Highways passing through national reserves/wildlife sanctuaries have adverse impact upon wild animals. The present survey was conducted to estimate the roadkills on the National Highways NH212 and NH67 passing through Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Karnataka, India during summer and pre-monsoon season at various vegetational levels. The roadkills were monitored thrice a month in each habitat between January, 2007 and June, 2007 and a total of 423 roadkills belonging to 29 species were recorded. Reptiles were the most affected taxa (37.59%) followed by amphibians (29.55%), mammals (19.39%) and birds (13.48%). The variability in season indicated higher roadkills in pre-monsoon (55.6%) compared to those in summer season (44.6%). According to vegetation, the overall roadkill was 50% in mixed deciduous forest and 22.40% in the teak forest and bamboo. Conservation and management implications are essential to prevent the local extinct of faunal and floral.

No abstract

The small mammalian carnivores are important for maintaining healthy ecosystems.  The present documentation is based on the camera trap survey in Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu.  Paired camera-traps were set in a grid of 1.413 × 1.413 km area of 180km² within an altitudinal range of 80–1,866 m.  A total of 11 species were recorded in different habitat types.  Brown Palm Civet Paradoxurus jerdoni and Leopard Cat Prionailurus bengalensis had the highest capture rates and the lowest was Rusty Spotted Cat Prionailurus rubiginosus.

Large carnivores are experiencing massive decline in their population and abundance due to loss of habitat and loss of prey species. The present study was carried out in Mundanthurai Pleateu of Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India. In Mundanthurai Plateau, Tiger Panthera tigris has been absent in past two decades which is linked with low density of large ungulate prey species such as gaur and sambar. In this study we examined the status of large carnivore and prey species after the removal of cattle grazing in the plateau. The study reveals that the overall density of ungulate prey species was 12.4 ± 1.5/Km 2 and gaur density found to be 3.37 ± 1.40/Km 2 . The available prey biomass of 3282.02 kg can support around 11 tigers/100 Km 2 and it may be lower due to biomass which is shared by other sympatric carnivores. The present estimated leopard density in the plateau is 24.32 ± 4.38 using camera traps spatially explicit capture-recapture method. Overabundance of leopard may be due to the absence of tiger in the plateau and we have confirmed the presence of one male tiger in the plateau so far. The present study may provide baseline information on monitoring tigers and co-predators in the Mundanthurai Plateau of Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve.

No abstract