Systematic Camera trapping on the Barandabhar Corridor Forest recorded the presence of the endangered Wild Dog/Dhole in the area. A total of 1320 camera trap night efforts were conducted in the area in two blocks from 15th Dec 2015 to 20th Jan 2016. A single picture of dhole was captured and was sympatric with other large carnivores like tiger Panthera tigris tigris, leopard P. pardus, and golden jackal Canis aureus. This first record of Dhole outside the National Park opened a new gate for officials, wildlife conservationist, scientific communities, managers to think about its conservation. It also adds the proof of the healthy functionality of this corridor.

Long term monitoring of bird species was conducted in Barandabhar Corridor Forest, one of the important bird areas of Nepal (IBA). Bird species were identified by the point count method in transect surveys in two-time frames from 2002–2012 and 2015–2016 to obtain the bird species list. We compared our bird list with previously published (after 2000) checklists and compiled the updated checklist of birds of Barandabhar Corridor Forest. We documented 372 bird species belonging to 80 families in Barandabhar, including five Critically Endangered, three Endangered, eight Vulnerable, and 15 Near Threatened species. The Accipitridae family included the highest number of species (n= 32), followed by Muscicapidae (n= 30) and Anatidae (n= 18). Approximately, half of the total confirmed bird species were insectivorous. The list included 63% resident, 27% winter migratory, 7.5% summer migratory, and 2.9% passage migrant species. According to the habitat type, there were 181 species of forest, 74 species of wetland, 24 species of grassland, 70 species of open field, and 23 species of partially wetland birds. This updated checklist of bird species will serve as a reference guide for bird watchers, biodiversity researchers, and support managers for conservation effort; and can be used to track any changes in the composition of bird species in the future.

Understanding the mammalian fauna is one of the first steps for protected areas management. Proper taxonomic identification is essential for initiating long-term conservation management and species action plans. Here, we present the checklist of mammals of Gaurishankar Conservation Area based on direct observation, field reports, key interviews, focal group discussion, and a literature review. Seventy-seven species of mammals belonging to eight orders and 26 families were known to occur in the region. Of these, only 32 species were of confirmed occurrence and are based on direct observation and camera trap records. The remaining 45 species listed in the checklist were based on interviews and literature. Small mammals of orders Chiroptera and Rodentia were reported less based on interviews and literature surveys, hence needs further studies to confirm their existence. The highest species belonged to the order Carnivora (25 species), followed by Chiroptera (21 species), Rodentia (12 species), Cetartiodactyla (7), Lagomorpha (5), Eulipotyphla (3), Primates (3) and Pholidota (1). A more robust taxonomic study particularly focusing on small mammals is warranted considering the ecological gradients and topography in the region.

The systematic study in 2015 and 2016 documented the first camera trap image of the Crab-eating Mongoose Herpestes urva in Barandabhar Corridor Forest in Chitwan, Nepal.  The corridor was divided into 88 grids, each of 1km by 1km.  A pair of cameras was placed for 15 nights in each grid and the total camera trap night effort was 2,640.  There were two separate events capturing three independent images and five separate events capturing seven independent images of the Crab-eating Mongoose in 2015 and 2016, respectively.  Photo capture rate in camera traps were 0.01 and 0.03 respectively in 2015 and 2016.  The presence of this species opens new scope for wildlife professionals and scientific communities to take further steps for its conservation.

The Striped Hyena occurs in the Tarai and midhill regions of Nepal, where limited information is available on species distribution. A camera trap survey was conducted in Parsa National Park in 2016 (Feb–May) and 2016–2017 (Nov–Feb) to monitor tigers at 158 locations for 21 days (6,615 trap efforts in total).  This study successfully captured the 15 hyena images in 5 grids of eastern part (named as extension area) of national park. A total of 17 mammal species were captured simultaneously in hyena captured grid during the survey period. The presence of hyenas in Parsa National Park indicates the collective efforts of the government, conservation organizations and local communities in hyena conservation. A detailed ecological study of this species has been recommended for designing hyena conservation plan in the region.