Endemic Fauna of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Bay of Bengal

the sea and copious rainfall during the both southwest and northeast monsoons the temperature
fluctuates from 23 to 31 0 C. These Bay Islands frequently experience the thunderstorms and cyclones.
Zoogeography
The collection of information and fascinaton on the fauna of these islands began in the 19 th
century with the visits of the Austrain frigate Novara during 1843 and the Danish corvette Galathea
during 1846 made first scientific collections of the faunal elements of the Nicobar islands. Only after a
decade of Nicobar surveys, the studies on the fauna of of Andaman Islands were initiated after
establishment of a penal settlement at Port Blair by the Royal British during the year 1858.
Eventhough the Nicobar Islands were first explored, the fauna of Andamans is better known due to its
unproblematic accessibility. After independence, the Indian Government has also continued to
explore the faunal diversity around Andaman Islands led to the greater scientific discoveries than the
Nicobars. As the islands have continuation with the Arakan Yoma of Burma (Indo-Chinese subregion)
in the north and Sumatra (Indo-Malayan subregion) in the south, Smith (1930) expressed his view
that “Andaman group contains an impoverished Burmese fauna and Nicobar group similar to
Sumatran type”. But surprisingly the realistic data on faunal components particularly on mammals
and reptiles do not support this theory of distribution of faunal elements of the islands. It is found
that all the exotic lizard fauna of the islands are found in the Indo-Malayan Subregion. Some of these
forms also occur in Andaman and Nicobar Islands as well as Indo-China and Malayasia. Even in the
case of snakes, except three species of Ptyas, Naja and Ophiophagus, all the exotic species belongs
both to Indo-China and Indo-Malayan Subregions. Among the mammals maximum faunal affinity is
found with mainland India (Chaturvedi, 1980). The avifaunal affinities are also closer to India than to
Burma (Myanmar) and Malay (Abdulali, 1964). It is found that some bat species of Andaman Islands
(not in the Nicobars) are common in both the Indo-Chinese and Malayan regions. Likewise some
species of bats found in Nicobar Islands and mainland India but not in Andaman Islands. The most
interesting and mystifying way of distribution of faunal elements is absence of large mammals and
presence of sizeable number of endemics, particularly in higher groups, supports the theory of
greater tendency for speciation among the island fauna. Diversified biotopes have been formed due
to long period of isolation and helped to evolve and sustain differences in the animal populations on
different islands. Because of this reason considerable number of endemic species and subspecies are
encountered in these islands (Table.1).
Abbreviations used : IUCN (International Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources; IWPA
(Indian Wildlife Protection) Act, 1972; CAMP (Conservation Assessment and Management Plan of
Biodiversity Conservation Prioritisation Project Workshop (1998); CITES : Conservation on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
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