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Critically endangered species such as the Great Indian Bustard as well as other endangered species such as the black buck or Indian antelope, chinkara or Indian gazelle, the lesser florican and many other wildlife depend on the existence of Indian grasslands for their survival.

I wondered why this was, as I stood on the deck of a governmental outpost, watching a critically endangered Bengal florican—a bird native to South Asian grasslands—perform its mating display of short jumps with its thick neck pouch extended.

The paper shows that the most threatened species are also the most genetically distinct, like the giant ibis or the Bengal florican, the world’s rarest bustard, of which there remain just a few hundred in a narrow band stretching across Cambodia, India and Nepal.

The exotic menu: black partridge, florican crane, wild boar shashlik, shredded venison curry.

It also catches such birds as pea-fowl, florican, cranes, &c., frequently springing at them from the ground as they fly over.