Journal of Global Resources

Volume 3

July 2016
Page 27-31
ISSN: 2395-3160 (Print), 2455-2445 (Online)

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ECOLOGICAL STUDY OF TAL CHHAPAR SANCTUARY, CHURU (RAJASTHAN)
Anju Ojha
Assistant Professor, Govt. Lohia College, Churu, Rajasthan, India
Email: draj2280@gmail.com
Abstract: The variety of life on Earth, or its biological diversity, is commonly referred to as
biodiversity. The number of species of plants, animals, and microorganisms, the enormous
diversity of genes in these species, the different ecosystems on the planet, such as deserts,rainforests and coral reefs are all part of a biologically diverse Earth. Appropriate conservationand sustainable development strategies attempt to recognize this as being integral to any
approach. Almost all cultures have in some way or other form recognized the importance thatnature, and its biological diversity has had upon them and the need to maintain it. Yet, power,greed and politics have affected the precarious balance. Biodiversity is the vast array of all thespecies of plants, animals, insects, and the micro organism inhabiting the earth either in theaquatic or the terrestrial habitats. The human civilization depends directly or indirectly uponthis biodiversity for their very basic needs of survival viz. food, fodder, fuel, fibre, fertilizer,
timber, liquor, rubber, leather, medicines and several other raw materials. This diversity isindispensible for the condition for the long term sustainability of the environment, continuity of
the life on earth and the maintenance of its integrity. It is highly ”generic” containing vast rangeof underlying dormant seeds which blooms into colourful ranges of herbs and grasses with thevery first shower.
Key words: Biodiversity, Ecological, Sanctuary, Black buck, Tal Chhapar
Introduction
As many as 500 millions myriad of species of plants, animals and micro organisms inhabited
this earth since life began over 3.5 billion years ago. A many of them disappeared from theface of the earth in the normal evolutionary process, some of them have left their descendants
and surviving remnants. The “garden lizards” and the “crocodiles” are the surviving remnantsof the giant reptiles, the dinosaurs of the Mesozoic age. Though we know of about 1.5 million
species today, recent discoveries of astonishing insect diversity in rain forests have forced
scientists to revise their estimates. There may be anything between 5 to 50 million species ofplants and animals. According to Peter Raven about 100 new species of plants are being
discovered every year. Today there are about 30 millions species occupying this planet.
However, our ignorance in this area is vast. Some put the figure up to 100 millions. Inparticular we do not know how much variability exists among soil micro-organisms. Whatever
species we see today are not there by any chance, but are the products of long evolutionary
process managing to survive through ecological adaptations in the ever changing
environmental conditions over time and space.
Wild life Diversity in the Thar Desert
The Rajasthan desert is fairly rich in wildlife diversity. While work on invertebrates is still inprogress, intensive studies have been carried out on the vertebrates, which show predominant27

