BEAUTIFUL SCAVENGERS: SAVING ENDANGERED GREATER ADJUTANTS

During a trip to Assam, India in 2018, I saw endangered Greater Adjutants purely by chance. I was so taken by their story and striking appearance, I traveled back to Assam in early 2020 to create a robust photo essay on Greater Adjutants and the women who are saving them.

In 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature estimated that only between 800 and 1,200 mature Greater Adjutants were left in existence, with the population in decline, making this species the rarest stork on our planet. Assam, India is the last stronghold of Greater Adjutants, harboring more than 80 percent of the Greater Adjutant’s global population.

Purnima Devi Barman is a wildlife biologist who has dedicated her life to protecting Greater Adjutants. The founder of the Hargila Army, a local all-female grassroots volunteer conservation effort, Purnima and her corps of women protect nesting trees, save fallen baby birds and work together to educate the Assamese community on the importance of these rare scavengers.

Due to the hard work of Purnima and the Hargila Army, the Greater Adjutant’s local population has risen to an estimated 950 birds, up from 400 birds in 2007. The number of nesting colonies in the villages of Dadara, Pachariya and Singimari has also risen during the same interval — to 220 nests, up from 28.