A mass migration threatening the survival of one of the most primitive tribes in India has been reported by officials in the Andaman Islands off the east coast.

Officials say that nearly two hundred of the five hundred-strong Jawara tribe have left their jungle homes for modern settlements near the Islands' administrative headquarters at Port Blair.

There's speculation that there could be a food shortage in the jungle, but some anthropologists believe that the Jawaras -- hunter-gatherers who used to shoot arrows at any intruders -- have grown to prefer the cooked food left out for them by contact parties.

Anthropologists are worried that if the Jawaras abandon their traditional diet of coconuts and raw meat in favour of a modern lifestyle, they may lose their ability to procreate, as happened with another tribe in the Andamans, the Great Andamanis.