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The study of medicinal plants within Sariska National Park in Alwar, Rajasthan, lean-tos light on the intricate relationships between animals, humans, and plants. Many wild animals, including humans, consume non-nutritional plants and nutrient-poor bark, yet little is understood about their potential medicinal value and the reasons behind their consumption. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in scientifically examining the interactions between humans, animals, and plants in their natural environments. Recent research on African great apes suggests that the ingestion of certain non-nutritional plant species may help control parasite infections and alleviate associated gastrointestinal issues. Moreover, local cultural traditions regarding plant selection might be passed on when individuals of the same species migrate from one group to another.

The main objective of this research paper is to study the medicinal plants and threats to these plants in and around Sariska National Park, Alwar, Rajasthan, India.

In addition to this, the number of persons entering forest collection was calculated during behavioural observations and phenological studies of langurs. Estimation of exotic species in the study area and their impact on native flora was estimated. To collect the information about the traditional ethnobotanical, ethnoveterinary and ethnomedical were collected from the villages in and around Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar district, Rajasthan, India. We were completed from 10 villages, 10 interview from each village. These random surveys were also undertaken during the study period of various survey and field visits during December, 2018 to December, 2023.

Study Site:  Sariska Tiger Reserve is a tiger reserve in Alwar district, Rajasthan, India. It stretches over an area of 881 km2 (340 sq mi) comprising scrub-thorn arid forests, dry deciduous forests, grasslands, and rocky hills. This area was a hunting preserve of the Alwar state and was declared a wildlife Sariska Tiger Reserve in 1958. It was given the status of a tiger reserve making it a part of India's Project Tiger in 1978. The wildlife Sariska Tiger Reserve was declared a national park in 1982, with a total area of about 273.8 km2 (105.7 sq mi). Altitude varies from 900 to 3200 feet metric system above a level. Sariska is characterized by distinct winter, summer and monsoon. During summer, temperature fluctuates between 30 – 35^oC, and reach may 48^oC during May and June. Mean winter temperature is 5^oC, and may go down to 2^oC during December – January. The average annual rainfall is about 825 mm; minimum 423 mm and maximum 950 mm.  The forest is broadly dry deciduous or woodland type dominated by dhawa (Anogeissus pendula), ‘gorya dhawa’ (Anogeissus latifolia), salar (Boswellia serrata), gol (Lannea coromandelica), kherni (Wrightia tinctoria), kumbat (Acacia senegal), khair (Acacia catechu), ber (Zizyphus mauritiana), dhonk (Butea monosperma). The undergrowth mainly consists of jharber (Zizyphus nummularia), adusa (Adhatoda zeylanica), gangan (Grewia tenex), franger (Grewia flavescens), kanter (Capparis sepiaria), lantana (Lantana indicus). Some climbers and grasses are also found. The main fauna of Sariska includes Tigers (Panthera tigris), leopard (Panthera pardus), hyaena (Hyaena hyaena), Indian Wolf (Canis lupus), Jackal (Canis aureus), Sloth bear (Melwisus ursinus), Fourhorned antelope (Tetracerus quadricornis), Chinkara (Gazella g. bennetti), Porcupine (Hystrix indica indica), Samber (Cervus unicolor), Spotted dear (Axis axis), (Bluebull (Boselaphus tragocamelus), Toddy cat (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), Jungle cat (Felis chaus), Fox (Vulpes bengalensis), Crocodile (Crocodylus palustris) and Rock python (Python molurus).

Methods: One or two days in a month, sitting close to wood cutters’ route near the entrance of the Sariska Tiger Reserve or forest, the number of men and women entering and leaving with wood, grass, leaves, fruits, seeds, gum and other produce were accounted for.

