Muthuvan, Nilgiri Tahr & Eravikulam National Park
Relevance: Forest Department banks on native wisdom of Muthuvan tribe for Nilgiri Tahr conservation - The Hindu
Muthuvan:
In Malayalam, the word Muthuvan means those who carry something on their back. It is said that they carried their children and belongings on their back during their migration to the Western Ghats, hence they were called Muthuvan. The Muthuvan are distributed in Idukki districts and in the adjoining Western Ghats of the Palakkad and Thrissur districts. They speak a dialect of their own. The patois is a debased form of Tamil. They speak to others either in Malayalam or Tamil. The Muthuvan have six matrilineal clans (Koottams), viz. Melae koottam, Kana koottam, Thushani koottam, Kanya koottam, Elli koottam and Puthani koottam with hierarchical order. Each koottam is again divided into six lineages. The functions of these divisions are mainly for marriage alliance, to keep up the social status and to indicate descent and ancestry. The Muthuvan are mainly a landowning community. In some areas, government has allotted agricultural land for them, but not on ownership basis. Traditionally the Muthuvans are nomadic agriculturists, hunters and trappers. Their primary cultivations are coffee, ginger, sugarcane and paddy. The Muthuvan are tribal religionists. The present day Muthuvans claims that they are Hindus.
The language of Muthuvan tribals is not malayalam but a dialect closely related to Tamil.
Eravikulam National Park:
Eravikulam National Park is located in the High Ranges (Kannan Devan Hills) of the Southern Western Ghats in the Devikulam Taluk of Idukki district, Kerala State (Map.1, 2 and 3) between 10º 05' - 10º 20' N Latitude and 77º 0' - 77º 10' E Longitude. Etymologically, Eravikulam denotes streams and pools.
Eravikulam National Park is 97 km2 in extent and consisting mostly of high altitude grasslands that are interspersed with sholas. The main body of the National Park comprises of a high rolling plateau with a base elevation of about 2000 meters from mean sea level. The Park is of undulating terrain and the highest peak is Anamudi (2695 m). Three major types of plant communities are found in the Park- grasslands, shrub land and shola forests. The high plateau and the hills rising above it are primarily covered by grasslands. Shrub lands are seen along the bases of the cliffs. Shola forests are located in the valleys and folds. Turner’s valley, which splits the Park roughly in half from northwest to southeast, is the deepest.
The Nilgiri Tahr:
The Nilgiri tahr, (Nilagiritragus hylocrius Ropiquet and Hassanin, 2005) is an endangered caprid listed in Schedule I of Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 and categorised as ‘endangered’ by the IUCN. It is endemic to the hill ranges of the Western Ghats of Southern peninsular India, in pockets where a suitable mosaic of montane grasslands and rugged terrain exist. Tahr is closely related to the Himalayan tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus C.H Smith, 1826) which occurs along the southern flanks of the Himalayas and the Arabian tahr (Arabitragus jayakari Ropiquet and Hassanin, 2005), which inhibits the arid mountains of Sultanate of Oman.
An estimated 700-800 Nilgiri tahr inhabit Eravikulam National Park, making it the largest wild population in the world. The tahr generally inhabits the fringes of the grassy plateau and move on to the steep slabs and cliffs bordering it. They occasionally visit the shrub lands along the base of the cliffs. Tahr avoids sholas, but sometime forage along their periphery.
Nilgiri tahr in Eravikulam National Park occurs in two types of groups, the mixed groups and all male groups. The mixed group consists primarily of adult females and their sub adult offsprings. Adult males join these groups during the rut and keep away at other times of the year. The male group consists of adult males of various classes. The maximum size of the mixed group is 150 animals and that of all male groups is 20 individuals. The usual number of young one produced is one although twins may occasionally occur. The rutting season occurs during monsoon (July and August) and the main birth season is January to mid February. Estimated gestation period is nearly 179 days. The predators of Nilgiri tahr in Eravikulam National Park include tiger, leopard, wild dog and jackal (C G Rice, 1984). However Easa (1995), through scat analyses, recorded only one incident of tahr predation by leopard indicating almost nil predation by other animals.
Muthuvan, Nilgiri Tahr & Eravikulam National Park:
The National Park was declared in the year 1978 and no right is admitted in the Park. The muthuvan tribal settlement at Lakkom still remains inside the Park. The settlement is clearly demarcated except at Chattamunnar. The individual rights over the land under forest right act have been settled during 2010-11. The muthuvans have been traditionally associated with the management of the area since the colonial days for protection.
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