Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June
2019 | 11(8): 14056–14061
First
camera trap record of Red Panda Ailurus fulgens (Cuvier, 1825) (Mammalia: Carnivora: Ailuridae) from Khangchendzonga,
Sikkim, India
Tawqir
Bashir 1, Tapajit Bhattacharya 2, Kamal Poudyal
3 & Sambandam
Sathyakumar 4
1–4 Wildlife
Institute of India, Post Box #18, Chandrabani,
Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248001, India.
1 Centre of
Research for Development, University of Kashmir, Hazratbal,
Jammu & Kashmir 190006, India.
2 Department of
Conservation Biology, Durgapur Government College, Durgapur, West Bengal
713214, India.
3 Namchi
Government College, Kamrang, Namchi,
Sikkim 737126, India.
1 tawqir84@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 tapajit@gmail.com, 3 chettrikamal@gmail.com,
4 ssk@wii.gov.in
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4626.11.8.14056-14061 | ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:662D97A1-B492-43CF-BAA8-2B559D973D74
Editor:
Karan Bahadur Shah, Hattigaunda, Nepal. Date of
publication: 26 June 2019 (online & print)
Manuscript
details: #4626 | Received 11
October 2018 | Final received 30 March 2019 | Finally accepted 18 May 2019
Citation: Bashir, T., T. Bhattacharya, K. Poudyal & S. Sathyakumar (2019). First
camera trap record of Red Panda Ailurus fulgens (Cuvier, 1825) (Mammalia: Carnivora: Ailuridae) from Khangchendzonga,
Sikkim, India. Journal
of Threatened Taxa
11(8): 14056–14061; https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4626.11.8.14056-14061
Copyright: © Bashir et al. 2019. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License. JoTT
allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any
medium by adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: Wildlife Institute of India (Grant-in-Aid).
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: We thank the Wildlife
Institute of India, Dehradun, for providing funding support and infrastructure
for conducting this study. We are
grateful to the Department of Forests, Environment and Wildlife Management,
Government of Sikkim, for providing research permits to work in Sikkim. We also thank our field assistants for their
help during the field work.
Abstract: The Red Panda Ailurus
fulgens (Cuvier, 1825) is recognized as one of
the most elusive arboreal carnivores of the eastern Himalaya that is poorly
documented. We report the first camera
trap record of the Red Panda from the Prek catchment
of Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve (KBR) in Sikkim,
India. A total of three independent
image captures were recorded during the sampling. All occurrence records were exclusively from
the sub-alpine habitat and restricted to an elevation range of 3,000–3,850
m. This study not only accentuates the
significance of sub-alpine habitats for the conservation of the Red Panda but
also elucidates the importance of camera traps as an efficient sampling
tool. Through this study, we propose the
requirement of a long-term study on the species within and outside the
protected areas of Sikkim.
Keywords:
Conservation, opportunistic records, Prek catchment,
sub-alpine habitat.
The Red Panda Ailurus fulgens (Cuvier, 1825), also known as the Lesser Panda,
is an endangered monotypic member of the family Ailuridae
and the only representative of the genus Ailurus
(Roberts & Gittleman 1984; Glatston
2011). Primarily associated with the
eastern Himalaya, its distribution range extends from western Nepal through
Bhutan, India, and Myanmar to southern Tibet and the western Yunnan Province of
China (Choudhury 2001; Glatston et al. 2015). In India, its distribution is restricted to
small pockets of the eastern Himalaya in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, West
Bengal (Darjeeling District), and Sikkim (Choudhury 2001; Ghose
& Dutta 2011), with anecdotal records from Meghalaya and Assam (Choudhury
2013). Its habitat is typically
characterized by the presence of mixed deciduous and coniferous forests with
bamboo-thicket understory (Choudhury 2001; Pradhan et al. 2001; Zhang et al.
2006; Chakraborty et al. 2015; Bista et al.
