First photographic evidence of threatened Chinese Pangolin in Raimona National Park

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaNovember 27, 2024

An exciting discovery has been made in the Raimona National Park of Assam by conservationists and forest officials who have recorded the first photographic evidence of Chinese pangolin.

As part of the study published in the “Journal of Threatened Taxa”, an internationally recognised scientific, peer-reviewed open access journal, a team led by Kachugaon Forest Division, Assam Forest Department, conservationists from the region’s foremost biodiversity conservation organisation Aaranyak (www.aaranyak.org), and other organisations have confirmed the finding.

“The paper also clarified a confusion of the occurrence of Indian Pangolin in Assam and Northeast India which will potentially rectify the distribution map of IUCN Redlist.”, Says the lead author of the paper Dr Dipankar Lahkar, a senior conservation biologist with Aaranyak.

Aaranyak’s Senior scientists Dr M Firoz Ahmed, Bhanu Sinha, Pranjal Talukdar, Biswajit Basumatary, Tunu Basumatary, Ramie H. Begum, Nibir Medhi, Nitul Kalita and Abishek Harihar have contributed in the paper as well.

Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) is a highly trafficked, elusive, solitary, nocturnal, burrowing mammal with scarce information on its distribution and current occurrence across its distributed range.

“This interesting finding of the occurrence of Chinese Pangolin in Raimona National Park was recorded as part of the continuous research that is being conducted for the purpose of improving conservation efforts in the national park. This will, in my opinion, strengthen the spirit of conservation in Raimona and will help to ensure that more elusive findings will soon be recorded”, Said Bhanu Sinha, Divisional Forest Officer of Raimona National Park.

There are two species of pangolins—Indian Pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) and Chinese Pangolin— occur in India, as per stated in the report.

“Considering the high extinction risks due to low population level and extensive hunting and poaching for illegal trafficking, the Chinese Pangolin was listed in Appendix-I of CITES, as ‘Critically Endangered’ in the IUCN Red List and in Schedule-I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. In India, despite stringent legal protections, pangolins are continuously hunted for meat, body parts and traditional medicinal purposes.”, says the report.

Chinese Pangolin currently occurs in eastern, northern and southeastern Asian countries, spanning India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Laos, and Vietnam at elevations of 0–3,000 m. In India, the Chinese Pangolin is restricted to the foothills of the Himalaya, in the northern and across the northeastern region.

Raimona National Park (RNP) is located along the foothills of the Himalaya and is contiguous with the Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary of Bhutan, the westernmost protected area within the India-Bhutan Transboundary Manas Conservation Area.

RNP is considered an important protected area in the complex that connects the forested areas of northern West Bengal, Bhutan, and Manas Tiger Reserve to the west, north, & east, respectively.

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RNP is a new protected area, established in 2021 with a total area of 422 km2, under the administration of Kachugaon division, Bodoland Territorial Region, Assam. The area has had a long history of ethnopolitical conflicts, which have potentially affected the conservation mechanism.

“Since 2019, the RNP authority, in collaboration with Aaranyak, has been conducting systematic annual camera trapping surveys to assess and monitor species assemblages and populations of terrestrial mammals. During the systematic surveys, with the camera trapping efforts of 1,470 trap days in 2022, three independent photo-captures of the Chinese Pangolin were obtained from the semi-evergreen forest on 30 January 2022 at 1213 h and 0239 h, and one more on 28 February 2022 at 0412 h from the Ranganadi area under the western range (Raimona) of the RNP.”, Says Dr M Firoz Ahmed, a senior scientist with Aaranyak.

The photograph was captured on a dry stream that joins with the river Ranganadi, covered with semi-deciduous forest dominated by Sal Trees Shorea robusta. The surface around the camera station was primarily blanketed by small to medium stones covered by the dry leaf litter. This is the first confirmed photographic evidence of the Chinese Pangolin in the RNP.