangered by hunting and loss of its habitat, which consists of large expanses of dry grassland and scrub. These birds are often found associated in the same habitat as blackbuck.

Status[edit]

From Thomas Hardwicke'sIllustrations of Indian Zoology(1830–1835)

In 2011 Birdlife International uplisted this species from Endangered to Critically Endangered, mainly because it has been exirpated from 90% of its former range and the population was estimated at perhaps fewer than 250 individuals in 2008. The main threats are hunting and habitat loss. In the past they were heavily hunted for their meat and for sport and, today, poaching of the species may continue. In some places, such as Rajasthan, increased irrigation by the Indira Gandhi canal has led to increased agriculture and the altered habitat has led to the disappearance of the species from these regions. Some populations migrate into Pakistan where hunting pressure is high.The bird is found in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat states of India. Desert National Park, near Jaisalmer and coastal grasslands of the Abdasa and Mandvi talukas of Kutch District of Gujarat support some populations.Ghatigaon and Karera sanctuaries in Madhya Pradesh once held sizeable populations.^[23] Other sanctuaries with the species include Naliya in Kutch,Karera Wildlife Sanctuary in Shivpuri district;Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary near Nannaj,18 km from Solapur in Maharashtra, Shrigonda taluka in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, near Nagpur and near Warora in Chandrapur district in Maharashtra and Rollapadu Wildlife Sanctuary, 45 km from Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.At Ranibennur Blackbuck Sanctuary, habitat changes have affected the populations of blackbuck and bustards. In the 1950s the scrub forest was replaced with Eucalyptus plantations. These helped wildlife when the trees were short but after their extensive growth they made the adjoining grassland less favourable for bustards.

Project Elephant

Project Elephant was launched in 1992 by the Government of India Ministry of Environment and Forests to provide financial and technical support of wildlife management efforts by states for their free ranging populations of wild Asian Elephants. The project aims to ensure long-term survival of viable conservation reliant populations of elephants in their natural habitats by protecting the elephants, their habitats andmigration corridors. Other goals of Project Elephant are supporting research of the ecology and management of elephants, creating conservation awareness among local people, providing improved veterinary care for captive elephants

Elephant reserves of Project Elephant in India (2005)

S.No.	Reserve Name	Range	Estd.	State	Total area (km²)	Population
1	Mayurjharna	East-Central	2002	West Bengal	414	96
2	Singhbhum	East-Central	2001	Jharkhand	4,530	371
3	Mayurbhanj	East-Central	2001	Orissa	3,214	465
4	Mahanadi	East-Central	2002	Orissa	1,038	464
5	Sambalpur	East-Central	2002	Orissa	427	336
6	Baitarni	East-Central		Orissa	1,755	108
7	South Orissa	East-Central		Orissa	1,049	138
8	Lemru	East-Central		Chattisgarh	450
9	Badalkhol-Tamorpingla	East-Central		Chattisgarh	4,216	138
10	Kameng	Kameng-Sonitpur	2002	Arunachal Pradesh	1,892