Jessami, a remote village in the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot, is home to the Chakhesang, a Naga warrior tribe renowned for their hunting traditions.
Here, animal skulls displayed at the entrance of homes are worn as badges of honour, symbolising a hunter’s skill.
The village was once famous for the Tekru-Nge festival, during which the men wore traditional headgear featuring tail feathers of Mrs Hume’s pheasant.
The bar-tailed pheasant (Syrmaticus humiae), classified as ‘Near Threatened’ on the IUCN Red List, is the state bird of both Mizoram and Manipur.
The bird is named in honour of Mary Ann Grindall Hume, wife of Allan Octavian Hume, the British naturalist regarded as the father of Indian ornithology.
In 2021, Nizote Mekrisuh, Chairman of the Jessami Village Council, stumbled upon an article in a local newspaper detailing how the bird was disappearing.
While the village council had already banned the hunting of all animals in Jessami since 2018, they were now focused on spotting the bird.
The plan was to turn the community-owned forest into a reserve where former hunters could guide tourists and photographers.
This, they felt, could safeguard the declining numbers of Mrs Hume’s pheasant, while becoming an example for other tribal villages that hunted down birds.
In addition to this, killing animals during the Tekru-Nge festival was banned. Instead, the festival became an event to celebrate the cultural traditions and biodiversity.
Men who previously hunted now have a new career — helping tourists, wildlife photographers, and scientists spot the rare Mrs Hume’s pheasant.
Through the years, the tribe’s relationship with the forest has evolved, becoming an exemplar in grassroots conservation.
This story is part of a content series by The Better India and Roundglass Sustain.
Read the complete story here.