Journal of
Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 December 2018 | 10(15):
13017–13019
Photographic evidence of Striped Hyena Hyaena
hyaena (Mammalia: Carnivora:
Hyaenidae) in Ramnagar
forest division, Uttarakhand, India
Vipul Maurya 1,
Jai Pratap Singh 2, Kahkashan
Naseem 3, Surender
Mehra 4 , Parag
M. Dhakate 5 , Neha
Verma 6
& A.G. Ansari 7
1 School of Forestry and Environment, Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and
Sciences, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh 211007, India
2 Resham Majri Village, Dehradun, Uttarakhand
248140, India
3 Divisional Forest Officer,
Tarai West Forest Division, Uttarakhand
244715, India
4 Director, Corbett Tiger Reserve, Ramnagar, Nainital District, Uttarakhand 244715, India
5 Conservator of Forests, Western Circle, Haldwani, Uttarakhand 263139,
India
6 Divisional Forest Officer,
Ramnagar Forest Division, Uttarakhand
244715, India
7 Conservationist, Village-Mohan, Ramnagar,
Nainital, Uttarakhand
244715, India
1 vipul@wii.gov.in (corresponding author), 2
jps@gmail.com, 3 kahkashan.naseem@gmail.com, 4 surenmehra@gmail.com,
5 paragenetics@gmail.com, 6 dforamnagar@rediffmail.com, 7
agansari@gmail.com
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3555.10.15.13017-13019
| ZooBank:
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:34410CCD-B11B-40E8-A56C-D6DF78EA5867
Editor: Merwyn Fernandes, TRAFFIC, New Delhi,
India. Date of
publication: 26 December 2018 (online & print)
Manuscript details: Ms # 3555 |
Received 10 June 2017 | Final received 21 August 2018 | Finally accepted 05
November 2018
Citation: Maurya, V., J.P. Singh, K. Naseem, S. Mehra, P.M. Dhakate, N. Verma & A.G.
Ansari (2018). Photographic evidence of Striped Hyena Hyaena hyaena
(Mammalia: Carnivora: Hyaenidae)
in Ramnagar forest division, Uttarakhand,
India. Journal of Threatened
Taxa 10(15): 13017–13019; https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3555.10.15.13017-13019
Copyright: © Maurya et al. 2018. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License. JoTT allows
unrestricted use of this article in any medium, reproduction and distribution
by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Funding: None.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: We are grateful to the additional principal
conservator chief of forests (APCCF), Mr. Paramjit Singh, for his constant guidance and
encouragement. We are thankful to the
staff of the Ramnagar Forest Division for their
valuable support during the field survey.
Also, I thank my colleagues Dr. Shankar Kumar
and Dr. Chaitenya Verma for providing the necessary information and support.
The
Striped Hyena Hyaena hyaena
has a large but inconsistent range extending from eastern Africa through the
Middle East to India. The Striped Hyena
is classified as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List because of persecution,
depletion of prey, and its habitat being converted to agricultural lands (Arumugam et al. 2008).
It is also a known fact that hyenas are scavengers in their habitat
(Kruk 1976; Prater 1980; MacDonald 1984; Boitani & Bartoli 1986; Hofer
1998; Menon & Daniel 2003) but there were
accounts of them feeding on insects, reptiles, rodents, birds, vegetables, and
livestock (Heptner & Sludsky
1972; Rieger 1981; Mills & Hofer 1998; Lukarevsky 2001; Singh et al. 2010). The species is known to exist around human
settlements and to survive by consuming dried bones, carcasses, and fruits
(Kruk 1976; Hofer 1998). In India,
Striped Hyenas occur in arid and semi-arid ecosystems (Alam
et al. 2014) and are also known to occur sympatrically
with tigers (Prater 1971; Menon
2003; Harihar et al. 2010).
There
is considerable evidence of the presence of hyenas in the Terai
region of northern India — the first estimation of their population carried out
in a moist mixed deciduous forest in Rajaji National
Park indicated the presence of the species in low density, as these areas are
highly disturbed. These habitats have a
notable population of tigers and are similar to that of Ramnagar
Forest Division (Harihar et al. 2010). Hyenas are one of the least studied large
scavengers/carnivore species in India due to the dearth of its observed
records. For instance, the Striped Hyena
was last reported in Ramnagar Division, Uttarakhand, in the late 1970s (Working Plan Ramnagar Forest Division 1977).
This
study was carried out in the Ramnagar Forest Division
located in Uttarakhand (Fig. 1). The geographic extent of the area is from 78.10′–79.10
0E and 29.56– 29.55 0N and it covers a total of
48,736.90ha. The Ramnagar
Forest Division is a forested landscape on the eastern boundary of the Corbett
Tiger Reserve and northwestern boundary of the Terai Central Forest Division and Terai
West Forest Division. It falls within
the western circle of the Kumaun Forest and
constitutes five forest ranges, namely, Kosi, Kota, Dechauri, Fatehpur, and Kaladhungi, which are interconnected by a trail of dense
mixed forests from the eastern boundary of the Corbett Tiger Reserve up to Kaladhungi. The area
is rich in faunal diversity, namely, tigers, elephants, leopards, ungulates,
reptiles, and fish. The study targeted
three of the forest ranges, namely, Dechauri, Kaladhungi, and Kota, which were identified on the basis of
the presence of Hyena signs during a preliminary survey conducted from March to
December 2015. These ranges were further
divided into grids of 3km×3km and transects were laid in each grid. Confirmed signs for the species were recorded
from 11 grids; these signs formed the basis for sites of camera traps, which
provided photographic evidence of the species.
Here we
report the first photographic image of a Striped Hyena in Ramnagar
Forest Division, Uttarakhand (Image 1a captured on 12-07-2015
at 10:40hr). During camera trap survey
from March to December 2015, a single image of a Striped Hyena was captured on
camera. A total of 26 signs (Image 1b representing fresh pug-mark sign captured
on 06-07-2015 at 07:15hr) were recorded during the survey at 11 different
grids. The overall encounter rate was 1.39/km.
The camera point where the image was captured was near Haathi Galiyaar Forest Barrier in
Ramnagar Forest Division (29.550N / 79.250E)
from which the nearest human settlement and water body (Dabka
River) are 2km and 1km away, respectively.
During the previous surveys conducted for monitoring Tigers,
co-predators, prey and their habitats conducted in 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016,
there was no indirect sign/photographic evidence to confirm the presence of
hyenas in the area. The only information
regarding its presence was mentioned in the Working Plan Ramnagar
Forest Division (1977). In the working
plans published after 1977, there was no mention of this particular
species. The substantial proof of the
presence of the Striped Hyena in Ramnagar Forest
Division presented in this study can create opportunities for further research
on the ecology, behaviour, and population estimation specific for the species
in this region.
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