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Feral Cattle Thrive After Tsunami on Remote Indian Island
23 Oct
Summary
- Feral cattle adapted to life on Trinket Island after the 2004 tsunami.
- Around 150 descendants remained by 2020, nearing extinction.
- Genetic analysis identified Trinket cattle within the Bos indicus lineage.
Cattle on India's Trinket Island, part of the Nicobar archipelago, have a history spanning over two centuries. Introduced by Danish colonists between 1756 and 1768, they were initially valued for milk before becoming semi-feral under indigenous Nicobarese care, who primarily used them for meat. The landscape itself was altered, with forests converted to grasslands for fodder.
The catastrophic earthquake and tsunami of December 26, 2004, drastically changed the cattle's existence. The human population was evacuated, leaving the animals to become fully feral. This marked a shift from human dependency to complete self-sufficiency within the island's isolated environment.
By 2020, researchers documented a critical situation: only approximately 150 descendants of the original herd survived. This precarious population level highlighted an urgent need for conservation measures. Scientific investigations into their genetics confirmed they belong to the Bos indicus lineage, specifically the I2 sub-haplotype, providing a unique marker for this isolated group.
