Mother’s call unites Mate’s call kills

By Our Wildlife Correspondent

In different parts of Himalayas, dual juxtaposing happenings are taking place in the wild. Two rare separated snow leopard cubs ran towards their mother which had let out chuffing (puffing) sound high on the mountains in Himachal Pradesh. They get reunited with their mother with a glee. But in the same mountain range in Nepal “vulnerable” cheer pheasants are killed rampantly after the male birds sound mating calls since it reveal their locations to the hunters.

A  heart-warming video showed two rare snow leopard cubs reuniting with their mother after sensing her call in Spiti Valley. In the clip, the elusive cubs are seen running through the rocky terrain  and  making their way towards their mother. The mother affectionately sniffs and licks them and their expression of love is worth-watching.

But in Nepal side of Himalayas cheer pheasants are killed by hunters who gave loud mating calls during the spring season. One of the ways people living in the western Himalayas of India, Pakistan and Nepal know that the spring season has started is by listening to male cheer pheasants (Catreus wallichii) make their distinctive “chewewoo” mating calls that can be heard echoing through the forests in the morning. The calls attract females and grow their population but, in the process, they give away their location to hunters who kill them for their meat.

A survey has found that the main threats to the species in the region are trapping, shooting, egg collection and forest fire. The  species has already disappeared from some of the  locations. In addition to hunting, people are also using other techniques to kill the bird, again exploiting their mating calls. When herds come across the birds’ nests, they take their eggs with them and grow the bird at home in captivity.

When the bird reaches maturity, they take them to the jungle, and tie them to a tree. When it makes mating calls, other birds come looking for the bird and are trapped or killed. As the birds live and  nest on the ground forest fires easilyv destroys their habitat.