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The gharial (<i>Gavialis gangeticus</i>) is a critically endangered, long-snouted crocodylian, endemic to the Indian sub-continent. Today, the species' distribution and numbers have reduced by >95% in all the large... more
The gharial (<i>Gavialis gangeticus</i>) is a critically endangered, long-snouted crocodylian, endemic to the Indian sub-continent. Today, the species' distribution and numbers have reduced by >95% in all the large rivers where it was formerly abundant. Living upstream in a reservoir dammed in 1976, the Katerniaghat gharial population has continued to nest along the Girwa River, subject to seasonal flooding in recent decades. In 2010, a natural flood upstream in Nepal, resulted in a permanent reduction in the mainstream river flow. As a consequence, the formerly open sand banks and mid river islands have converted gradually to riverbanks with woody vegetation in years subsequent to the flood. Coincident with the increased vegetation growth, gharial nesting sites and nest numbers declined by >40% by 2018. In an attempt to reverse the observed decline in nesting, we intervened with vegetation removal (VR) in 2019 and sand addition (SA) in 2020, to augment availab...
We reported the new record of Coral Red Khukri Snake (Oligodon kheriensis) from Surai Range of Haldwani -Tarai East Forest Division, Uttarakhand. The specimen of Oligodon kheriensis had been spotted only four times in the past. This is... more
We reported the new record of Coral Red Khukri Snake (Oligodon kheriensis) from Surai Range of Haldwani -Tarai East Forest Division, Uttarakhand. The specimen of Oligodon kheriensis had been spotted only four times in the past. This is the first report of this Snake from Uttarakhand. We encountered 6 different individuals of Oligodon kheriensis over a period of ten months.
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Elephants are the largest land mammals and most primeval mega herbivore (Shoshani 2000) with evolutionary history of more than 60 million years (Fowler & Mikota 2006). Humans have maintained Asian elephants in captivity for over 4,000... more
Elephants are the largest land mammals and most primeval mega herbivore (Shoshani 2000) with evolutionary history of more than 60 million years (Fowler & Mikota 2006). Humans have maintained Asian elephants in captivity for over 4,000 years (Vimalraj & Jayathangaraj 2012). The large body size of the Asian Elephant produces serious problems and places significant limitations (Ramiro & Robert 2004; Varma 2007).
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A free-ranging juvenile Himalayan Griffon Vulture from the Haldwani forest range division, Nainital, Uttarakhand, on detailed inspection, showed dullness, weakness, emaciation, ruffled feathers, droopy head, and watery whitish diarrhoea.... more
A free-ranging juvenile Himalayan Griffon Vulture from the Haldwani forest range division, Nainital, Uttarakhand, on detailed inspection, showed dullness, weakness, emaciation, ruffled feathers, droopy head, and watery whitish diarrhoea. It was unable to bear its own weight on both the legs. The bird died later and the post mortem revealed haemorrhagic intestinal tract. Based on the findings and microscopical examination it was confirmed as intestinal coccidiosis.
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Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is a critically endangered fresh water crocodile endemic to the Indian subcontinent. The species has suffered > 95% decline in population and habitat size. A small population of gharials comprising of 50... more
Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is a critically endangered fresh water crocodile endemic to the Indian subcontinent. The species has suffered > 95% decline in population and habitat size. A small population of gharials comprising of 50 breeding adults is resident in a 20 Km stretch of the River Girwa in Katerniaghat wildlife sanctuary, India. Gharials in this 20 Km stretch have been genetically isolated since 1976 by a barrage that functions as a barrier to gene flow. A captive rear and release program has been initiated since 1979 under Project Crocodile for restocking declining wild gharial populations. Thousands of gharial eggs were collected from gharial populations at Girwa and Chambal Rivers. Hatchlings from the collected eggs were captive reared at a common location in Kukrail Gharial Centre, India and released back to multiple gharial populations including the isolated population at Girwa. This restocking programme was not preceded by a genetic screening of captive animals ...
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The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus Gmelin) is a fish-eating specialist crocodylian, endemic to south Asia, and critically endangered in its few remaining wild localities. A secondary gharial population resides in riverine-reservoir habitat... more
The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus Gmelin) is a fish-eating specialist crocodylian, endemic to south Asia, and critically endangered in its few remaining wild localities. A secondary gharial population resides in riverine-reservoir habitat adjacent to the Nepal border, within the Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS), and nests along a 10 km riverbank of the Girwa River. A natural channel shift in the mainstream Karnali River (upstream in Nepal) has reduced seasonal flow in the Girwa stretch where gharials nest, coincident with a gradual loss of nest sites, which in turn was related to an overall shift to woody vegetation at these sites. To understand how these changes in riparian vegetation on riverbanks were related to gharial nesting, we sampled vegetation at these sites from 2017 to 2019, and derived an Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) from LANDSAT 8 satellite data to quantify riverside vegetation from 1988 through 2019. We found that sampled sites transitioned to woody cover, the ...
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Adult male non-descript bred dog presented with a history of circling motion, frequent head nodding, crusty muzzle, muscle twitching, seizure, vomiting, inappetence, coughing, inability to walk, watery pustular discharge from eyes and... more
Adult male non-descript bred dog presented with a history of circling motion, frequent head nodding, crusty muzzle, muscle twitching, seizure, vomiting, inappetence, coughing, inability to walk, watery pustular discharge from eyes and blood stained left ears and on further examination of foot pads showed thick, crusty or hardened sole and based on the clinical signs and symptoms, provisionally diagnosed as Canine distemper and advised euthanasia due to close geographic onset of the disease epidemic and to prevent Canine distemper-associated deaths in wild canids and felids.
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Striped Hyena Hyaena hyaena is a large carnivorous mammal found in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and India. Though the mammal is largely distributed across the globe, it is listed under the Near Threatened category by IUCN Red List. ... more
Striped Hyena Hyaena hyaena is a large carnivorous mammal found in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and India. Though the mammal is largely distributed across the globe, it is listed under the Near Threatened category by IUCN Red List. Uttarakhand is one of the states in India that is highly rich in biodiversity. The last reported evidence of the Striped Hyena in Ramnagar Division, Uttarakhand, was in a working plan in 1977. All India tiger estimations through camera traps conducted in 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016 failed to record the species in the area. The current study conducted in March–December 2015 utilized opportunistic sampling methods to confirm the presence of hyenas in Ramnagar Forest Division of Uttarakhand. The study presents photographic evidence of the Striped Hyena in the area.