PRELIMS BOOSTERS – 2018: Black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis) and Traffic

PRELIMS BOOSTERS – 2018

Black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis) and Traffic

Black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis)

1. Vulnerable — IUCN Red List 
2. state bird of Jammu and Kashmir
3. It is reveredin Buddhist traditions and culturally protected across much of its range
4. Range

Tibetan Plateau and remote parts of India and Bhutan

5. Habitat

Breeds in alpine bog meadows and riverine marshes, favouring lacustrine marshes from 2,600-4,900 m. It prefers to nest at large water bodies

6. Threats

• damage to the eggs and chicks, caused by feral dogs
• loss of habitat due to human pressure on the wetlands
• increased grazing pressure on the limited pastures near the wetlands is leading to the degradation of the wetland habitat.

7. Conservation

• Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972
• Appendix I of CITES

Traffic

1. Founded in 1976 as a strategic alliance of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
2. Headquarters — Cambridge, UK
3. Type — International non-governmental organization
4. Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network
5. aim — ‘ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature
6. It is governed by the board of trustees of TRAFFIC International
7. TRAFFIC’s 2020 goal — help reduce the pressure of illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade on biodiversity, and enhance the benefits to wildlife conservation and human well-being that derive from trade at sustainable levels.