Invasive, artistic

For the longest time, discussions on the consequences of introducing alien species, whether plant or animal, were confined to science circles. While governments are doing their bit to handle the invasive plants, there are groups taking the creative route to spread the word.

Like this ‘herd’ of elephants made of Lantana weeds, which will be travelling to the US in June 2024 to tell stories of conservation and human-animal co-existence and raise money in the process.

The project, envisioned by The Real Elephant Collective (TREC) and Elephant Family, began a few years earlier to provide a livelihood for the artisans but soon turned global. “The artisans belong to the Kattunayakan, Betta Kurumba, Paniya and the Soliga tribes, and were trained by TREC. They work with the local governments in removing the Lantana weeds,” says Sandeep Hanchanale, head of partnerships of TREC.

“The elephants are made by piecing together the debarked stems of Lantana, which turns malleable when boiled. They are based on actual wild elephants of the Nilgiris.”

The elephants were exhibited at Hyde’s Park in the UK in 2021 and will be exhibited in Bengaluru next, in January 2024.

The 120 tribal artisans who created the life-sized elephant sculptures have been compensated with more than `3 crore, generated as revenue from the art project.

Ecologist Anita Varghese recently co-authored a publication ‘Guests Who Never Left’, which features water-colour illustrations of 50 invasive plant species of Peninsular India, predominantly the Western Ghats, the idea being to spread the word on invasives.

“Coral Wine (Kodi Rose), Morning Glory, Cockscomb, Cosmos; one would hardly associate these pretty garden flowers with invasive species, capable of taking over open spaces and smothering native vegetation. But they are. We’ve had the same reaction from tourists here at Kotagiri who click photos against these flowers and take cuttings home,” says Anita. “A history of invasive plants would reveal that it is these hobbyists and gardeners who are responsible for moving them around.”

The idea is also to clarify common doubts about invasive species which the layperson would have, says the illustrator of the publication, Ravi Jambhekar. “Not all alien species are invasive, but all invasive species are alien. The Himalayan Knotweed, for example, is native to India but invasive in the UK. The Lantana, on the other hand, is just a small shrub in South America, its native country.”

The book, produced by the Nature Conservation Foundation and the Biodiversity Collaborative, is free to download so as to reach “diverse sets of audiences and not the experts”, says Anita.