Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 November 2022 | 14(11): 22195–22200
ISSN 0974-7907
(Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8130.14.11.22195-22200
#8130 | Received 02
August 2022 | Final received 11 November 2022 | Finally accepted 18 November
2022
Camera trapping records confirm
the presence of the elusive Spotted Linsang Prionodon
pardicolor (Mammalia: Carnivora: Prionodontidae) in Murlen
National Park (Mizoram, India)
Amit Kumar Bal 1 & Anthony J. Giordano 2
1,2 The Society for
the Preservation of Endangered Carnivores and their
International Ecological Study (SPECIES), PO Box 7403, Ventura, CA 93006, USA.
1 Amity Institute of Forestry and
Wildlife, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201313, India.
1 amitamu096@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 species1@hotmail.com
Editor: Anwaruddin Choudhury, The Rhino Foundation for Nature in
North East India, Guwahati, India. Date
of publication: 26 November 2022 (online & print)
Citation: Bal, A.K. & A.J. Giordano (2022). Camera trapping records confirm
the presence of the elusive Spotted Linsang Prionodon
pardicolor (Mammalia: Carnivora: Prionodontidae) in Murlen
National Park (Mizoram, India). Journal of Threatened Taxa 14(11): 22195–22200. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8130.14.11.22195-22200
Copyright: © Bal & Giordano 2022. Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: Govind Ballav Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and
S.P.E.C.I.E.S (Society for the Preservation of Endangered
Carnivores and their International Ecological Study), California, USA.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors are very grateful to
the Integrated Eco-development Research Programme IERP, and Govind
Ballav Pant National Institute of Himalayan
Environment and S.P.E.C.I.E.S (Society for the Preservation
of Endangered Carnivores and their International Ecological Study,
California, USA) for project funding and guidance, the Forest Department of
Mizoram for giving us the permission to carry out our research on small
carnivores, and villages and communities around Murlen
National Park for sharing information with us regarding their hunting habits.
Abstract: The Spotted Linsang is an elusive
and infrequently recorded small carnivore believed to be distributed widely
throughout southern-southeastern Asia. Here, we present the first confirmation
of this species from Murlen National Park, Mizoram, a
protected area with tracts of subtropical evergreen forest less than 30 km from
the western Myanmar border. These records are also the first to confirm the
occurrence of the species in the southern portion of northeastern India.
Although we could distinguish several individuals despite low camera-trap
sampling effort, this population may be threatened by opportunistic and
intentional hunting using projectiles and snares meant to kill small game for
wildmeat.
Keywords: Conservation, distribution, new
record, northeastern India, small carnivore, snares.
The Spotted Linsang Prionodon pardicolor
is a small, nocturnal carnivoran native to southeastern Asia and parts of
eastern southern Asia (Jennings et al. 2015; Duckworth et al. 2016). Based on
what little is known of this elusive species, linsangs are solitary and
partially arboreal; however, very little is known about their behaviour (Lim 1973; Kuznetzov
& Baranauskas 1993; Gaubert
2009). Previously classified as part of the Viverridae,
linsangs are now classified in their own family, the Prionodontidae,
which is considered a sister taxonomic group to the Felidae (Barycka 2007).
Spotted linsangs inhibit dense
moist tropical forests, particularly lowland dipterocarp forests and some
grasslands, throughout southeastern Asia (Sunquist
1982). Although information are lacking on their distribution ranges, they are
known to occure in eastern Nepal, northeastern India,
Bhutan, northern & central Myanmar, northern & central Thailand, Lao
PDR, Cambodia, most of Vietnam, and central to southern China (Van Rompaey 1995; Zhang et al. 1997; Walston 2001; Holden &
Neang 2009; Choudhury 2014). In India, the species
has been recorded in the states of Assam (Choudhury 2004; Borah 2010), Mizoram
(Mizo-Envis 2008; no details given), Manipur (Ramakantha 1994; Envis 2005),
Nagaland (Choudhury 2002, 2013), Sikkim (Ganguli-Lachungpa
1989; Schreiber et al. 1989), Arunachal Pradesh (Singh et al. 1996; Choudhury
1999; Kumar 1999; Datta et al. 2008), Meghalaya (Khatonier & Lyngdoh 2021).
Despite its rarity in northeastern India (Choudhury 1999) and the infrequency
with which it is generally detected range-wide, the spotted linsang is listed
as ‘Least Concern’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Duckworth et al.
2016). However, it is considered a CITES Appendix I species and a Schedule I
species by the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act (1972).
Recently, there have been no
direct efforts to research Spotted Linsangs in northeastern India, as only some
opportunistic records exist. This report is part of a larger study to assess
the diversity of and threats to small carnivores, with particular reference to
felids and their relatives, in eastern Mizoram, a biodiversity hotspot of the
Indo-Burma region.
