Jatinga Explained

Jatinga
Settlement Type:village
Pushpin Map:India Assam#India
Pushpin Label Position:right
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Assam, India
Coordinates:25.1149°N 92.9437°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: India
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Name1:Assam
Subdivision Type2:District
Subdivision Name2:Dima Hasao
Unit Pref:Metric
Elevation Footnotes:600meter above sea level.
Population Density Km2:auto
Demographics Type1:Languages
Demographics1 Title1:Official
Demographics1 Info1:pnar/haflong hindi
Timezone1:IST
Utc Offset1:+5:30
Registration Plate:AS 08-

Jatinga (Pron: ʤʌˈtɪŋgə or ʤæˈtɪŋgə), a village on a ridge, is located in Dima Hasao district, Assam, India. It is 330km (210miles) south of Guwahati[1] The village is inhabited by about 2,500 Khasi-Pnar people and a few Assamese. It is well-known for being the location of mysterious bird deaths.

Mysterious bird deaths

At the end of the monsoon months especially on moonless and foggy dark nights between 6 p.m. and 9:30 p.m usually in the months of September and October, birds are not disturbed by the locals but out of the dark northern skies will start to descend as they are attracted to lights. These dazed birds are captured using bamboo poles by the locals.[2] The local tribals first took this natural phenomenon to be spirits flying from the sky to terrorize them. This phenomenon is not confined to a single species, with tiger bittern, black bittern, little egret, pond heron, Indian pitta, and kingfishers all being affected,[3] as well as hill partridge, green pigeon, emerald dove, necklaced laughingthrush, black drongo. The birds are mostly juvenile, according to Assam's best known ornithologist, Anwaruddin Choudhury.[4]

The late naturalist E. P. Gee brought this phenomenon to global attention in the 1960s. He drove to Jatinga with famed ornithologist late Salim Ali.[5] The cause of it is likely to be disorientation at high altitudes and high speed winds due to the widespread fog characteristic at the time.[6] The zoological survey of India sent Sudhir Sengupta to unravel this mystery. The most recent description of the phenomenon and its comparison with similar incidents elsewhere in Malaysia, Philippines, and Mizoram is found in the book The Birds of Assam by Anwaruddin Choudhury. He concluded that the birds, mostly juveniles and local migrants, are disturbed by high velocity winds at their roost. When the disturbed birds fly towards lights as refuge they are hit with bamboo poles and killed or injured.[7]

Conservation groups and wildlife officials in India have taken steps to prevent wanton killing of birds across India. Bikash Brahma, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of Dima Hasao, stated the killings as well as the number of birds arriving at the village has been declining gradually since the last few years. Much of this is due to loss of habitat caused by "development and environment degradation".

See also

Notes and References

  1. Choudhury, A. U. (7 September 1986). "Bird killing at Jatinga", The Sentinel.
  2. Web site: Jatinga Bird Mystery. 9 July 2007. District Government of Region of North Cachar Hills. 8 June 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170608070637/http://nchills.gov.in/NCHILLS-JATINGA.htm. dead.
  3. Web site: Assam Tourism: Jatinga . 14 January 2009 . Assam Tourism Travel Guide . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090619095805/http://www.assam-tourism.com/jatinga.htm . 19 June 2009 .
  4. Web site: Fewer birds at Jatinga. The Statesman. 27 July 2015. 14 February 2016.
  5. Gee, E. P. (1964). The Wild Life of India, Collins, London.
  6. Web site: Birds decreasing in Jatinga 'suicide spot'. The Statesman. 20 July 2015. 14 February 2016.
  7. Choudhury, Anwaruddin U. (2000). The Birds of Assam. Gibbon Books & WWF-India, Guwahati. 240 pp.