No abstract

A systematic review was carried out to prepare a checklist of the mammalian species of northeastern India.  The region is located between two prominent biodiversity hotspots, Himalaya and Indo-Burma. Though it is only 8% of the country, it supports almost half of the country’s total wild flora and fauna.  Ongoing developmental activities such as the construction of roads, electrification, and mining in and around the wildlife habitats have threatened the survival of many species of wildlife.  A lot of literature has been checked to understand the status and distribution of wildlife in the region and the present manuscript is prepared from existing literature.  A total of 267 species representing 11 orders and 38 families from the region have been reported.  A state-wise updated list of species along with their status as per IUCN, WPA (Wildlife Protection Act) of India, 1972 and CITES has been provided which is intended to serve as a baseline data for further research in mammalian fauna of the region.

A concise interpretation of people’s perception and attitude towards wildlife helps in formulating better long-term conservation policies.  In an attempt to understand people’s perception, we considered one of the threatened and least known ecosystems of northeastern India, the Barail range, mainly focusing on the Barail Wildlife Sanctuary, the only protected area of this range, and falls in the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot area.  The sanctuary is known for a high diversity of mammals, mainly primates (with seven reported species), and bears (with three of the eight globally known species—a diversity not met elsewhere in the globe).  To protect its pristine wildlife wealth, it is essential that the perception of the local settlers is elucidated, and this prompted us to take up the present study. In this study, we used open- and close-ended questionnaire, which was then coded (yes/positive=1 and no/negative=0).  Each response was thoroughly examined using logistic regression and variables like socio-economic factors, knowledge of the sanctuary, wildlife and forest management were found to generate positive perception towards the sanctuary and its wildlife, and vice-versa.  Further, alternative means is suggested in terms of tourism, and the attitudes towards instigation of tourism were mostly favoured by the locals.  Besides promoting tourism, providing alternative livelihood and vocational trainings for the locals and, timely compensation for the losses caused by the animals should be long-term strategies for the conservation of the mammals of the sanctuary.  It has been increasingly recognized that involvement of locals is a prima facie requirement in the conservation of wildlife, and as such their perception is of great significance.  While the study was conducted at the Barail Wildlife Sanctuary, the results may translate in other protected areas, and may be referred to as a model strategy for other protected areas having similar scenario.

The lives of Asiatic Elephants in the Patharia Hills Reserve Forest of Barak Valley, Assam are at risk. Due to serious anthropogenic pressures, human-elephant interactions have increased tremendously during recent decades. It is time conservation of the species is initiated along the Indo-Bangladesh trans-boundary line, especially their habitats and migratory corridor which can help the conservation of  elephants and other species as well.

Time allocations for different activities of Capped langurs are depending on the environmental and habitatconditions. We observed time budgeting of Capped langurs for various activities on daily, monthly, seasonaland yearly basis from January 2017 to December 2019 in Barail Wildlife Sanctuary of Assam, India. Focalanimalsampling technique was used to record the diurnal active time spent by T. pileatus for differentactivities. From the observation it has been found that langur spent maximum time for resting (45%) followedby feeding (34%), locomotion (11%), grooming (5%) and others activity (5%). The amount of time allocatesfor different activities throughout the months was significantly different (F= 341.95, d. f = 4, P < 0.001).Time devoted to feeding was maximum in April (37%) and resting was 50% in August. In seasonal variation,it spent maximum (48%) time for resting in monsoon and lowest (41%) in winter. Highest (35%) feedingactivity was in winter and summer followed by lowest (32%) in monsoon and the seasonal variation of allthe activities was significantly varied. The diurnal time budget shows that it spent maximum (40.57%) timefor feeding in evening hours P < 0.001, while resting was highest (57.58%) between (10hrs-11hrs) andlowest (37.8%) in evening P < 0.001.