2017). Being an unusual member of
Carnivora, it occupies a highly specialized niche as a bamboo feeder like that
of the Giant Panda Alieuropoda melanoleuca (Wei et al. 1999; Pradhan et al.
2001). In the eastern Himalaya, it
occupies an elevation range of 1,500–4,800 m (Yonzon
& Hunter 1991; Choudhury 2001).
The Red Panda mainly feeds on bamboo, with supplements of fruits, roots,
succulent grasses, mushrooms, acorns, and lichens, and occasionally on bird
eggs, insects, and grubs (Reid et al. 1991; Pradhan et al. 2001; Zhang et al.
2009; Panthi et al. 2012). Fallen logs, tree stumps, and shrubs are
important habitat elements for Red Pandas that provide substrates suitable for
defecation (Pradhan et al. 2001; Zhang et al. 2006). Being a habitat specialist, even a minor
change in habitat conditions can cause a significant impact on its occurrence
and survival (Dorji et al. 2011; Chakraborty et al.
2015). The species has been under tremendous
threat across its distribution range due to habitat loss and fragmentation,
habitat degradation, harvesting of timber, bamboo, and minor forest products,
livestock grazing, inefficiently managed tourism, and other physical threats
such as poaching for pelts (Sharma & Belant 2010;
Dorji et al. 2012; Panthi
et al. 2017) and killing by stray dogs (Chakraborty et al. 2015). Its global population is decreasing
continuously and declined by nearly 50% over the last three decades as a result
of which it was listed as Endangered by IUCN (Glatston
et al. 2015). In spite of being a
charismatic species of the eastern Himalaya, there is limited information on
the ecology of the species from most parts of its distribution range,
particularly from India, except for a few long-term studies (Pradhan et al.
2001; Chakraborty et al. 2015). Apart
from these, information available on the species is merely based on incidental
records, secondary information, and local knowledge (Sharma & Belant 2009; Srivastava & Dutta 2010; Dorjee et al. 2014; Khatiwara
& Srivastava 2014). Moreover, the
elusive, arboreal nature of the species and the difficult terrain it inhabits
also pose limitations and challenges for conducting field surveys.
Sikkim holds the second largest extent of Red Panda habitat in India
after the state of Arunachal Pradesh (Ghose &
Dutta 2011). Despite being recognized as
the state animal of Sikkim occurring in all seven protected areas (PAs) of the
state (Ghose et al. 2011), very little information is
available on the Red Panda from the area.
Moreover, Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve
(KBR) represents the largest PA in Sikkim (including the Khangchendzonga
National Park and its buffer zone) having an array of habitat types that
inhabit a rich diversity of flora and fauna including 1,580 species of vascular
plants (Maity & Maiti
2007), 195 species of butterflies (Chettri 2000, 2010), 42 species of reptiles
(Chettri et al. 2010), over 213 species of birds (Chettri et al. 2001, 2005)
and more than 42 species of mammals (Sathyakumar et
al. 2011). The Red Panda is also being
considered critical for maintaining the quality of sub-alpine habitats (Pradhan
et al. 2001) and, therefore, a detailed understanding of its ecology seems a
prerequisite. Therefore, as a first step
towards filling the knowledge gap, an attempt towards generating baseline
information on the occurrence and distribution of this elusive species was made
using camera traps.
Material and Methods
Study area
Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve covers an area of 2,620km² (National Park =
1,784km² and buffer zone = 836km²) and
is categorized into seven watersheds, namely Lhonak, Jemu, Lachen, Rangyong,
Rangit, Prek, and Churong. The area
encompasses a sharp elevation gradient of 1,220–8,586 m accompanied by a wide
range of habitat types (Tambe 2007; Fig. 1a). We selected Prek
catchment (182km²) for our camera trapping surveys because it represents all
the habitat types found in KBR (Sathyakumar et al.
