In Masinagudi near Ooty in the Nilgiris district, the tourists are thrilled to see the “bamboo rice” flowering after a gap of 40 years.
The Nilgiris: While the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, is already being encroached upon by weeds and there is a growing shortage of food for wild animals, thousands of bamboo are dying up due to bamboo rice flowering and they subsequently die out.
Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and Gudalur forest areas in the Nilgiris district, which account for 67% of the forest cover, have a large number of bamboo bushes and trees.
Since these bamboos are a favourite food for wild elephants, thousands of wild elephants migrate and forage the bamboo.
There are thousands of bamboo trees on both sides of the Mayar, Masinagudi, Segur and Anaikatti rivers in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
These bamboos are not only food for wild elephants but also for deer, bison and monkeys. Although Mudumalai has been completely occupied by weeds like Lantana and Epitorium over the past few years, these bamboo have been their food.
These bamboos, which have a life span of 40 to 45 years, have now blossomed into the rice. As a result, the bamboo which used to look green has not dried up with only rice. All the bamboo on which the rice has bloomed will die in a few days.
In particular, thousands of bamboo in the Masinagudi, Mawanalla and Valaithottam areas have been witnessing the flowering of rice.
“Since this bamboo rice is said to have medicinal properties, some Adivasi people collect them and take them home.
Meanwhile, bamboo, the main food of elephants, is being destroyed at the same time on a large scale, causing concern not only to the forest department but also to the local people” said a tribal living in the area.