Ravi Jambhekar

In addition to cultivated fruits that can be readily purchased in the market, animals under rehabilitation must always be offered wild gathered fruits in order to familiarize them with wild fruits that will be available to them after release.

Below is a list of fruits, with photographical documentation for ease of identification, that can and have been successfully offered to barbets (Megalaimidae sp.) both during the hand-feeding and rehabilitation process.

Ficus fruits

Although barbets readily consume a wide variety of fruits, their primary diet in the wild consists of various fruits of the genera Ficus.

Ficus beddomei

A Strangler Fig

Ficus benghalensis

Indian Banyan or ‘Bargad ka ped’

Ficus exasperata

Brahma’s Banyan or Forest Sandpaper Fig

Ficus glomerata (syn. Ficus racemosa)

Cluster Fig or Goolar Fig

Ficus religiosa

Sacred Fig or Pipal Tree

Ficus talbotii

Persea macrantha

‘Kula mavu’, Commonly known as Indian butter fruit

Syzygium cumini

Black plum or ‘jamun’

Zizyphus rugosa

Zunna berry (Chunna)
Buckthorn family (which includes Indian ber, jujube, etc.)

Document edited by Devna Arora
Published in 2013