Scientists to track mercury in sarus feathers

AGRA: The International Crane Foundation, in collaboration with IIT-Hyderabad, is set to conduct a six-year research study to assess the effect of mercury discharged by industries on the sarus crane, UP’s state bird.

Mercury, produced by coal-fire burning and effluents, has a lethal effect. It acts as a neurotoxin and affects the brain and nervous system. Its lethal effects are not confined to birds.

The study will be conducted in UP and also cover parts of Haryana and Rajasthan. Unlike other elements, mercury does not get washed down with monsoon showers. It just accumulates. Traces of it can be found even in the feathers of sarus cranes.

The study will begin once approval is received from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Scientists intend to collect feathers of the cranes and subject them to tests in the laboratory.

KS Gopi Sundar, director of the collaborative project of International Crane Foundation and Nature Conservation Foundation, said, “Mercury accumulates in feathers of the cranes – these feathers are shed periodically. The study will focus on the levels of mercury in the feathers to study amount of mercury released in the environment.”

He said that other chemical pollutants do not get deposited in feathers. To detect other chemical pollutants, birds might have to be captured and their tissues extracted. “That creates unnecessary disturbance. Other chemical poisoning cases have not come to light so far,” Sundar said.

Feather collection has already started. It will continue for three years – three times each year, the feathers will also be analysed in the laboratory.

Sundar said mercury toxicity is very high in the Gangetic flood plains. Immediate toxicity can lead to death, but most of the time it is sub-lethal. It may not cause death, but could harm normal growth and hamper egg production.

UP has traditionally had a highly diverse bird population – it is renowned for being a crop landscape with high density of bird species. According to one estimate, the state has 18,000 sarus cranes.

Sundar said the banding of sarus offspring will also be done next monsoon. The last time this was done was over a decade ago, in 2000-2001. Branding helps study the movement, survival and behaviour of birds.