Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Presence of ‘Asiatic golden cat’ reconfirmed in Manas National park

Date:

Share post:

 

Guwahati, October 22: A team made up of officials from the Assam Forest Department, conservationists from region’s leading biodiversity conservation organisation Aaranyak (www.aaranyak.org), as well as several other conservationists from different parts of India, has reconfirmed the existence of the Asiatic golden cat (Catopuma temminckii) in the Manas National Park of Assam.

Despite the species expected to occur in the region based on a direct sighting made in 2007, an intensive annual systematic camera trapping effort of 39,700 trap-days over eight years between 2011 and 2018 yielded no records.

“Nevertheless, two photographic captures of the species were made in December 2019 and January 2021, following the camera trapping efforts of Assam Forest Department, Aaranyak and Panthera reconfirming its presence in the park following the end of the ethnopolitical conflict in Manas National Park.”, says Dr M Firoz Ahmed, one of the lead authors of the paper.

The finding of this research was published in the summer 2024 edition of ‘CATNews’ of the IUCN SSC Cat Specialist Group, one of the five components of the Species Survival Commission of the IUCN.

Scientist from Aaranyak Dr M Firoz Ahmed and Senior conservation biologist Dr Dipankar Lahkar along with conservationists Amal Chandra Sarmah, Dr Ramie H. Begum, Aprajita Singh, Nibir Medhi, Nitul Kalita, Sunit Kumar Das, and Dr Abishek Harihar contributed to the research finding.

The Asiatic golden cat is a medium-sized felid with a distribution range spanning the north-eastern Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and southern China. Listed as Near Threatened in the IUCN Red List, the species is protected under Scheduled-I of India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

This cat is known to occur across a wide range of habitats, including dry deciduous forests, subtropical evergreen forests, tropical rainforests, temperate and sub-alpine forests, and at elevations ranging from 0 m to 3,738 m.

In North-east India, the species is recorded from Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve of Sikkim, Buxa Tiger Reserve of north-Bengal, Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary, east Garo, South Garo, and Jaintia hills of Meghalaya; Dampha Tiger Reserve of Mizoram, Namdapha Tiger Reserve, Kamlang Tiger Reserve, Debang valley, Pakke Tiger Reserve, Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, Singchung-BugunVCR and Talle-Valley Wildlife Sanctuary of Arunachal Pradesh, Intanki National Park of Nagaland, and others. The species is also recorded in many protected areas in Bhutan.

Related articles

Sports Snippets

Charlotte Edwards appointed head coach of England’s women’s team London, April 1: Former England captain Charlotte Edwards was appointed...

Ed Sheeran shares video grooving with auto driver in India

Popular British singer Ed Sheeran gave a shout-out to an Indian auto rickshaw driver who took him around...

AR Rahman announces ‘Wonderment’ tour

Music maestro AR Rahman is all set to kick off his much-awaited ‘Wonderment’ worldwide tour in Mumbai. The tour...

Malaika shares post amid dating rumours with Sangakkara

Malaika Arora has shared an inspiring post about a ‘strong tomorrow’ on social media amid ongoing dating rumors...