What is the Nilgir Harza? It sounds like the name of some plant or exotic fruit. But, it turns out, this is a pretty cute, albeit predatory animal. Let's find out how it looks, what it eats and where it lives.
Nilgir Harza
The animal belongs to the genus marten and the family marten. Due to its unusual coloring, it is one of the most striking representatives of its kind. In appearance and behavior, the Nilgir Kharza is similar to the Kharza, but its habitat is narrower, and its dimensions are slightly smaller. However, both species are the largest of the martens.
Nilgir harza is an omnivorous predator and can behave aggressively. There are cases when a charza in a zoo bit visitors. However, just like that, they usually do not attack, and in wildlife they behave very secretively. Sometimes they are bred as pets, but it is not always possible to tame them.
Because of the tough fur for hunters, they are of little value. Nevertheless, the charza is listed in the Red Book as a rare and vulnerable species. The number of animals gradually decreases due to the destruction of their natural habitats.
Appearance
Nilgir Kharza is also called yellow-breasted marten. The animal’s coat is brown or dark brown in color, and its chest has a bright yellow-orange hue. The muzzle below is often painted white.
She has a short, but thick and coarse coat. In young individuals, the fur is light and darkens with time. In representatives of any age, it is much lighter and longer in winter than in summer.
Nilgir charza grows to 50-70 centimeters. The tail in this case reaches almost half the body length. The animal weighs about two kilograms. Unlike an ordinary charza, her frontal bone is slightly concave. The head of the animal has a shape close to triangular, the muzzle is pointed. The ears relative to the body are small and also pointed. The harza's body is elongated and very flexible. Her legs are short, but this does not prevent her from easily climbing branches and trunks of trees.
Habitat
Common charzas live in South Asia, China and Korea, on the Indochina Peninsula, the islands of Indonesia, as well as in the Amur Region and Khabarovsk Territory. The Nilgir Harza has a much narrower range. It is found in the limited territories of South India.
Mostly the animal lives on the Nilgirvi mountain range, which is why it got its name. These mountains belong to the Western Ghats and are located in the south-west of the country. The climate here is much colder than in the tropical forests of South India. This is already evident in the thick fur of the animal.
Harza feels great in local forests and meadows, hunting in dense thickets. She prefers to settle near rivers or swamps, where in summer there are a lot of fish, frogs and birds.
What does harza eat?
Nilgir Harza can eat anything, consumes berries, fruits, nuts and even bee honeycombs. But by its nature, it is still a predator and prefers hunting for other animals. Her diet includes birds, rodents, squirrels, raccoons, fish, shellfish and insects. In captivity, they are fed with giblets, rats and rabbits; they are necessarily given a liver. Having settled near the village, charzi often steal chickens.
Not only small animals become a victim of a predator. He also hunts wild boars, Manchurian deer, elk and deer. The favorite "dish" for any charza is Siberian musk deer - deer-like animals up to a meter in size and up to 70 cm high.
To capture large prey, they act in a group. Often the animal is driven into a remote corner, for example, to an impassable river or on slippery ice, so that the victim loses coordination and is unable to quickly escape.
Lifestyle
In spring and summer, when there is enough food everywhere, charzas live alone. In winter, with the onset of cold weather and the freezing of ponds, food production is greatly complicated. There are so many small animals, but they cannot beat large ones on their own. Combining in small flocks of up to 5 individuals, they track down a large victim and chase it in turn until it finds itself in a hopeless situation.
The Nilgir charza lives in the crowns of trees or hollows. From there, they often look out for prey. Animals hunt in the afternoon. In search of food, they can climb into other people's hollows, eat supplies and cubs left unattended.
Harza quickly move through trees and jump up to 4 meters in length. From afar, they can be confused with a giant Indian squirrel, which is similar in color and size to them. Although they have few natural enemies, they try not to attract attention and avoid open areas, hiding in branches or tall thickets. Sometimes charzis become victims of leopards, red wolves and tigers. Due to secrecy, much about these animals remains unclear, for example, their life span. It is known that in captivity they live up to 12-15 years.
