COONOOR: Wildlife researcher Dijo Thomas of Kottayam in Kerala now engaged in research in The Nilgiris has called for conserving the ‘Neelagiri Cheruvan’ (popularly called ‘Nai Chiruthai’ in Tamil).
“The number of ‘Neelagiri Cheruvan’ is only 30-60 in different regions and the main population of 30-40 is in The Nilgiris”, he told TNIE. “So, there is need to conserve it through research, data gathering and educating people with support of the forest department”, he said.
“It is the second species in the Neelagiri Kaduva family but much smaller in size. It is called “Nai Chiruthai’ in The Nilgiris, ‘Pogeyan’ in Munnar in Kerala, ‘Nai Huli’ or ‘Dodda Nai’ in Karnataka, but the name ‘Neelagiri Cheruvan’ is given as a unified common name for research and conservation purpose”, he explained.
Detailing the appearance of ‘Neelagiri Cheruvan’, Thomas said the animal has the closest resemblance to German Shepherd.
“It is around a foot longer than ordinary dogs and its face is longer and bigger than ordinary dogs. It has a mix of grey and brown (or pale yellow) colour and lives in high altitude”, he said.
Its main prey is dog and people mistake it to be a leopard (Chiruthai) which eats dog (Nai) and hence the name Nai Chiruthai.
Explaining how the animal hunts prey, Thomas said, “As it is not much bigger than a dog, it is difficult for it to hunt a dog. So, it would bark like a dog. Mistaking it to be a dog, a dog would rush to chase it away from its territory. That’s when the Cheruvan attack it. It would drag its prey to a secluded place and eat it. It is a lone hunter."
Dijo Thomas, who had presented papers in Indian Science Congress earlier, said it is very difficult to take a photo of ‘Neelagiri Cheruvan’ because of its fewer number, nocturnal activity and migration up to 30 kilometres.