The Bengal florican is a bustard mostly found in the seasonally inundated alluvial grasslands of the Gangetic-Brahmaputra plains of India and Nepal. It is a medium-sized bird of these unique landscapes dominated by grasses such as Imperata cylindrica, Saccharum spontaneum, Saccharum bengalense and Desmostachya bipinnata.
Medium-sized it might be, but the Florican is nevertheless one of these grasslands’ most striking denizens.
The male bird shows black plumage, with a crest and elongated display feathers that are raised during courtship, and white wing patches become visible in flight. It is during courtship that the male becomes the cynosure of all eyes. It makes vertical leaps, wing movements and vocalisations. And it does all this along with other males, a behaviour known as “lekking”, to establish territories and attract females.
This “dancer of the grasslands” is known as ulu-mo’ra in Assamese and daotriling in Bodo. In India, key strongholds include Dudhwa National Park in Uttar Pradesh and several sites across Assam—Manas, Kaziranga, Orang, and Dibru-Saikhowa National Parks—along with smaller but important grassland fragments such as Bhairabkunda Reserve Forest, Amarpur and the riverine islands of Majuli as well as Sadiya in the upper Brahmaputra valley. A notable population persists within the Kokilabari Agriculture Farm bordering Manas National Park, reflecting the species’ use of agricultural edges. Additional riverine grasslands in Arunachal Pradesh also support occurrences. Beyond India and Nepal, the only remaining population, of a second subspecies known as Houbaropsis blandini, survives in the Tonle Sap floodplain of Cambodia.
But the grasslands of India and Nepal are losing this unique species, even as they themselves vanish. Land conversion, expansion of agriculture, annual grassland burning, overgrazing, encroachment, change of river course, fragmentation from infrastructure development, invasive plant species and fire mismanagement have altered grassland structure. Grasslands provide foraging sites, display grounds, and nesting cover to the Florican.
As a key grassland bird, the Bengal Florican’s presence indicates intact habitat structure and functioning ecological processes. Its conservation importance stems from its role as a flagship of South Asian grasslands, ecosystems that have declined sharply and remain insufficiently represented in conservation planning.
Conservation efforts are on. Within Manas, particularly around the Kokilabari Agriculture Farm, community-driven conservation actions—such as awareness programmes for schoolchildren, women’s groups, and local institutions—have played a measurable role in reducing hunting pressure and curbing egg collection. Comparable participatory approaches have been implemented by the Bhairabkunda Joint Forest Management Committees, strengthening grassroots stewardship of grassland habitats. In the Dibang valley of Arunachal Pradesh, the species is also recorded within Community Reserve Forests managed by the Idu Mishmi community. Here, long-standing cultural norms that discourage harming large birds contribute to informal but effective local protection of the species.
But the clock is ticking. Fewer than 1,000 individuals remain worldwide, with small, fragmented populations restricted to remnant alluvial grasslands. Effective protection requires maintaining open grassland mosaics, regulating fire, controlling invasive species, and applying landscape-level planning that incorporates agricultural margins and floodplain dynamics. Because the species depends on habitats shaped by human use, local communities remain central to conservation actions.
This article was originally published as part of the December 16-31, 2025 print edition of Down To Earth