Humans and herbivores in and around Sariska Tiger Reserve, besides eating common food plants also feed on certain unusual food items. This includes gum, bark, arial roots, sand, licking of latex and rocks and chewing dry beehives and eating repulsive alkaloid plants, etc. There were 10 plant species, which produces gum in Sariska Tiger Reserve (Table 1). The maximum gum consumption and collection was observed during March when 10 plant species which produce gum. Sand eating by the birds and mammals were also observed in different protected and unprotected areas of Rajasthan (Chhangani, 2000, Chhangani, 2004)

Table 1: Gum producing plants found in Sariska Tiger Reserve and consumption  

Gum Producing Plants	Consumption
Kumbta (Acacia senegal)	All seasons
Kala dhawa (Anogeissus pendula)	All seasons
Safed Dhawe (Anogeissus latifolia)	November to June
Falas (Butea monosperma)	December to March
Neem (Azadirachta indica)	All seasons
Babul (Acacia nelotica)	All seasons
Kher (A. catechu)	December to March
Kadaya (Sterculia urens)	January to March
Setafal (Annona squamosa)	January to March
Aam (Mangifera indica)	January to March

Bark and shoot feeding: The barks of   Sterculia   urens, Acacia catechu, Anogeissus pendula, Anogeissus latifolia, Acacia lucopholoea, Albizia lebbeck and Butea monosperma are consumed by humans and wild animals. Young shoots which may be    6 – 10 inches long are also eaten from three plant species viz., Anogeissus pendula, Butea monosperma and Zizyphus mauritiana. Young shoots are eaten as and when available after lopping and tree cutting by local people. Arial root feeding: During summer and monsoon humans and wild animals consume fresh   arial   roots.   Young   arial   roots   of   two   ficus   species, Ficus benghalensis and F. racemosa were observed eaten. The parasitic plant, Dendrophthoe falcata (host Boswellia serrata), which produces arial roots were observed eaten. Rock and latex licking: Rock licking by wild animals of all ages and both sexes were observed throughout the year along the river side. Latex   of   Calotropis   procera,   Ficus   benghalensis   and  Euphorbia caducifolia when stick to animals hands and other body parts or on plant branches during feeding langurs were observed licking latex from hands and some time from branches where from latex ooze out. This phenomenon was observed in all seasons.

Feeding on repulsive plants: Wild animals were observed consuming parts of some repulsive species which are avoided by most animals and livestock. These include Calotropis procera, Lantana camara and Datura innoxia. In all seasons, leaves flowers and unripe fruits of two shrubs Calotropis procera and Lantana camara were eaten by langurs. During monsoon months juvenile and adult langurs were observed to feed on leaves and flowers of Datura innoxia.

Role of food plants in reproduction, milk production and self medication

For example, leaves of Acacia catechu and ripe and unripe fruits of Tamarindus indica were frequently consumed in quantity by pregnant and infant carrying langur females. Gum from 10 plant species was observed eaten by langurs. It was found that gum feeding is slightly higher in pregnant langur females before and after birth compared to other females. Similarly, langur females carrying newborns eat more leaves of Butea monosperma, Azadirachta indica, Ziziphus mauritiana, Wrightia tinctoria and flowers and fruits of Bombex ceiba and Bauhinia racemosa as compared to females without infants. Similar practice used by local people and tribals around the Sariska Tiger Reserve, to increase the milk yield of there livestock. They feed the same plant leaves to there animals, which is collected from the forest regularly.

Threats to important flora of Sariska Tiger Reserve:

Overgrazing: Overgrazing is the most serious problem in the Sariska Tiger Reserve due to heavy pressure of livestock. Due to unrestricted grazing the forest cover has degraded and ground cover is not replenished in natural course. About 199800 animals, which includes 25000 cows, 18900 buffaloes, 90500 sheep, 5500 goats and 200 camels are living in and around the Sariska Tiger Reserve. Besides this the regeneration and germination of plants was highly effected due to regular grazing in the Sariska Tiger Reserve, which leads to extension of important medicinal plants.

Tree cutting: Food and feeding yielded data on wood cutting in the study area. Out of these 16 tree species were felled by people which are the food plants of wild animals and useful to humans for their known important medicinal values. Wood cutters preferred species such as Acacia senegal, Anogeissus pendula, A. latifolia, Albizia lebbeck, Acacia catechu, Lannea coromandelica and Azadirachta indica, etc. Acacia senegal was the single major tree species most commonly felled. It is used mainly by temple mess for firewood. Out of 87 trees cut in the study area, 27.9% of them belongs to this species. This species is also used by animals and humans year-round. Out of 16 tree species cut by woodcutters, 9 species of trees were amongst the 10 top ranking food plant species and the product of these trees are consumed by animals and humans year-round as their main food source and medicinal use.

Table:2.  Tree cutting and their uses by people in Sariska Tiger Reserve.

S.No.	Name of tree species	Known medicinal value	Reason of felling
1.	Acacia catechu	Yes	Construction, food
2.	Acacia leucophloea	Yes	Fodder
3.	Acacia senegal	Yes	Fire wood, construction
4.	Albizia lebbeck	Yes	Construction
5.	Albizia procera	Yes	Construction
6.	Anogeissus latifolia	Yes	Fodder, construction
7.	Anogeissus pendula	Yes	Fodder, construction
8.	Azadirachta indica	Yes	Fodder, construction
9.	Bauhinia racemosa	Yes	Fodder, Agri. Equip.
10.	Butea monosperma	Yes	Fodder
11.	Lannea coromandelica	No	Construction
12.	Prosopis juliflora	No	Fire wood, fencing
13.	Sterculia urens	Yes	Drought fodder
14.	Syzygium cumini	Yes	Handicraft
15.	Terminalia arjuna	No	Fodder
16.	Ziziphus mauritiana	Yes	Construction, fodder

Exotic weed species: Biotic pressure has resulted in the degradation of Sariska Tiger Reserve Forest. Exotic weed species like Lantana (Lantana camara) and Vilayati babul (Prospis juliflora) which invaded the forest area replacing native species are  blocking  regeneration  of  local  flora   like   Anogeissus   latifolia,  A.   pendula, Bauhinia   racemosa, Boswellia   serrata,  Ficus   benghalensis,  F.   racemosa,  Ziziphus   mauritiana,   Z.   nummularia   and   shrub   species like Grewia flavescens, G. tenex, Helicteres isora, Annona squamosa, etc. These species constitute main food of domestic and wild animals in different seasons. Buffer and part of core area is covered by Lantana camara and along the road side and forest tracts by Prosopis juliflora, which is spreading with great speed.

Forest fire: It is damaging flora and fauna of Sariska Tiger Reserve. Due to deciduous nature of forest leaf fall occurs in December to February. Fires takes place during summer months after April. Sporadic fires continue till June. These fires appear to be accidental. In tribal areas however it may sometimes be caused by advasis themselves during festivities of Bolma (Worship) in which they offer Magara Pooja by burning forest area. The fires are also caused due to negligence of right holders living inside the Sariska Tiger Reserve. The heavy traffic between Sariska Tiger Reserve area is also the cause of forest fires, because half burnt cigarettes and biris are thrown along the roadside which often fall on the dry leaves and catch fire.

In small-bodied primates (such as Prosimians and Callitrichids), the ecological and evolutionary significance of gum feeding has been considered in a number of studies. (Martin, 1972; Charles – Dominique et al. 1979; Pitter, 1978; Hladik, 1979; Bearder and Martin, 1980 and Harcourt, 1986). In Jodhpur gum ooz from the trunk of Prosopis juliflora was frequently licked by langurs (Mohnot, 1974). Bark eating was observed from seven plant species. The bark eating was restricted during scarcity of food in summer months and droughts. But, some times in the presence of predators when langurs cannot come down to ground and move from one tree to another, they were observed to feed on stem bark. Whether it was to release the stress or to over come the stress or in absence of normal feeding they eat bark we do not know!