2011). Covering an elevation range of
1,220–6,691 m, the major habitats types in Prek
catchment include mixed sub-tropical, mixed temperate, sub-alpine, krummholz,
alpine pastures, rock and snow cover, and water bodies (Tambe
2007). The relative humidity recorded
for the Prek catchment is more than 60% all through
the year in temperate, sub-alpine, and alpine habitats and reaches even above
90% in the months of June and July in the sub-alpine habitats (Chettri 2000; Tambe 2007). The
annual temperature of the catchment varies from -16.11°C to 33.9°C and from
-8.89°C to 15°C in the sub-alpine habitat.
Camera trapping
As part of a multi-disciplinary sampling exercise carried out in KBR to
document the faunal assemblage of the area, Prek
catchment was initially divided into 2km x 2km sampling grids. Camera traps were deployed (at least one in
each grid) based on the occurrence of animal signs and the accessibility of the
sampling grids. A total of 27 camera
trap units (Stealth Cam, Model STC-I540IR) was deployed at 71 different
locations during 2008–2011 across the elevation range of Prek
catchment, covering different habitat types (Fig. 1b). Camera units were attached to trees or rocks
15–30 cm above the ground and 3–5 m away from the trail or location of expected
animal movement. Camera traps were set
for 24h-monitoring covering all seasons.
Moreover, geographical coordinates, elevation, and forest type were
recorded at each camera trap location.
Since the sampling design was extensive in its approach, not focusing on
any particular genus (e.g., Red Panda), the camera traps were not placed on
treetops to capture arboreal species.
This implies that our results on Red Panda are opportunistic records.
Results
A total sampling effort of 6,910 camera trap days included 629 trap days
in sub-tropical, 1,426 in temperate, 2,671 in sub-alpine, 702 in krummholz, and
1,482 in alpine habitats. The Red Panda
was image captured only at two camera trap locations (namely Kasturi ridge and Phedi; Table 1) with a total of three independent image
captures (Image 1). Image captures were
recorded during both night and daytime.
These camera locations were in sub-alpine fir Abies
densa and birch Betula utilis
forests with Rhododendron spp. as the understory. A luxuriant growth of bamboo Arundinaria maling
was also present in the lower elevation areas of Kasturi ridge. Moreover, besides a single sighting (in Kokchurong area), no indirect evidence (droppings/scats or
feeding marks) of Red Panda was recorded during the study period. The habitat at Kokchurong
was a typical eastern Himalayan fir forest with Abies
densa as the most dominant species and Rhododendron
hodgsonii as the undergrowth. All presence records (sighting and images)
were exclusively from the sub-alpine habitat and restricted to an elevation
range of 3,000–3,850 m, particularly around the Kasturi area which is free from
organized tourism.
Discussion
The present study reports the first camera trap record of the elusive
Red Panda from the intricate habitats of KBR.
It also plausibly documents the highest elevation record (3,850m) of the
species from the state of Sikkim.
Irrespective of the nocturnal and cryptic behaviour of the species, its
detections during the night as well as the daytime only in winter can be
attributed to its increased activity during the mating season, occurring mostly
between early January and mid-March (Nowak 1999).
The occurrence records revealed a narrow elevation belt of just 850m
(3,000–3,850 m) for the Red Panda in the area, which coincides with its
preferred altitude range of 2,800–3,600 m reported in similar habitats (Yonzon et al. 1991; Pradhan et al. 2001). Besides the present record, Red Pandas were
also camera trapped in Barsey Rhododendron Sanctuary
and Kyongnosla Alpine Sanctuary, Sikkim, up to an
elevation of 3,630m with direct sightings and feces
recorded up to 3,780 and 3,789m, respectively, in different forest types
including Rhododendron forest with scattered Abies
and Abies-dominated coniferous forest contiguous
with bamboo thickets (WWF-India 2011; Khatiwara &
Srivastava 2014). Such habitat
specificity is in coherence with the present occurrence records, thus
validating the affinity of the species for the sub-alpine forests of the Sikkim
Himalaya. Similarly, a preference for
mixed coniferous and Rhododendron forests were also shown in studies
conducted in Wolong Reserve in China (Reid et al. 1991), Dhorpartan
Hunting Reserve in Nepal (Sharma & Belant 2009; Panthi et al. 2012), Jigme Dorji
National Park in Bhutan (Dorji et al. 2011), and
Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape in Nepal (Bista et al.
