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Artificial insemination of the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) was achieved at the National Breeding Centre in Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) under the Bustard Recovery Program.
About Bustard Recovery Project
- Commenced for an initial period of five years (2016-21) and an extension was granted from 2021 to 2024.
- Objectives: Conservation breeding; capacity building and advocacy to sensitise stakeholders and decision-makers on bustard conservation; incentivize bustard-friendly land uses, etc.
About Great Indian Bustard (also called Godawan locally in Rajasthan)
- Habitat: Confined mostly to Rajasthan and Gujarat; Small populations occur in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh.
- Conservation Status
- IUCN status: Critically Endangered
- Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I and Appendix I of the Schedule IV (related to CITES).
- CITES: Appendix 1.
- Covered under species recovery program.
- Only less than 150 GIBs are left in the wild and almost exclusively restricted to India.
- Behaviour and Characteristics
- A grassland species, endemic to Indian subcontinent.
- Distinguished by its black crown on the forehead, but males have larger black crowns.
- Males possess a gular pouch in which they fill air & exhale with great humming sound to attract females.
- Omnivorous and feed on grass seeds, insects like grasshoppers and beetles, and sometimes even small rodents and reptiles.
- Threats: Hunting, habitat loss, collision with power lines, widespread agricultural expansion, etc.
