Species name:
Bengal florican (Houbaropsis bengalensis)
Description:
Bengal floricans are ground-dwelling birds in the bustard family. The females tend to be slightly larger than males, and the sexes have very different plumage. Adult males sport a black neck and head with a small crest, a mottled brown-and-black back, and pristine white wing bars prominent in flight. The characteristic elongated feathers on their breasts are puffed out during territorial and courtship displays. Females, on the other hand, are more of a muted brown hue with pale underparts and some streaking on their backs. The species is perhaps best known for the male’s elegant courtship display: The strutting, neck fluffing, jumping, and humming are best described as an “aerial dance.”
Where They’re Found:
There are two known subspecies with disjunct distributions. Houbaropsis bengalensis bengalensis is found in the Ganga and Brahmaputra floodplains of the Himalayan foothills in India and Nepal. The other, H. b. blandini, inhabits the Tonle Sap floodplains of Cambodia, and a few individuals may be present in Vietnam. A former population in Bangladesh has ceased to exist.
Bengal floricans are specialists of wet alluvial grasslands, having short grasses with scattered bushes and long grass tufts. Such habitats in the Indian subcontinent are now largely confined to national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, where they’re managed by annual burning practices. From Dr. Ravi Sankaran’s formative research on this species in Dudhwa National Park, we know that the birds appear in grassland patches within 2-5 weeks of their burning.
Known to travel short distances between seasons, Bengal floricans now often find themselves in agricultural lands adjoining protected areas. For example, Koklabari Seed Farm, adjacent to Manas National Park, sees as many as 27 floricans in monsoon season — over one-third of its entire population in the national park, according to recent research.
IUCN Status:
Bengal floricans have been listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2008 due to mounting threats to their grassland habitat and sharp population declines. The population in Cambodia is feared to have decreased by almost 80% in just three generations (30 years), putting the species among the most threatened bustards in the world.
Major Threats:
The threats to Bengal floricans stem directly from threats to the grassland habitat they’re so dependent upon. Being highly productive flatlands, this habitat is highly sought after for cultivation. In Cambodia large swathes of grassland are being converted to “intensive, industrial-scale, irrigated rice fields.” In India and Nepal, little grassland remains outside protected areas.
Even where there are protected grasslands in the floricans’ range, the management may not suit the needs of this species, as the focus is usually on charismatic large mammals such as Asian elephants or greater one-horned rhinos.
Woody encroachment into Terai grasslands is being noted across the Himalayan foothills, pushing Bengal floricans closer to the brink. Illegal grazing and invasive plant species taking over grasslands are also likely to pose threats, although their impacts are yet to be understood.
Another emerging threat is overhead power lines. During a study in Cambodia, six Bengal floricans were found dead after collisions with lines.
Notable Conservation Programs or Legal Protections:
Given its threat status, the species receives the highest degree of legal protection across much of its range. In India floricans are on Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972; in Nepal they appear on Schedule I of the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1973; and Cambodia considers the species to be amongst its highest conservation priorities.
Cambodia, in fact, has created protected areas called Bengal Florican Conservation Areas (BFCAs) with community-based management where the birds can coexist with traditional farmers. In 2024 Nepal launched a 10-year action plan for the birds’ conservation, with multiple proposed avenues such as carrying out annual burning before the breeding season, ex-situ conservation and breeding programs, satellite tracking of individuals to better understand habitat use, deepening understanding of species ecology, and so on. In India a nonprofit organization called Aaranyak is carrying out a Bengal Florican Conservation Project in collaboration with several governmental and nongovernmental entities.
Now in a first, Bengal florican eggs laid in the wild are being carefully hatched and then raised at a conservation center led by Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity in Cambodia. They make up an assurance population against extinction of the blandini subspecies. For a species that had never been kept in captivity before, this is quite a remarkable feat. Against all odds, and a prediction this subspecies would be extinct by 2023, conservation actions like this show all may not be lost just yet.
My Experience:
Bengal floricans have almost, if not totally, vanished from Bengal, the state after which they are named. Growing up in that state as a birdwatcher and reading old trip reports, I always dreamed of seeing one in Jaldapara or Gorumara National Park. My closest encounter with the species continues to be through the eyes and words of others, perhaps most intimately while reading Dr. Ravi Sankaran’s extensive field notes from Dudhwa. One can almost picture an adult male foraging in the Satiana grassland patch, pausing briefly as a peafowl calls not too far away. It partially inflates its neck as a show of territoriality, but soon resorts to preening. Just after sunset, it gets flushed and flies off into the dusk toward Chapra grassland.
This sight is a thing of the past, as recent surveys have failed to locate any Bengal floricans in Dudhwa National Park. Despite us having decent knowledge of the species’ ecology and requirements since the 1990s, populations continue to decline alarmingly.
But the forest of wildlife conservation sprouts from seeds of hope. Perhaps the many conservation projects targeting this species will turn the tide and one day Bengal floricans will reclaim the grasslands in the Terai-Duars of Bengal.
Key Research:
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- Rahmani, A.R., Narayan, G., Sankaran, R. and Rosalind, L. eds. (1988). The Bengal Florican: Status and Ecology. Annual Report. Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay.
- Rahmani, A.R., Narayan, G., Rosalind, L., Sankaran, R. and Ganguli-Lachungpa, U. (1991). Status of the Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis in India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 88: 349-375.
- Baral, H.S., Ram, A.K., Chaudhary, B., Basnet, S., Chaudhary, D., Timsina, A., Acharya, S., Bidari K., Acharya, S., Acharya, B., Thulung, P., Karki, A., Acharya, K.P. (2013). Survey of Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis bengalensis (Gmelin, 1789)(Gruiformes: Otididae) in the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve and adjoining areas, Nepal Journal of Threatened Taxa. 5(7): 4076-4083. http://www.threatenedtaxa.org/ZooPrintJournal/2013/April/o324026iv134076-4083.pdf
- Packman, C.E., Showler, D.A., Collar, N.J., Son Virak, Mahood, S.P., Handschuh, M., Evans, T. D., Hong Chamnan and Dolman, P. M. (2014). Rapid decline of the largest remaining population of Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis and recommendations for its conservation. Bird Conservation International. 24: 429–437.
Note: Dr. Ravi Sankaran’s research on Bengal floricans remains one of the most extensive works done on this species’ behavior and ecology. Even more information can be found in his field notes than in the many reports and papers he published. At a time where grassland habitats are severely threatened, these notes can provide valuable information to inform conservation action Dr. Sankaran’s papers are housed in the Archives at the National Centre for Biological Sciences and are available for research reference.
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Previously in The Revelator:
