Falcon Man

J.S. Bablu

Thenhipalam: It was a surprise moment for Malappuram natives to watch Iguana, a reptile mostly seen in south America, Mexico and Caribbean Islands. Department of Zoology has displayed Iguana in the ‘Sasthryan’ exhibition held at the Calicut university campus. Dr Subair Medammal, Assistant professor in Zoology, displayed the reptile to the visitors here. He took it on his shoulders and introduced the creature which is a guest in Kerala. Dr Subair Medammal is preparing to research on this endangered reptile. It is reported that this Iguana is rarely seen at the museums in the world.

A visiting zoologist and falcon researcher has lauded Qatar for its efforts in preserving falcons and falconry as an essential element of its heritage. “Qatari people are giving more importance to falcons because they are an important element of their heritage. Nowadays, Arabs are breeding falcons as well as houbaras, a migratory bird which is a favourable prey of falcons whose population is also now becoming low. Arabs especially Qatari people breed them artificially and release them to the wild to increase their population,” Dr. Zubair Medammal told The Peninsula. The first Asian scientist to win a doctoral degree in falcon studies, Dr. Medammal, who hails from the southern Indian state of Kerala and teaches at Calicut University has done 25 years study on falcons in the Middle East. He recently visited the ninth Qatar International Falcons and Hunting Festival (Marmi 2018) as part of his research. “I’ve been doing research on falcons for more than two decades in the UAE, Oman,

Zubair Medammal, who is perhaps the only non-Arab scientist to have a doctoral degree in the study of falcons, feels there are chances that the bird could soon become an endangered species across this region, if not properly protected. Dr Medammal, who is a faculty member at the southern Indian University of Calicut, was in Qatar recently to attend the T Marmi Festival held at Sabkhat Marmi, in Mesaieed Sealine. He also participated in a major falcon festival held in the first week of the New Year in Casablanca, Morocco. Falcons, he says, are an integral part of the Arab lifestyle and tradition. Falconry has long been an important sporting activity across the Middle East. “The royal bird is much more than a fascination for me,” he said while issuing a warning about the chances of its extinction in the not-too-distant future. Arguably the one and only expert on falcons in India, Dr Medammal, who was at the festival in Mesaieed on an invitation from the organisers warned that falco