“Shaharo-Iranian” affinities and are found on a variety of desert habitats, but a few exhibit
habitat specificity. The earlier flocks of sand grouse were of the order of 3000 to 4000 birds.
Now, they fly in few hundred only. Their population in Barmer, Jaisalmer and Bikaner districts
has also been adversely affected due to prolonged droughts which drastically reduced theavailability of seeds for them. The tale of the artiodactyles is not much different. During 18901900 periods, the herds of black buck in the desert were very large. Now the black buck has
almost vanished from the scene except in sanctuaries and around villages of the Bishnoi
community. The Indian gazelle or chinkara, which were found in herds of 50 to 100 heads till
1947, are now rarely seen. The major reason of depletion in their number is the paucity ofgrazing lands in the desert.
Study AreaChuru, itself as the district’s headquarter, is situated in the north eastern part of Rajasthanwhere mostly arid conditions prevailed. This district falls in the desert tract known as ‘Thar’.
The Tal Chhapar sanctuary is located in the Sujangarh tehsil of the district at the intersectionof 27° 42’ North latitude and 74° 20‘ East longitude. The sanctuary is located at about 286.6
meters from the Mean Sea Level. It is covers an area of 6.94 square kms. The sanctuary lieson Nokha-Sujangarh state highways at a distance of 85 kms from Churu, 160 kms from
Bikaner and 200 kms from Jaipur, the state’s Capital city. Tal Chhapar Sanctuary lies in the
Shekhawati region Rajasthan. The sanctuary nestles a unique refuge of the most elegant
antelopes encountered in India, "the black buck". Tal Chhapar sanctuary, with almost flat tractand interspersed shallow low lying areas, has open grassland with scattered Acacia trees
which give it an appearance of a typical Savannah. The word "Tal" means plane land. The rainwater flows through shallow low lying areas and collect in the small seasonal water ponds. It
lies on the way of the passage of many migratory birds such as harriers. These birds passthrough this area during September. Birds commonly seen in the sanctuary are harriers,
eastern imperial eagle, tawny eagle, short-toed eagle, sparrow, and little green bee-eaters,
black ibis and demoiselle cranes, which stay there till the month of March. On the other hand,skylark, crested lark, ring dove, brown dove and blue jay are seen throughout the year.
[28Status of Tal Chhapar Wild LifeThe Tal Chhapar was declared ‘Reserved Area’ for the protection of wild animals and birds in1962. Over 2000 black bucks are found in almost tree less saline flat land of Tal Chhapar
sanctuary. This is a natural home of black bucks. There is indication that the population ofblack bucks is on the way of increase at Tal Chhapar. The main problems of the area are as
follows:
1. Cutting of trees and degradation of forest.
2. Uncontrolled grazing
3. Man made element such as road, building watch hut etc
4. Hunting of animals.
5. Developments around sanctuary.
6. Lack of infrastructure facilities like drinking water for animal, proper feeding
Climatic Conditions
Micro-climatic characteristic of Sujangarh Tehsil are of desertic type and erratic, irregular andinsufficient precipitation, and by a marked, degree of aridity. The climate elements follow thegeneral seasonal rhythm of the monsoon but they have a great magnitude of variability, both intime and space. Drought and famines are very common, but climatically the area is not a truedesert (Stein 1942). Yet the fact that it is marginal in character makes it more difficult to adjust
to than if it were wholly and persistently driver (Sharma 1972). Due to desertic conditions thetemperature of this region is extremely hot. In summer season the maximum temperature isfound up to 48.5° C and in winter season the lowest temperature is found to -1.1° C. Morevariation is found between the day and night temperature in the summer. The summer’s nightsare exceptionally cool as the surface quickly radiates out the solar energy. The averageannual rainfall of this region is 363 mm. The rainy days are of very short time i.e. from July tohalf of September. Maximum amount of rainfall depend upon the Arabian Monsoon. There isconsiderable variation in mean annual rainfall.
Water Resource
Main source of water for human as well as wildlife is rain water. Water from the sanctuary
areas flows in the sanctuary & get accumulated in 8 different water bodies in the sanctuary.
This water is sufficient only for 3-4 months up to Nov. - Dec. Water is a limiting factor in thisregion. Sanctuary is also having a network of artificial water supply system. An undergroundwater storage tank of capacity more than 3 lakh litres has been constructed and it is filled withwater supplied by PHED system. Five water holes of the sanctuary are connected throughpipe line networks. Water is pumped from this storage tank to different water holes during
scarcity days. Underground water of the area is very saline and used for obtaining of salt. InTal Chhapar sanctuary there are no artificial water resources like electrified wells except one
passing through this sanctuary. Therefore the main source of water is only rain. As we know
water is an essential and life saving thing for human as well as animals. The main source ofwater is rains, and well is also a source with is to be developed by the humans.
Floral Diversity
Natural vegetation in this area has been classified as Northern Tropical Thorn Forest (6B) andsub-classified as Desert Thorn Forest (6B/C1) (Champion and Seth, 1968). The entire area isa typical grass land interspersed with shrubs and trees. The shrubs found in the sanctuary are29

