Point of untamed horses
Shirish Joshi

THE Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary, situated on the eastern coast of India near the Palk Straits, Tamil Nadu, is the only place where visitors can see untamed or wild horses in India.

Point Calimere’s horses are a uniform warm reddish-brown colour, the only variation being in degrees of darkness. The colouration is an effective camouflage. The latest census puts their population at just 26.

A few other sights can be as pleasing to the eye as watching these dark brown beauties running across the mud-flats, with their tails and manes flying in the air behind them. The origin of these horses is not known precisely.

There are a few inconsistent theories that explain their existence. According to one version, it is said that there was a flourishing trade between the Chola kingdom and Sri Lanka as well as Arabia about a thousand years ago. As the Chola kingdom declined, these horses were abandoned.

According to the other story, these horses are the descendants of those brought by the Portuguese when they landed at the nearby Velankanni beach and built the church. They used the horses to transport building material for the construction of the church. When they left the area, the horses were abandoned and the animals strayed into the forests where they adapted to life in the wild.

However, there are no records to explain the occurrence of these horses.

The legend of Manikkayachagar, says that Arabian horses were brought to this coast in ships for trade in the Pandya and Chola kingdoms, probably 1,800 years ago. This supports the first theory.

According to local folklore, these horses were caught and trained to transport salt from the saltpans during the early years of the 20th century. One elderly Mohammed Hanifa appears to be the only living person who still claims ownership of these wild horses.

In 1967, when the Point Calimere Reserve Forest was declared a sanctuary, grazing permits for domestic livestock had been issued to the claimants of the horses. Most of the horses that were caught proved to be too wild to be domesticated and sold. However, since grazing permits were not renewed after 1970, any animal allowed to graze in the forests after that belonged to the forest department. The mortality rate from predation is comparatively low, since they have no natural enemies like tigers. However, the severe cyclonic storms that lash the eastern coasts kill some of them.

These cyclones cause the sea water to surge inland, creating temporary islands on which the horses are forced to take shelter, sometimes for several days, without food or drinking water. The grasses on which the horses depend are also submerged. At these times, horses often die. The population seems to have stabilised for many years now.

Calimere’s horses are wonders of adaptation. They seem to have adapted to drinking water with a high degree of salinity. This is a natural evolutionary development. Some visitors have seen a male donkey with a small group of four horses. May be they will mate and produce a mule. These horses must be one of the most, endangered species in India. It is very necessary to protect them so that their population stabilises at a viable level.

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