October 2012 - Journal of Threatened Taxa

Mammals of Kalimpong HillsJ.K. MallickSno Genus SpeciesStatus as perIUCN Red ListStatus as perIndian Wildlife(Protection) Act,1972 amended upto 2002Diurnal /Nocturnal /seen at alltimesInformation source(Sighting / Evidence/ Citation from otherworks)84 Petaurista nobilis Near Threatened Schedule II, Part II Nocturnal Cited from literature85 Petaurista petaurista Least Concern Schedule II, Part II Nocturnal Cited from literature86 Neodon sikimensis Least Concern Schedule V Diurnal Sighted87 Bandicota bengalensis Least Concern Schedule V Nocturnal Sighted87 Mus musculus Least Concern Schedule V Nocturnal Sighted88 Mus pahari Least Concern Schedule V Nocturnal Sighted90 Niviventer eha Least Concern Schedule V Nocturnal Cited from literature91 Niviventer fulvescens Least Concern Schedule V Nocturnal Cited from literature92 Rattus nitidus Least Concern Schedule V Nocturnal Cited from literature93 Rattus rattus Least Concern Schedule V Nocturnal Cited from literature94 Rattus sikkimensis Not Evaluated Schedule V Nocturnal Cited from literature95 Vandeleuria oleracea Least Concern Schedule V Nocturnal Cited from literature96 Hystrix brachyura Least Concern Schedule II, Part I Nocturnal Sighted97 Hystrix indica Least Concern Schedule IV Nocturnal Cited from literature98 Ochotona thibetana Least Concern - Diurnal Sighted99 Lepus nigricollis Least Concern Schedule IV Nocturnal Sightedgaurus, Canis aureus, Canis indica, Capricornissumatraensis, Catopuma temminckii, Cuon alpinus,Elephas maximus, Lutra lutra monticola, Lutrogaleperspicillata, Martes flavigula, Melursus ursinus,Naemorhedus goral, Neofelis nebulosa, Pantherapardus, Panthera tigris, Pardofelis marmorata,Soriculus nigrescens, Ursus thebetanus and Vulpesvulpes montana. All these twentyone threatenedspecies are recorded in NVNP, whereas 15 of them areregistered in KFD.Of all the sites covered in the study area, JaributiValley (the richest natural repository of medicinalplants) and Alubari (earlier potatoes were cultivatedhere but after declaration of NP this forest village wasshifted to the fringe area and the area was resuscitatedthrough habitat improvement works) appeared to bemost ideal places for viewing the wildlife movementsin NVNP.Some anthropogenic threats also pervade thestudy area. For example, the population of DarjeelingDistrict was only 1,900 in the year 1850 and 2,200 in1869, which scaled up to 16,05,900 in 2001, the shareof hill population being over 8.5 lakhs. The largescaleemigration for the mushrooming tea industry,terrace cultivation and political reasons contributedto this rapid growth. Much of the natural forests,except those on the difficult terrains, were convertedfor settlement and commercial use, leading to soilerosion, landslides and loss of wildlife habitat andhabitants. Decline in forest cover was observed in theChel and Jaldhaka catchments of KFD. Infrastructuraldevelopment works have recently been started in thepristine NVNP for expansion of eco-tourism. Threatsare often caused by illegal cattle grazing, felling oftimber, collection of fuelwood, fodder and Non-TimberForest Produce (NTFP), retaliatory killings, the annualtribal hunting and poaching in the fragmented forestsof KFD. As human habitations in and around NVNPare comparatively less in number combined with thephysical constraints like inaccessibility and difficultterrain, biotic pressures are, however, not very acutein this area. This anthropogenic syndrome in KFDmust be curbed for sustenance of the variegated wilddenizens and restoration of the biodiversity values.There is further scope for research on the sitespecificoccurrence of the mammalian species in thestudy area with special emphasis on the smaller specieslike the chiropterans and rodents, preferably in thecontext of the known diversity in contiguous forests ofthe Eastern Himalaya in West Bengal, Sikkim, northeasternstates in India, Bhutan and Nepal.3130Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | October 2012 | 4(12): 3103–3136