2017). Moreover, the Red Panda was also
reported to be relatively abundant between 2,800m and 3,600m in other parts of
Sikkim, Darjeeling, and Arunachal Pradesh (Pradhan et al. 2001; Srivastava
& Dutta 2010; Bhutia 2011; Ghose
et al. 2011; Chakraborty et al. 2015), although its occurrence was also
reported at 2,350m in Neora Valley National Park in
Darjeeling (Mallick 2010) and at 4,325m in Tawang
District of Arunachal Pradesh (Dorjee et al.
2014). Given the arboreal habit of Red
Panda, however, habitats above the tree-line may not be considered consistently
occupied by them (Choudhury 2001).
Non-detection of Red Panda signs during the sampling period could be
attributed to the arboreal, cryptic nature of the species and its habit of
defecating at feeding sites generally on trees and fallen logs (Pradhan et al.
2001; Zhang et al. 2006). Previous
studies reported the presence of the Red Panda in the northeastern
states and parts of Nepal but very few calculated their abundance indices. While comparing the present records with that
of 32 sightings in three years (Pradhan et al. 2001), 10 in one year (Mallick
2010, by the study team), 10 in five years (Chakraborty et al. 2015), and four
in one year with 13 image captures for an effort of 2,398 trap days (Khatiwara & Srivastava 2014), Red Pandas seem to be
either more elusive or in very low densities in KBR. A species-specific camera trap design,
however, would increase Red Panda detection and thereby its capture rate,
aiding in a more comprehensive comparison.
Conclusion
This scientific documentation symbolizes a crucial step towards the
conservation of the Red Panda and its habitat in KBR. In spite of a strong pro-conservation
attitude shown by the government of Sikkim by declaring Red Panda as its state
animal, very less work has been done on the ground to ensure efficient
conservation and management of the species and its habitat across the Sikkim
landscape. This study highlights the
importance of sub-alpine forests for the occurrence and survival of the Red
Panda in the area. Considering its low
abundance status, increasing threats on habitat, and the lack of detailed
ecological information from the area, any management intervention towards its
conservation seems impractical. We,
therefore, propose an urgent need for a long-term ecological study across the
Sikkim Himalayan landscape covering the entire sub-alpine belt (within and
outside the PAs), as an essential step towards Red Panda conservation in
Sikkim. In view of this, the Forest,
Environment and Wildlife Management Department (FEWMD), Govt. of Sikkim,
recently initiated a camera trap based monitoring program which resulted in
first occurrence records of species like Tiger Panthera
tigris, Snow Leopard Panthera
uncia, and Marbled Cat Pardofelis
marmorata from different PAs of the state.
We recommend the continuation of such monitoring programs along with
serious attention on the ecological study on the Red Panda to benefit its
conservation and management in the area.
We also recommend referring the management guidelines proposed by
Pradhan et al. (2001) to append further towards achieving this goal.
Table 1. Records of the Red Panda in the Prek catchment of Khangchendzonga
Biosphere Reserve, Sikkim, India, during 2008–2011.
Place |
Evidence |
Date |
Time |
Elevation
(m) |
Coordinates |
|
Kasturi
ridge |
Photo
capture |
26.xii.2009 |
02.12h |
3,000 |
27.399N
|
88.244E |
Kasturi
ridge |
Photo
capture |
06.i.2010 |
04.14h |
3,000 |
27.399N
|
88.244E |
Phedi |
Photo
capture |
18.xii.2009 |
10.57h |
3,850 |
27.439N
|
88.218E |
Kokchurong |
Sighting |
10.iii.2010 |
16.28h |
3,720 |
27.464N |
88.173E |
For
Image & Figure – click here
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