(MENAFN- The Peninsula) An Indian zoologist doing research on falcons for the past 16 years is now making a documentary on the raptor.
The documentary will be in English, Arabic and Malayalam, the mother tongue of the film-maker, who hails from the southern Indian state of Kerala and teaches at Calicut University.
Dr Zubair Medammal said he had chosen 'Biology and Behaviour of Falcons/Falcons and Falconry in the Middle East' as the title of his documentary.
Medammal, assistant professor of zoology at Calicut University, is here on a visit, not his first one to the region. During his years of research on falcons, he has been to this region several times.
He said he got interested in falcons when travelling in Abu Dhabi in 1998. In Al Khazna, near Abu Dhabi, he saw Sheikh Zayed Falcon Research Hospital and tried for a job there.
After failing to land employment there, he decided to pursue research on the bird of prey, which is popular in the Gulf.
Falcons, though, are not native to the GCC or the Arab world but falconry is popular here because the region is cash-rich and the sport involves a lot of expense, said Medammal.
Falconry involves hunting using trained falcons.
A good, trained falcon can cost anywhere between $15,000 and a whopping $400,000.
Falcons originated from Russia and parts of Pakistan, he said.
During winter, they migrate, mainly from China, to places like Jaisalmer in the western Indian state of Rajasthan as also to the GCC region.
Bustards, the favourite and main prey of the falcon, also migrate at that time. In the GCC region, the aristocrats and the rich are fond of bustards as their meat is tasty. The meat is also considered an aphrodisiac by some, said Medammal.
A bustard can cost up to QR5,000. If a Bedouin sights a bustard in the desert and informs a hunter, it is the tradition that the latter, after hunting it with a falcon, gives the equivalent of QR10,000 and a feather of the hunted bustard as a reward to the Bedouin.
When they have caught a bustard, falcons don't easily let it go since they are fond of its meat. But the falcon's owner takes the bustard away from it by offering it a pigeon or another bird.
The falcon is an aggressive bird and can attack and seriously injure a person who is not its owner and tries to take a hunted bustard away from it, said Medammal.
Falcons can also hunt rabbits, hares, pigeons, small birds and even small deer.
In the GCC region, falconry is most popular in the United Arab Emirates, followed by Qatar, said Medammal.
On average, falcons live for 12 to 15 years. They, as well as bustards, are an endangered species due to the use of illegal traps and pesticides in farms.
Medammal said he was looking for sponsors to make his documentary, which is estimated to cost QR100,000.
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