Arial roots: Feeding on arial roots of two ficus species, Ficus benghalensis and F. racemosa was observed at Sariska Tiger Reserve. Similarly, a semi-stem parasite Dendrophthoefalcata (host plant, Boswella serrata) was observed eaten. It was for the first time we reported this from Sariska Tiger Reserve. Feeding on arial roots were confined to summer and monsoon months. During this period arial roots contain lot of water and some quantity of carbohydrates. Langurs at Sariska Tiger Reserve were observed to eat Calotropis procera in all seasons apparently without ill effects. Such repulsive and evil smelling latex – bearing plants are avoided by most animals and even insects but eaten by langurs. It is quite likely that bacteria in the forestomach of langurs may reduce the toxic effect of chemicals and alkaloids. Langurs therefore can consume alkaloid containing food.  In addition to unusual food habits many wild animals specially Rhesus monkey and langurs lick rocks. This is probably to balance the requirement of salts and minerals. Regular licking of rocks and hard earth from termite mounts is commonwhich might help them to obtain requirements of salt and minerals like calcium, mangesium and trace elements (for example copper); for this purpose, it may have some special licking places. Vogel (1970, 1971) noted such earth licking in Sariska and Kumaun hills.  Latex from   food   plants   like, Ficus   benghalensis, Calotropis procera and Euphorbia caducifolia which often sticks on langurs hands and other parts of the body when former are busy plucking flowers, fruits or leaves. The latex stick to fingers and nails and other parts of body was often licked by langurs.

Role of food plants in reproduction, milk production and medication

It is difficult to asses the food requirements of langurs of both sexes in nature and their role in body physiology. In this study attempt was made to understand the role of food plants in reproduction, milk production and medication by observing them as to how much time they spend on particular plant part eaten by langur males and females. By and large food requirements may vary in males and females depending on their physical and physiological condition. It was observed that adult males spent less time feeding as compared to adult females, because females need to invest in reproduction and rearing of young ones. As such requirements of non-pregnant females are different than pregnant females; a fact emerged out in this study. The leaves of Azadirachta indica when fed to cattle and camel with other feed increases the milk yield. In Andhra Pradesh people regularly feed cattle and goats to increase milk production immediately following parturition. A. indica leaves are criminative and aid in digestion (Manjunath, 1948). It was found in this study that the local tribes of Aravalli ranges also feed their cattle with A. indica leaves. Analysis of mature leaves of various subspecies of A. indica includes protein, fat, fiber, carbohydrates and minerals, calcium, phosphorous, iron, thiamine, niacin, vitamin in different proportions. The above characteristics suggest significance of A. indica leaves consumed by langur females with infants probably to provide proper and rich nutrition to their upcoming infants. Langur females with infants therefore feed more on leaves of Azadirachta indica and Butca monosperma. Although in spite of the availability of other plants and their leaves during the lactation period this doesn’t attract females to feed on these species. Females with suckling infants feed more on Butea monosperma and Azadirachta indica leaves.

Table.3: Plant parts consumed by wild animals, livestock and humans in and around Sariska Tiger Reserve and their known medicinal value.

