Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries.
More than a century after British colonial forces marched into the Siang Valley in what is now the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, their expedition has taken on a new significance. What began in 1912 as a punitive military campaign has yielded an unlikely legacy: a 1,000-page natural history record that, today, is helping scientists rediscover one of India’s least-studied ecosystems, reports Simrin Sirur.
That legacy is now being reclaimed. A recent biodiversity survey, led by Indian researchers and conservationists retracing the 1912 route, has documented more than 1,500 species, from elusive birds to shimmering electric-blue ants and ancient velvet worms. The findings underscore the valley’s ecological wealth and its role as a migratory corridor, including for species like the common crane (Grus grus), never before seen there in such numbers.
Yet this landscape, stretching from lowland tropics to alpine pastures, is under growing threat. Deforestation, expanding agriculture, and the proposed 11.2-gigawatt Upper Siang Dam loom large.
“As long as the habitat is there, species can bounce back,” said Rajkamal Goswami of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE). “But if it’s converted or submerged, we lose everything.”
In response, community-led conservation efforts are taking root. In Gobuk, a remote village in Upper Siang, residents have built a grassroots initiative around the rediscovery of the “dark freak” butterfly, Calinaga aborica. Where once hunting was tradition, pride in biodiversity is growing. Homestays now host visitors and school libraries stock species guides. Other villages near Mouling National Park are also beginning to establish community-conserved areas.
At a time when global insect and bird populations are in decline, the Siang expedition is not only a scientific rediscovery — it is a call to safeguard what remains. In a region long overlooked, communities and researchers are charting a different path, one that values knowledge, memory and stewardship over conquest.
This is a summary of Simrin Sirur’s “Retracing the route of a century-old biodiversity expedition.”
Banner image: Expedition members collect samples of moths and other insects. Image by Sandesh Kadur/Felis Images (CC BY-ND 4.0).
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