Environmentalists have recently written to the Assam government on the urgent need to prevent land-use changes at Kokilabari Seed Farm in the state to protect Bengal floricans and other species.

Bengal Florican

• The Bengal florican also called Bengal bustard, is a bustard species native to the Indian subcontinent, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
• Fewer than 1,000 individuals were estimated to be alive as of 2017.
• It has two disjunct populations, one in the Indian subcontinent, another in Southeast Asia.
• The former occurs from Uttar Pradesh (India) through the Terai of Nepal to Assam (where it is called ulu mora) and Arunachal Pradesh in India, and historically to Bangladesh.
• It has a very small, rapidly declining population largely as a result of the widespread loss of its grassland habitat.

Conservation status

• IUCN Red List Status: Critically Endangered
• CITES: Appendix I
• Wildlife Protection Act of India, 1972: Schedule I

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