Bengal Florican

Bengal Florican Latest News

Fewer than 1,000 Bengal floricans remain worldwide, with small, fragmented populations restricted to remnant alluvial grasslands. 

About Bengal Florican

• It is a grassland indicator species.
• Habitat: It is a bustard mostly found in the seasonally inundated alluvial grasslands of the Gangetic-Brahmaputra plains.
• Distribution: It is distributed in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in India, in the terai of Nepal and in Bangladesh.
  • Key strongholds in India are Dudhwa National Park in Uttar Pradesh and several sites across Assam—Manas, Kaziranga, Orang, and Dibru-Saikhowa National Parks.
• The male bird shows black plumage, with a crest and elongated display feathers that are raised during courtship, and white wing patches become visible in flight.
• It makes vertical leaps, wing movements and vocalisations along with other males, a behaviour known as “lekking”, to establish territories and attract females.
• It shows reverse sexual dimorphism and colour dichromatism (male and female are differently coloured).
• Diet: They are omnivorous birds. They eat various insects, fruits, seeds, and flowers and also feed on small snakes and lizards.
• Threats: Land conversion, expansion of agriculture, annual grassland burning, overgrazing, encroachment, change of river course, fragmentation from infrastructure development, invasive plant species and fire mismanagement have altered their habitat.
• Conservation Status
  • IUCN: Critically Endangered
  • Wild Life Protection Act 1972: Schedule I 

Source: DTE

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