Habitat use, ranging pattern and management of sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) in North Bilaspur Forest Division, Madhya Pradesh.

Abstract

In the North Bilaspur forest division (NBFD) Chhattisgarh, sloth bears have created very formidable image among the local people. The habitat available to sloth bears is highly disturbed, fragmented, unprotected, and interspersed with villages, small townships, and cultivation areas. Sloth bears invade human habitation and agricultural crop fields and increasingly attack on people and cause extensive crop damage. This is the first study on sloth bears in India, which has been conducted outside the protected areas. The study is very important not only for the benefit of local people, suffering from the bear menace but also for the bear itself whose status is vulnerable in these areas. The study was carried out in Pendra and Marwahi ranges using transect sampling of vegetation and bear evidences, remote sensing, bear count at den sites, tracking of collared bears, and village survey.