Large mammals ideal ambassadors for conservation

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New Delhi: A new study conducted by a group of scientists says that large mammals like tigers, elephants ideal ambassadors for conservation.

A public declaration made last year by the same scientists had called for a global plan to prevent the world`s large mammals from slipping into oblivion.

This led to debates among scientists on whether a focus on megafauna conservation would ignore other forms of biodiversity.

In the publication `Conserving the World`s Megafauna and Biodiversity: The Fierce Urgency of Now`, William Ripple and his colleagues have allayed fears and highlighted how terrestrial megafauna (large-bodied carnivores and herbivores such as tigers, leopards, wolves, bears, elephants and gaur) remain the strongest candidates to serve as "umbrellas" for many species and ecosystems.

"Conserving megafauna requires us to safeguard large tracts of forests, grasslands and various other ecosystems that meet the vast habitat requirements of such species," said Wildlife Conservation Society`s India scientist, Varun R. Goswami, a co-author of the paper published in BioScience journal.

"By conserving these megafauna, we also conserve birds, amphibians, reptiles, as well as a variety of ecosystem processes," he added.

(With Agency inputs)