Plant species	Plant parts / products eaten by langurs	Medicinal Value / Uses
Aak Calotropis procera	Young, mature and dry leaves, flowers, unripe fruits	Latex and black pepper taken orally for 9 days by patients of hydrophobia, against dog bite, flowers with black pepper orally is very effective for cough, cold, asthma, piles, gastric problems
Aam Magifera indica	Leaves, unripe fruits, seeds and gum	Eat gum to cure spermatorrhoe. Seed powder to cure diarrhoea by most of tribes
Aranjia Acacia leucopholia	Young leaves, flowers, fruits (unripe)	Stem bark powder for diarrhoea, tribals use pods as fodder of goat and sheep in ordr to bring them in early heat
Babool Acacia nilotica	Young leaves, flowers, fruits (Unripe), gum	Gum, pods and young leaves to cure urinogenital disorders
Bargad Ficus benghalensis	Young leaves, shoots, fruits (mature) arial roots	Tribal males using 2-3 latex drops with sugar for sexual potency, to prevent scabies. Young arial roots to children as health tonic
Beel Aegle marmelos	Young leaves, flowers	Leaves are used in opthalmic ulcers. Leaves used in dropsy and weakness of heart
Ber Zizyphus mauritiana	Young and mature leaves, fruits (ripe - unripe)	Leaves are taken to cure diarrhoea. Good cattle fodder for drought, to improve mik yield (leaves/fruits/seeds). Leaves are good for the treatment of cough and cold
Dhatura Dalurex innoxia	Leaves, flowers	Juice of fresh plant for treatment of hydrophobia and malaria fever
Dhawra Anog eirsus pedula	Young and mature leaves, bark, fruits, gum	Gum as tonic for women after child birth
Falas Butea monosperma	Leaves, flowers, gum	The green leaves lopped for fodder to improve milk yield in buffaloes and shoots to trible women to prevent conception
Gular Ficus recemosa	Young leaves, shoots, fruits (mature) arial roots	Roots are reported to be useful in dysentery. Latex is helpful in piles and diarrhoea
Hingota Baanites aegyptiaca	Young leaves, flowers, fruits	Stem bark powder to cattle for removal of intestinal worms. Taken by tribal females to prevent pregnancy
Imli Tamarindus indica	Young leaves, flowers, fruits	Fruit juice for blood purification, enlarged liver and jaundice. Semi-roasted seeds / fruits are eaten by pragnent females for test
Jamun Syzygium cumini	Young leaves, fruits (ripe and unripe)	Leaves, fruits are good for diabetic patients. Leaf juice cure abdominal pain
Jhar Ber Zizyphus nummularia	Young and mature leaves, fruits (ripe - unripe)	Leaves as tea used in cough and cold, to maintain milk yield in drought Leaves in skin diseases and diarrhoea in human and cattle / livestock
Jhinjha Bohinia racemosa	Young and mature leaves, flowers, fruits (seeds)	Leaves taken orally to cure headache in malaria fever, stem – bark + water used for bath of mother after child birth for desinfection.
Kadaya Sterculia urens	Gum, bark, young leaves	Young leaves as ointment on skin, resin orally for leucoderma and peptic ulcer
Kher Acacia catechu	Young leaves, flowers, gum, bark	Cooling, digestion, cough, diarrhoea, help is easy delivery
Khirni Wrightia tinctoria	Young  and mature leaves, flowers	Leaves are good for digestion fever and to stop haemorrhage. Leaves are swallowed to cure scorpion sting
Kumbhat Acacia senegal	Young and mature leaves, flowers, gum	Gum fried + sugar + roasted wheat flour is given to women after delivery
Neem Azadirachta indica	Young and mature leaves, flowers, fruits (seeds), gum	Bark is beneficial in malaria fever, cough, cold, dog-bite. Leaves purify blood, snake-bite, prevent intestinal helminthiasis. Leaves with other fodder to cattle, camel and goat to increase milk yield
Pepal Ficus religiosa	Young leaves, shoots, fruits (mature)	Leaves are given to cattle for fodder. Leaves and shoots are also used as purgative and in skin diseases
Safed Dhaw Aenogeissus latifolia	Young and mature leaves, flowers, fruits (unripe), gum	Stem bark + bark of Butea monosperma + gum of Mengifera indica given orally in breathing problem by tribals.
Salar Boswellia serrata	Young and mature leaves, flowers	Leaves juice to cure eye infection, stem bark against dysentery, cough and cold.
Samel Bombex ceiba	Young leaves, flowers (buds) (unripe) fruits	Young fruits are beneficial in ulcers of bladder and kidney. Dry flower powder + honey to ladies suffering from excessive bleeding during menstruation. Flowers with Ankola (Alangium salvifolium) stem bark or fruits with local liquor given orally for retraction of uterus after birth.
Sarais Albizia lebbelek	Leaves, bark (sometimes)	The plant is reported to have antiseptic, antidysenteric and antitubercular properties
Sitaphal Annona squamosa	Leaves, fruits, gum	Fruits as tonic to enrich blood and improve muscular strength Extract of leaves show anti-cancer activity