Haloxylon salicornicum (Lana) and Capparis decidua (Keer). The trees are Prosopis juliflora(Angreji bavanlio), P. cineraria (Khejri), Acacia nilotica (Desi babul), Ziziphus nummularia(Ber), Salvadora persica (Mithijal), Azardirachta indica (Neem), etc. The grasses are
Boerhavia diffusa (Chinawari), Portulaca quadrifida (Ram-jata), P. oleracea (Luni), Cyperus
rotundus (Mothiya), Suaeda fruticose (Lunaki) etc.
Faunal Diversity
The Sanctuary supports a variety of faunal groups including many unique faunal elements.
Black bucks (Antelope cervicapra) are the dominant mammalian fauna along with chinkara(Gazella bennettii), blue bulls (Boselaphus tragocamelus), Indian fox (Vulpes bengalensis) anddesert fox (Vulpes v. pusilla). Jackal (Canis aureus) and Asiatic steppe wildcat or Desert cat(Felis silvestris ornata) are also spotted occasionally. Chief herpetofauna includes spiny-tailed
lizards (Uromastyx hardwickii), common monitor lizard (Varanus bengalensis) and desert
monitor lizard (Varanus griseus). The area is one of the few areas in Rajasthan where bothspecies foxes and monitor lizards seen together and breed, which itself is a uniqueness of thisSanctuary. The Sanctuary lies on the way of the passage of many migratory birds such as
harriers. Commonly seen harriers are lager falcons, eastern imperial eagle, short-toed eagle
and tawny eagle. Other birds found in the sanctuary include house sparrow, green bee eater,
black ibis, demoiselle cranes, skylarks, crested lark, blue jay, partridges, king vulture,cinereous vulture and white backed vulture etc. The Tal Chhapar wildlife sanctuary is a uniqueprotected area which bears fair population of black bucks in a small area of 719 hectare. In
real sense it is a black buck sanctuary. The wild animals found in the sanctuary are blackbuck, Chinkara, fox, jackal, Neelgay, jungle cat, hare etc. Beside these animals there aremany species, which migrate from other parts of the country during winter. Detailed accountsof the species found in the reserve are given in the following table.
Migratory Pattern of Animals
The wild animals exhibit phenomenon of local migration within the sanctuary and toneighbouring areas. The migration is mostly for water, but sometimes animals migrate for foodalso. During summer the wildlife migrates and confine near the water holes. The carnivores
migrate outside the sanctuary area, during night. Few migratory birds also visit the area andleave it again in late February. Migration of exotic fauna is regular phenomena in thesanctuary.
Rearing Habits
The Tal Chhapar sanctuary area is almost treeless plane land. Grasses in certain scatteredpatches are found with very low density and height. Black buck and Chinkara both are browser
and they browse shrubs like Ker, Ber, Lana, Bui and small grasses. Black buck feeds during
day time but it feeds in morning and evening hours during hot summer. During summer they
face tremendous water scarcity.
Population Trend of Blackbucks
The data from 2005 to 2010 census was procured and various general parameters werecalculated out of it. Interestingly the overall Blackbuck population was 1680 heads in 20052006 which have been reached up to 2025 heads in 2011 census. The data suggests thatalmost every year population is increasing; where as a slight decline was noticed in year 2003,
302005 and 2007. It is estimated that percent growth of Blackbuck is about constant in two years
that is 4.37 in 2008 and 2009.
Conclusion
The aim of the present study was to assess the threatened ecosystem of the Tal ChhaparSanctuary. This study provides a vista of the sanctuary in terms of its ecological. As the area islimited, a better management by the state forest department could be an initiative to protect
the biological diversity, particularly the famous Indian black bucks. As per the census survey of2010, the current population of blackbucks is 2025 heads in nearly just 780 hectares of area.
This situation leads towards a serious question as how to manage their population? In theabsence of large predators there is no natural check on their increasing population. Thissituation can threaten the ecological balance of the sanctuary. Due to overcrowding of thisspecies there is severe shortage of food during summer (requiring outside supply of fodder),frequent raiding of nearby agricultural fields during food shortage and mass mortality of thespecies in recent years as a result of weather shocks (in the form of heavy rain or cyclone).
Both outside supply of fodder and raiding of agricultural fields create problems for both forest
department as well as local people. The population trend of blackbuck is increasing since last
one decade with more then 4-5 per cent growth rate. Whereas the sex ratio is decreased from
2.8 female/male in year 1999 to 1.29 female/male in 2010, it may alter the breeding behaviour
through lacking, which was a result of high female herd side. Mother-fawn ratio is also slightly
increasing from 0.33 to 0.45 since last five years, which indirectly leads towards the highpopulation density. The Sanctuary and its management staff are fully devoted to keep
blackbuck population safe and healthy, and results are also showing their efforts. But at thesame time, a serious and urgent need of present time is to increase the size of sanctuary or
shift few hundred blackbucks to similar nearby areas and make those areas as satellite part ofthis sanctuary. Attempts should be done to keep these areas connected by a corridor for
populations to migrate in between. This will also reduce population pressure of blackbucks on
spiny-tailed lizards, another conservation dependent species. Thus, some initiatives would be
welcomed if government pays attention and will be helpful in maintaining the ecologicalbalance of the region.
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