A Great Indian Bustard (GIB) chick has been spotted in the wild in Gujarat for the first time in 10 years, thanks to a new approach that raises hope for the conservation of one of the most endangered bird species, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupinder Yadav announced on Saturday.
In a post on X, Yadav said his ministry, state forest departments of Rajasthan and Gujarat, and the Wildlife Institute of India have coordinated the quick-start approach. Prime Minister Narendra Modi conceived the GIB project in 2011 to conserve the species in their natural habitat, including Gujarat, and launched it in 2016, he said.
As a result, Yadav said, the number of birds in conservation breeding centers in Sam and Ramdevra in Rajasthan has reached 73. He added that with the addition of five new chicks this season, they are moving towards rewilding the birds in the near future.
Yadav said the captive-bred GIB egg from Rajasthan was transported by road over 19 hours in a hand-held incubator and replaced in a nest on March 22 as part of a major conservation effort across the state. He added that the female GIB completed incubation of the egg and hatched it on March 26. “The field monitoring team found the baby chick raised by its foster mother,” Yadav said.
The captive-bred fertilized egg was placed in the nest of a wild female GIB in Kutch under a quick start conservation approach. A GIB tagged in August 2025 laid a sterile egg in Kutch, where Gujarat has lost all its male GIBs. Only four female GIBs are believed to exist in the wild in Gujarat, forest officials said.
Breeding efforts are planned for about a year. It is GIB’s first inter-state fast-track initiative in the country. The egg was transported from Sam in Rajasthan to Naliya in Kutch, 770 km away, via a stop-free corridor to ensure stable incubation conditions.
The Quick Start approach was developed under the GIB project to address the high rate of egg predation in the wild. Under this method, teams locate a nest of a wild female that has laid a sterile egg and replace it with a fertilized egg. The chick is then hatched and raised in the wild, allowing it to develop natural behavior and survival skills. It avoids the stage where eggs face the highest risk of predation. A remote CCTV system is used to monitor the nest throughout the incubation period.
The approach differs from captive rearing and release, where the chick grows entirely in the wild under the care of a wild female. The first successful use of this technology means that the chick is now being raised in the grasslands of Kutch.
Some forest officials have suggested bringing male GIB from Rajasthan to breed with the remaining females in Gujarat. Conservationists opposed the move, saying moving the bird from its native habitat could affect its health and make breeding unsuccessful.
The Kutch GIB Reserve extends over an area of about 2 square kilometres. The habitat of the greater bustard of Kutch extends across nearly 2,000 square kilometers of grassland. The area is also part of the Central Asian Migration Trail and hosts many migratory bird species during the winter. Abbasa is the only place in India where three species of bustards – GIB, Asian bustard and lesser florican – can be seen in the same landscape in different seasons.
A GIB named Gibi was the mascot for the 13th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals in Gandhinagar in February 2020.
Gujarat Forest and Environment Minister Arjun Modhwadia said the GIB was spotted in Gujarat after a decade and termed it a major landmark under the project envisioned by Modi in 2011. He lauded the remarkable conservation efforts made by the Rajasthan and Gujarat teams. A foster mother is taking care of the chick, Modwadia said, calling it a hopeful step towards saving the endangered species.
