Browsing by Author "Longchar, Satemmenla"

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Study on the Trends of Bushmeat Consumption and Traditional Hunting on Wild Fauna by Indigenous Community Living Near Protected Area in Nagaland.
(Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, 2013) Longchar, Satemmenla; Qureshi, Qamar; Jhala, Y.V.
Bush- meat Hunting is an integral part of a man's life specially people living in an indigenous community. This practice has evolved since primeval time. This has been rooted in the culture and traditions which plays an influential role in keeping those practices alive. Hunting is an art. And these arts are an integral part of shaping a man's role in the society. This is however becoming a calamitous action in destroying wildlife, often driving them into extinction-at global and local scale. With the over growing populations in the world and a huge demands for wildlife globally, for consumption, medicinal values, for clothing, and traditional adornments, these factors eventually lead to extermination of species at a rapid speed. Nagaland is in a region recognized as a biodiversity hotspot, in spite of the rampant hunting activities across the state. My study site Intanki National Park is located in Peren District of Nagaland. This park is categorized as Northern subtropical broad leave forest type. This park adjoins neighboring state of Assam's Dhansari reserve forest and hence an important area for connectivity for species. I conducted my field study from December 2012 to April 2013 in Intanki National park, Nagaland. I choose 6 sites for my study based on hunting intensity. A total of 60 transects of 1 km each was walked on the human and animal trails for estimating abundance of both mammal and birds separately. Along with that 240 plots for tracks and pellet count were sampled to estimate relative mammal abundance index. Camera traps sampling at each of the 6 sites vary from 50-99 trap nights. Relative density estimation of mammals from pellet results highest in site Camp2 with1.75 (0.34) and least in the community reserve with 0.22 (0.09), whereas relative density estimation for track plot was highest in site Longkhor Disa (1.4 (0.22) and least in community reserve (0.37 (0.02). For mammals the density estimation was 25.02 (3.64),for the bird's density, the highest was found in small sized birds with cluster size of 114.38 per sq.km, lowest density was for ground dwelling birds at 13.68 birds per sq.km. Site Occupancy (\f') and species richness for birds and mammals from camera traps and transect (n=60) was estimated at six sites. Data indicates that species richness of birds is highest in camp 2 (38) and least in Hatibu Disa (25). Richness of mammals was higher in the community reserve (20) and least in Hazab Disa area (5). The capture rate of all the species was higher in junction camp where as the lowest photographic capture rate was obtained from Hazab Disa. I surveyed a total number of 94 households and 16 hunters across 6 villages. From the questionnaires it was found that the Indian muntjac, common palm civet, jungle fowl and wild , pig are the most preferred species with 100% positive response from 94 households surveyed, for consumption. Traditional hunting techniques are being replaced by the modem Guns for killing animals. Besides, demand of wild animal for traditional medicinal usage also contributes to the hunting of animals. It was observed that hunting does not impact species richness. However, in mammals, there is negatively impact on ungulates (pellet density and encounter rate). For birds, the significant negative effect is found only on the medium sized birds. Equilibrium density (density to support hunting) was calculated by Individual hunted per year per 100 sq.km / growth rate. In my study, the deficit of species due to hunting was found most effective on Indian muntjac and Common palm civet. Over harvesting of this species through hunting will result in decline of the species population. I estimated sustainability of hunting and found out that most of the species are hunted beyond sustenance level; hence, if this is continuous, it might result · in the population and local extinction. In conclusion, in a society where bushmeat is an essential source of proteins, it is important to realize the current status of wild fauna and hence emphasis should be given to control and promote alternative.