Materials and Methods
Our study site occurred in the
part of Murlen National Park (MNP) (23.53–23.70N
& 92.21–92.450E), which is located in the Champhai
district of Mizoram and is part of the Indo-Burman Biodiversity Hotspot (Myers
et al. 2000). This protected area covers 100 km² and the recorded peak
elevation is 1,929 m within the park. (highest point is recorded inside the
park by gps) (Amit Kumar Bal’s pers. obs.). The
predominant forest types occurring in the park are tropical and subtropical
mixed evergreen forests, which are distributed across undulating hills and
mountainous terrain (Sharma et al. 2017). Several ongoing human activities such
as logging, encroachment of livestock inside the park, widespread Jhum
cultivation, and illegal hunting using firearms, snares, and other projectiles
has severely threatened the wildlife diversity of MNP. (Amit Kumar Bal’s pers.
obs. between November 2019 – May 2022).
Our sampling occurred as part of
an exploratory survey between November 2019 and May 2022. We initially overlaid
a grid cell network of 1 × 1 km2 over the area of MNP and deployed
ten Cuddeback (WI, USA) C1 type digital camera-traps
(20.0 megapixel) enabled with a white flash. Camera-traps were enabled to take
three photos in rapid succession every time the motion sensor was triggered.
Each camera-trap was installed for 40 days with a trap night of 400 days.
Camera trap stations were spaced 1 km apart from nearby traps (average
trap distance = 910 m). Camera-trap sensitivity was set low (minimum value),
and units were placed between 1.8–4.5 m away from an animal trail, depending on
the angle of intersection, so that each camera had sufficient time to detect an
animal (i.e., specifically small carnivores), and take full-frame pictures.
Individuals of certain carnivores, including spotted linsangs, were identified
from their unique pelage markings/patterns in photographs.
Records
We obtained six images of spotted
linsangs from six camera-trap stations over 400 trap nights in and around MNP
(Image 1). The first individual was captured on 20 February 2020 (23.65860N,
93.30040E) at an elevation of 1,563 m, and the last was photographed
on 26 March 2022 (23.63540N,
93.29070E) at an elevation of 1,800 m. We used right flanks
only to identify a minimum of four different individuals (Image 2) in these six
photographs; the other photos of left flanks may or may not have represented
additional individuals. These are the first ever confirmed photographic records
of this species from Mizoram, validating a previously suspected range extension
further south into northeastern India and the Myanmar border (Figure 1). The
characteristics of all records are mentioned in the table below (Table 1).
On 28 January 2022, we also
discovered the carcass of a Spotted Linsang (Image 3) in the house of a local
hunter in the village Murlen. After some discussion
with locals to determine the reason for this individual’s death, we identified
that it was shot and killed by a handheld catapult or slingshot (Image 4), a
local weapon that is often used by children in the area to kill birds for food
and to sell locally. The hunter initially thought the species was a leopard cat
when he first saw it. Despite being a lifelong resident of the region, he told
us he had never seen this species before, noting that the bones, claws, and
teeth of leopard cats were somewhat valuable for sale locally. He also told us
that, as far as he knew, other local hunters had never encountered spotted
linsangs before, and thus they don’t consume its meat. The specimen was a
female, and it measured at 69 cm from snout to tail, of which the tail was 35
cm in length (Image 3).
Conservation
Implications
Possibly due to their arboreal,
nocturnal nature and ambush predatory tactics (Van Rompaey
1995; Lyngdoh et al. 2011), there are only a handful of
camera-trap records of spotted linsangs across their range. Despite their
‘Least Concern’ status, this may be cause for concern, as habitat loss and
degradation, hunting and trade all remain important threats to the species
(Schreiber et al. 1989; Lau et al. 2010; Bhupathy et
al. 2013). Although the risk of linsangs being killed by hunters or poachers
may be lower relative to other more terrestrial, diurnal, and gregarious
mammals (Duckworth et al. 2016), the observation we report here still suggests
they are vulnerable to local opportunistic hunters (Amit Kumar Bal’s pers. obs.
November 2019 to May 2022). In the Lower
Subansiri district of western Arunachal Pradesh,
indiscriminate noose-traps (i.e., snares) kill spotted linsangs (Lyngdoh et al. 2011), and Datta
et al. (2008) suggested they are also killed for ornamental purposes (i.e.,
their skins & pelts for display) and in retribution for killing poultry.
These threats suggest that diverse threats from opportunistic hunting still
persist in some parts of the linsang range. To better understand the ecology
and potential threats of this little-known species, we urge additional
range-wide surveys and local studies specifically targeting linsangs and their behaviour highlighting its proper global conservation
context.
Table 1. The characteristics of
all Spotted Linsang records.
Record No |
Individual No (by right flank) |
Habitat type |
Elevation (in meters) |
Time of day |
Date |
1 |
01 |
Bamboo mixed evergreen forest |
1563 |
19:11:00 |
20.ii.2020 |
2 |
02 |
Bamboo mixed evergreen forest |
1745 |
19:16:00 |
22.ii.2020 |
3 |
(Left Flank) |
Bamboo mixed evergreen forest |
1458 |
19:50:00 |
05.iii.2020 |
4 |
(Left Flank) |
Bamboo mixed evergreen forest |
1763 |
18:38:00 |
02.i.2021 |
5 |
03 |
Bamboo mixed evergreen forest |
1748 |
02:28:00 |
12.v.2021 |
6 |
04 |
Bamboo mixed evergreen forest |
1800 |
03:58:00 |
26.iii.2022 |
For figure &
images - - click here for full PDF
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