Livestock: Like several national parks, sanctuaries and closed areas, Sariska Tiger Reserve is facing constant threat of livestock grazing, tree cutting, spread of weeds, forest fires and at times floods besides road accidents. Of these, livestock pressure is perhaps the most serious threat because of legal and illegal grazing. There is a decline in ground foliage, bush and herb density due to overgrazing and trimming off of tree canopy as a result of browsing by goats and camels. This situation is common on the periphery of the Sariska Tiger Reserve. But, quite often large herds of goat, sheep, cow and camel enter into core areas as well. Their numbers often exceed 2 – 3 thousand at one time. This leads to competition amongst the livestock and native wild fauna including langurs. The livestock carry a variety of diseases with them to Sariska Tiger Reserve like, foot and mouth, skin, viral, bacterial, protozoan and helminthes diseases. These may spread in langurs and other wild animals. This threat is mounting every day because of lack of control on livestock entry into the Sariska Tiger Reserve and increasing numbers of animals available in and around the Sariska Tiger Reserve. Tree cutting is a serious threat. The Sariska Tiger Reserve is deprived of trees and its products, which are important for the endemic fauna of Sariska Tiger Reserve including arboreal mammals. These trees provide food, fodder, shelter and sleeping support to a large number of species of mammals (Chhangani, 2002, in addition to nesting of birds.

Weeds: The entry and spread of weeds in any forest ecosystem or non-forest habitat is not uncommon. Sariska Tiger Reserve is one such area loaded heavily by exotic weeds. These species are not only degrading the ecosystem but are replacing the endemic plant species. The two main exotic weed species which have entered Sariska Tiger Reserve in the past 40 – 50   years   are Lantana camara, a shrub and Prosopis juliflora, a tree species. These remain green year-round, grow fast and provide plenty of biomass. Prosopis provide fodder, but leaves are unpalatable by wild animals. Only langurs eat them. Langurs can eat every part of this plant and same is the case with Lantana. Prosopis juliflora is available on the periphery of the Sariska Tiger Reserve along with forest tracks and routes, but have not reached in the core area. This species has spread in the Sariska Tiger Reserve from livestock and its spread is limited to those areas where the livestock could go for grazing. Lanatana is found in whole of the study area including the home ranges of focal troops. The species was brought for ornamental purposes and have now become a menace. Interestingly langurs eat all parts of Lantana regularly without any ill effect while all other wild animals and livestock avoid this bush.

Forest fire: It causes serious damage to the young generation of tender plants which dies off while resistant plants may survive like Butea monosperma, Acacia senegal, Anogeissus pendula and A. latifolia. It causes tremendous damage to ground cover and to shrubs which forms ideal habitat for wild animals. Due to fire many animals like, insects, reptiles and birds are killed and their eggs destroyed. However, it creates problem for ground dwellers including langurs because of whipping out of forage species and loss of large numbers of vertebrates, reptiles and mammals, particularly those which are subterranean or burrowing in habits. A large number of bird nests and eggs were destroyed in these fires, which create local imbalance of fauna and flora. Similar observations of the forest fireswere also made in the Kumbhalgarh wildlife sanctuary (Chhangani and Mohnot, 1997)

Pesticides Threat to the Wildlife:

Another potential threat which has been quite neglected by the wildlife researchers till date is pesticide contamination through the consumption of the pesticide contaminated food and water by both carnivores and herbivores animals. This aspect needs to be highlighted here is the pesticide contamination of the environment leading to the decline in the population of the animals especially by organochlorine pesticides (OCPs). Since many animals live in water and on shores and thrive on fishes and other aquatic animals therefore, they get exposed to OCPs because of bioconcentration and biomagnification of these xenobiotics. Here an example of bald eagle from USA needs to be considered. The bald eagle is the North American species with a historic range from Alaska and Canada to northern Mexico, is the national bird of the USA which has been an endangered species for many years. The reasons being the Habitat destruction and degradation, illegal shooting, and the contamination of its food source, because of DDT contamination, there is a decline in the eagle population, The  banning of DDT by the Federal government of USA and related pesticides, habitat protection done  by the Endangered Species Act, and conservation actions taken by the general American public have helped bald eagles to survive. Nevertheless  DDT and its residues contaminated nearby water areas, where aquatic plants and fish absorbed it and biomagnified it . Bald eagles, in turn, were poisoned with DDT as and when they consumed the contaminated fish. As a consequence, their eggs had shells so thin that they usually broke during incubation or otherwise failed to hatch at all. DDT contamination and its residues also affected other species such as peregrine falcons and brown pelicans. Many Other pesticides having the same structure as  DDT are suspected to have caused increased death, in addition to the harmful effects on reproduction. By 1963, with only 417 nesting pairs of bald eagles existing, the species was facing the danger of extinction. At the time, a controversial step of banning the use of DDT and some related pesticides in the United States was taken by the federal government of the USA. That was in 1972, and it was the first step on the road to recovery for the bald eagle (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Migratory Bird Program, February 2021). This shows how dangerous DDT contamination is how disastrous it can be for the avian fauna. More scary studies have indicated that we have largely over looked the darker side of these chemicals as OCPs are reported to be carcinogenic (Mathur et al, 2002 &Ingber et al 2013) mutagenic (Ingber et al 2013&Yaduvanshi et al 2012) teratogenic (Yaduvanshi et al 2012 & ATSDR. Atlanta, GA.1994) immunosuppressive (Repetto. R & Baliga. S.S, 1997 &Corsinia et al, 2003) create endocrine dysfunction such as hypothyroidism or high estrogenic activity (Dewailly et al, 2000 & Rathore et al, 2002) disturb reproductive processes (Pant et al ,2007 & Tiemann.U. 2008) growth depressants (Colborn et al, 1993&Mercier. M, 1981) induces several psychogenic and neurogenic abnormalities in adult stages (Mactutus & Tilson, 1986 & Van Wendel de Jood et al,2001) and are associated with abortions, premature deliveries, still births and infants with low birth weights (Saxena et al, 1981; Saxena et al, 1980; Tyagi et al 2015; Chen. Q et al 2014 & Sharma & Bhatnagar, 1996). OCPs have been in use in India nearly for a half century now. Even after having clear cut evidence suggesting that these chemicals have the ability to eliminate entire species from the planet, the annual consumption of pesticides in India is about 85,000 tons of which OCPs comprise the bulk (India Environment Portal Knowledge for change, 30/10/1998.). Therefore, today OCPs are perhaps the most ubiquitous of the potentially harmful chemicals encountered in the environment and are still widely detected in humans despite the considerable decline in environmental concentrations (Dewan et al. 2003). This kind of environmental Contamination with organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) has also been reported by Sharma and her coworkers in 1996 from Jaipur City. She reported contamination of human samples like mothers’ blood, cord blood, placenta and mothers’ milk with OCPs. Presence of pesticides with OCPs shows that how these xenobiotics have contaminated our Mother Nature and now faunal diversity is facing danger of existence and Smooth-coated Otters is not staying away from this potential danger. It can be concluded that the magnitude of pollution is quantitatively enough to contaminate the food and environment and reaching out to all faunal diversity.

It can be concluded that the magnitude of pollution is quantitatively enough to contaminate the food and environment and the pesticides reach the human body through various sources mainly by absorption form the gastrointestinal tract through contaminated food chain, are circulated in blood, stored milk and secreted during lactation resulting in sufficient neonatal intake. The battle against the harmful insects would be much less costly and more efficient, and the problem of contamination of the environment by toxic materials would be vastly reduced, if insect activities are controlled by natural means. The use of pest-specific predators; parasites or pathogens; sterilization of insects with the help of radiations; trapping insects using insect attractants like pheromones; use of juvenile hormones or hormone inhibitors may therefore be suggested as alternate ways of pest control (Sharma, 1996; 2021a; 2021b;2021c;2021d), Sharma & Bhatnagar, 1996 & 2017;  Sharma and Singh. (2021).

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