They come here every day to visit us with their babies,” says Sister Mini of the Congregation of Cottolengo Sisters in Fort Kochi.
Sister Mini has been seeing peafowl in the area for the past few years. The flock has now grown comfortable around the nuns.
“A priest from the nearby Bishop’s House feeds them every day. He has kept a separate sack of rice grain just for the birds. Many others contribute too,” she says.
The birds have become so friendly with the nuns that they even let them hold their young ones. “There are around six adult birds, of which two are peacocks. Then there are four peachicks,” she says with a smile.
Sister Mini, however, does not remember when the peafowl first arrived in Kochi.
Former mayor and historian K J Sohan says he has been seeing these birds in the Fort Kochi area for at least three years. “I don’t know where they came from. They have now made a home here. Not just the peacock, there are monkeys too — an Indian macaque and a brown one, which I have not been able to identify yet,” he adds.
“Then there are pythons. People once feared and killed them. But now dedicated snake catchers help rescue the reptiles and coordinate their release into the wild.”
Sohan adds that pythons have now started hunting stray dogs. “They have got used to this habitat. A new food chain has been established,” he says.
Notably, ‘wildlife sightings’ in Kochi also include monitor lizards roaming urban settings. A recent snap by TNIE lensman A Sanesh showed one scavenging through a pile of garbage in Thrikkakara.
Where did these animals come from? Does their presence raise an alarm over changes in the city’s ecology?
Fen Antony, assistant conservator of forests with the Social Forestry Department in Kochi, says python sightings have become more common since the 2018 floods.
“Landslides and floods are the main reasons they reach here…. through rivers, canals and other waterbodies are how they travel around,” he says.
The department now has a dedicated mechanism to rescue pythons and release them into their natural habitats. “We set up a portal and have advised the public on how to contact the relevant officials if they find a python,” he says.
Monitor lizards, Fen notes, are not exactly new to Kochi. “They can be found across Kerala, but mostly in rural areas, riverbanks and marshlands,” he says.
“There have been sightings over the past 20 years.”
Sohan doesn’t believe the Bengal monitor lizards seen here are native to Kochi, but agrees that they have been spotted in coastal areas and suburban marshlands.
The current rise in their sightings in urban areas is probably due to ecological disturbances triggered by massive infrastructural development, notes Dr Rajan Chedambath, director of the Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development. “When their natural habitats are cleared, they might explore new territories,” he says.
Monkeys, he adds, reach here mostly via lorries transporting fruits and vegetables, and the pythons arrive through waterbodies.
“Meanwhile, the presence of peacocks might not be as beautiful as one might imagine,” Rajan says.
“Peafowl generally prefer drier, more arid environments. Hence, their arrival in Kochi indicates that the city could be becoming warmer and drier over the years. This could be read as a sign that we need to pay more attention to our changing ecology and climate.”
Jaydev Menon, an active birder for the past 40 years, says peafowl are now present in several parts of the city, including the LNG terminal in Vypeen.
“Initially, they were common in Palakkad, as the district is generally drier than the rest of Kerala. They might have reached here as temperatures rose, but we cannot be sure. However, several international studies suggest that peacocks in coastal regions may indicate climate change,” he says.
Jaydev points out that birders have also spotted migratory European rollers in parts of Kerala. “They usually prefer a dry climate. Maybe they were vagrants and lost their way for some reason. But if we see them every year from now on, it paints a worrying picture,” he says.
Wildlife veterinarian Dr Arun Zachariah calls for detailed research. “When we talk about wildlife ecology, there is another field that needs to be mentioned — urban ecology,” he says.
“Wild animals can be part of the urban ecosystem too. Take rat snakes, for example. They are found in urban areas because rats are found here. And why are rats found here? Because of agriculture. Peafowl, meanwhile, are usually found in degraded forests,” he explains.
“They lay their eggs on the ground. This means their breeding habitats must offer some protection from ground predators.”
Dr Arun says it is certain that “wildlife expansion” is happening into urban areas. Even mongooses are being spotted increasingly, he notes.
“However, how much of it is driven by climate change needs further study,” he says.
“Changing agricultural practices, including the presence of fallow fields and orchards, could also be contributing to these shifts.”
Changes in the urban environment contribute to shifts in habitats, Dr Arun adds. “One prime example is the growing accumulation of garbage,” he says. “It provides an easy food source for many animals, including monkeys. Waste is a big driver and a problem.”
Echoing the views of some aforementioned experts, Dr Arun concludes with a valid point: it is time for a detailed analysis of Kochi’s ecology.