Unearthing the secrets of Indian savannas Premium

For most of us, the word savanna conjures up a singular image: the vast plains of the Serengeti in Africa, teeming with wildlife… open grasslands dotted with trees… lots of zebra, lots of wildebeest, African elephants trudging through them, says animal ecologist and conservation biologist Abi T. Vanak at a recent lecture titled Secrets of the Indian Savanna at the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium in Bengaluru.

For most of us, the word savanna conjures up a singular image: the vast plains of the Serengeti in Africa, teeming with wildlife… open grasslands dotted with trees… lots of zebra, lots of wildebeest, African elephants trudging through them, says animal ecologist and conservation biologist Abi T. Vanak at a recent lecture titled Secrets of the Indian Savanna at the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium in Bengaluru.

It was part of Kaapi with Kuriosity, a monthly public lecture series organised by the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences in collaboration with the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium and other educational institutions in the city.

As school geography textbooks are likely to have told us, the world’s savannas are primarily located in Africa, South America, and Australia. “India is very clearly missing from this list,” says Abi, the director of the Centre for Policy Design at the Bengaluru-based Ashoka Trust for Ecology and Environment (ATREE). Yet, he adds that scientists have recently said that bioclimatic envelopes in India are similar to African savanna systems.

At the lecture, Abi, using a series of visual aids, including maps, videos, and photographs, delved into the idea of an Indian savanna, the wildlife and communities that inhabit this biome, his work mapping the mesocarnivores found in them and why we must stop dismissing these crucial open natural ecosystems.

A savanna is typically defined as a mixed tree-grass system with scattered trees amidst a continuous layer of grass. Within this broad definition, we could have different types of savannas depending on the density of trees, which in turn depends mostly on how much rain the landscape receives. “There are a couple of other factors, but it is mainly rainfall that is a key determinant on whether you have a very grassy system or you have more of a tree system,” he says, pointing out that India too, particularly western and central India, has swathes of savannas.

The savannas in India are ancient, having come into existence millions of years ago, according to Abi. Not only is there a range of historical and archaeological evidence that proves this, but “we also know this because there are a lot of savanna-adapted species still found here…species unique to these dryland ecosystems,” he says. And yet, the vegetation map of India does not address this. “Instead, what you see is one forest type after another,” says Abi, who has been trying to correct the misconception that there are no savannas in India. “We do actually have savannas, and they extend through most of India,” he reiterates.

 Abi says that many of the open natural ecosystems in the Indian subcontinent that we consider forests are, in fact, savannas. “You would be hard-pressed to find a difference between these landscapes and those in many parts of Africa and other savanna belts.”