Wildlife Conservation

Conservation refers to care and management of nature. It gives emphasis on sustainable use of natural resources.

Wild life refers to all plants and animals living in their natural habitat. The plants living in their natural habitat are called as flora and animals living in their natural habitat are called as fauna. Thus, wild life refers to flora and fauna. Wild life includes uncultivated plants and non-domesticated animals.

        Wild life conservation refers to protection and preservation of wildlife in their natural habitats.

Importance of wildlife

Wildlife has following importance:

i) Ecological balance: Every wild life is a member of ecological system. Thus, its destruction results in ecological imbalance.

ii) Scientific value: Wild life is a field of study and its study provides information about environment, pollution, behaviour etc.  

iii) Medicinal value: A number of plant and animal species are widely used in medicine.

iv) Economic value: Different species of plants and animals are used for various purposes in various ways. The animal products like skin, feathers, bone have good price in market.

v) Genetic Value: Wild life forms gene bank its study help in interbreeding or hybridization to produce new variety of productive plants and animals.

Types of wild life:

IUCN has categorized wild species based on

a.           Present and past distribution of wildlife

b.           Decline in the number of wildlife in a course of time.

The different types are

1. Extinct (Ex): - Those species which are not present in their natural habitat but surviving in cultivation.

2. Endangered (E): - Those species which are in danger of extinction. If the causal factors continue, the species come into the extinct category in near future.

3.Vulnerable (V): - Those species which come info the endangered category in near future if the caused factors continue.

4. Rare (R): Those species with small population and distribution localized in some specific geographic areas. They are neither endangered nor vulnerable.

5.Threatened (T):  It refers to any species which belongs to any of the three categories endangered, vulnerable or rare.

6. Intermediate (I): Those species which cannot be placed in any of these types and information about them is not sufficient.

Causes of Extinction of wildlife

The major causes of wildlife extinction are –

1.Habitat destruction– The main cause of extinction is the lack of safe shelter and food for wild animals due to large – scale destruction of their habitat.

2.Poaching- Illegal hunting of wild animals such as elephant, musk deer, spotted deer, tiger, rhino, pheasants, etc. are mostly prevalent especially in terai regions. Various animal parts such as gall bladder of musk deer, horns of rhino, tusks of elephant or animal's meat, hide and fur are being smuggled for the sake of money.

3.Environmental pollution– Due to the continuous deforestation, degradation of land and environmental pollution, important wild animals have been extinct and close to extinction.

4. International trade – Trade of some items of wild origin such as animal's hide, fur, bones, tusks, medicinal plants resulted decline of wild animals and plants.

5.Over exploitation of natural resources – Over grazing by domestic animals and indiscriminate cutting of forest trees have converted the dense forest into desert. This has resulted into extinction of wildlife.

Conservation strategies (Methods of wild life conservation)

1.Habitat management: In order to protect wildlife, a thorough out knowledge of their habitat is essential. The critical habitat like feeding, breeding, nursery, resting areas of the wildlife should be studied and protected.

2.Establishment of Parks, Reserves and Wild life area: To save natural habitat of wildlife, national parks and wildlife reserve areas should be established.

3.International multilateral agreements: Wide ranging animals and migratory birds cover large areas that may differ in habitat. The habitats of migratory animals fall into different nations. Therefore, a bilateral or multilateral agreement should be made to protect all the habitats.

4. Legislation or protection by law: There should be proper legislative and administrative measures against international trade and Illegal hunting of wildlife.

5.Ban on hunting – Hunting for pleasure should be strictly prohibited.

List of Endangered wildlife of Nepal

S.N.	Common name	Scientific name
Mammals
1	Red Panda	Ailurus fulgens
2	Snow leopard	Panthera uuncia
3	Bengal Tiger	Panthera tigris
4	One horned Rhinoceros	Rhinoceros unicornis
5	Himalayan Musk Deer	Moschus chrysogaster
6	Dolphin	Plantanista gangetica
7	Swamp Deer	Cervus duvauceli
8	Asiatic Elephant	Elephus maximus
9	Four horned Antelope	Tetracerus quadricornis
10	Black Buck	Antilope cervicapa
Birds
1	Great Hornbill	Buceros bicornis
2	Impeyan Phesant	Lophophours impejanus
3	Bengal Florican	Eupodotis bengalensis
Reptiles
1	Gharial	Gavialis gangeticus
2	Golden Monitor Lizard	Varanus flavescent
Plants
1	Jatamashi	Nardostachys grandiflora
2	Sugandh Kokila	Cinnamomum glaucescens
3	Talispatra	Taxus baccata
4	Panch Aunle	Dactylorhiza hatagirea
5	Sungdhbal	Valeriana Jatamashii
6	Khair	Acacia catechu
7	Yarsa Gumba	Cordyceps sinensis
8	Sal, Sakhuwa	Shorea robusta
9	Champ	Michelia champace
10	Jhyau	Lichens