GUWAHATI: Most parts of the 220 sq km Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary, situated in the foothills of the eastern Himalayas and contiguous with Doimara Reserve Forest and Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, have been encroached upon. In a glimmer of hope for wildlife, the first picture of the Asiatic Brush-Tailed Porcupine in Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary has been captured by cameras.
The camera trapping was part of the Phase IV Protocol of the National Tiger Conservation Authority 2022–23. Fifty-eight camera traps were deployed in the satellite core area with a sampling effort from November 25 to December 25, 2022.
The study has been published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The study was authored by B. Piraisoodan, Divisional Forest Officer-cum-Field Director of Nameri Tiger Reserve, and researchers at Nameri Tiger Reserve, Asish Immanuel Baglary and Bibhuti Mazumder.
In Assam, the Asiatic Brush-Tailed Porcupine has been camera-trapped in Barak Valley and Manas National Park. Despite being recorded in various protected areas, the species is considered uncommon in the northeastern states of India, with its geographic distribution limited to specific pocket areas.
The Asiatic Brush-Tailed Porcupine is a nocturnal rodent species endemic to southern Asia and is distributed throughout central China, northeastern India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. In northeastern India, the species has been reported from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, and Nagaland.
Once abundant with Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros, Wild Buffalo, White-Winged Wood Duck, and Bengal Florican, these species are now locally extinct.
“The Sonai Rupai forest in Sonitpur District of Assam was for a long time listed as the home of a small population of rhinos but no longer home to any resident rhinos since the 1980s,” says Kees Rookmaaker in his book Rhinoceros of South Asia.
Encroachment has hit the sanctuary hard, with the Assam government informing the National Green Tribunal (NGT) of the encroachments and non-forest activities taking place inside the sanctuary.
The state government had to inform the NGT after an application was filed by Dilip Nath with the NGT last year, alleging violations of the Forest (Conservation) Act at Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary (SRWS) in Sonitpur District of Assam.
The NGT has now asked the Chief Secretary of Assam to file a personal affidavit giving details of officers who permitted such extensive construction in gross violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. The affidavit must also explain the inaction of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest under whose very nose such illegal activities were allowed to go on since 2017.
The species is classified as ‘Least Concern’ by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Molur 2020) and in India, it is listed in Schedule I of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972 (amended). There is a pressing need to ascertain the distribution of the species, given reports indicating a 20 percent (approx.) global decline in the populations of all three porcupine species found in the region, including the Indian Crested Porcupine (Hystrix indica), Himalayan Crestless Porcupine (Hystrix brachyura), and Asiatic Brush-Tailed Porcupine (Atherurus macrourus).
Despite these concerning trends, very limited literature is available on their population, behavioral ecology, feeding, and nesting habits, posing challenges for the formulation of effective conservation action plans.
Out of the 220 sq km of eastern wet alluvial grasslands, moist deciduous, and semi-evergreen forests, most parts have been encroached upon. In 2015, the remaining 120 sq km of the forested area was notified as a ‘satellite core’ of Nameri Tiger Reserve. The sanctuary has been recognized as an Important Bird Area (IBA) and is home to rich avifauna, including migratory birds.
Fifty-eight camera traps were deployed in the satellite core area with a sampling effort from November 25 to December 25, 2022. Each trail camera was positioned in a fabricated camera trap holder at a height of approximately 30–45 cm above the ground. The species was recorded from two camera trap stations with three independent captures.
The captures occurred post-midnight, indicating its nocturnal nature. The species was observed in a semi-evergreen forest with tree species such as Bombax ceiba, Stereospermum tetragonum, and Amoora wallichii. Moreover, the species is not site-specific and inhabits tropical wet evergreen, tropical semi-evergreen, and sub-tropical broadleaf hill environments.
The species can be distinguished from the Indian Crested Porcupine and Himalayan Crestless Porcupine due to the absence of a crest, with its dorsal covered with rigid spines and its tail bearing scales with short spiny bristles in-between, ending in a cluster of alternately expanded and contracted papery hair 8–10 cm long, giving it a brush-like appearance.
“Given that this is the first photographic record of the Asiatic Brush-Tailed Porcupine in Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary, it will assist in the upgradation of the IUCN Red List distribution map for the concerned species,” the authors say.
Furthermore, this is a least-studied species, and no robust information is available, making it extremely important to systematically study the species, its distribution, and ecology before any potential threats.
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