Gokarna Jung Thapa

Past, present and future conservation of the greater one-horned rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis in Nepal

Until the early 1980s the only surviving population of the greater one-horned rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis in Nepal was in Chitwan National Park. Between 1986 and 2003 87 rhinoceroses from Chitwan were translocated into Bardia National Park and Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve in the western terai region to establish founder populations and reduce the threat of local extinction from natural catastrophic events, disease and/or poaching. The founder populations increased in number through births but a rise in poaching during the period of civil strife in Nepal during 1996–2006 resulted in a dramatic decline in the populations, including in Chitwan. In 2001 the Terai Arc Landscape programme was initiated to connect 11 protected areas in Nepal and north-west India and facilitate dispersal of megafauna and manage them as metapopulations. Corridors that were restored under the programme and that connect Bardia and Suklaphanta with protected areas in India are now used by the greater one-horned rhinoceros. The successes and failures of the last 2 decades indicate that new paradigms for protecting rhinoceroses within and outside protected areas are needed, especially with reference to managing this species at a landscape scale.

Leopard Panthera pardus fusca Density in the Seasonally Dry, Subtropical Forest in the Bhabhar of Terai Arc, Nepal

We estimated leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) abundance and density in the Bhabhar physiographic region in Parsa Wildlife Reserve, Nepal. The camera trap grid, covering sampling area of 289 km2 with 88 locations, accumulated 1,342 trap nights in 64 days in the winter season of 2008-2009 and photographed 19 individual leopards. Using models incorporating heterogeneity, we estimated 28 (±SE 6.07) and 29.58 (±SE 10.44) leopards in Programs CAPTURE and MARK. Density estimates via 1/2 MMDM methods were 5.61 (±SE 1.30) and 5.93 (±SE 2.15) leopards per 100 km2 using abundance estimates from CAPTURE and MARK, respectively. Spatially explicit capture recapture (SECR) models resulted in lower density estimates, 3.78 (±SE 0.85) and 3.48 (±SE 0.83) leopards per 100 km2, in likelihood based program DENSITY and Bayesian based program SPACECAP, respectively. The 1/2 MMDM methods have been known to provide much higher density estimates than SECR modelling techniques. However, our SECR models resulted in high leopard density comparable to areas considered better habitat in Nepal indicating a potentially dense population compared to other sites. We provide the first density estimates for leopards in the Bhabhar and a baseline for long term population monitoring of leopards in Parsa Wildlife Reserve and across the Terai Arc.

Distribution and habitat use of red panda in the Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape of Nepal

In Nepal, the red panda (Ailurus fulgens) has been sparsely studied, although its range covers a wide area. The present study was carried out in the previously untapped Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape (CHAL) situated in central Nepal with an aim to explore current distributional status and identify key habitat use. Extensive field surveys conducted in 10 red panda range districts were used to estimate species distribution by presence-absence occupancy modeling and to predict distribution by presence-only modeling. The presence of red pandas was recorded in five districts: Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Myagdi, Baglung and Dhading. The predictive distribution model indicated that 1,904.44 km2 of potential red panda habitat is available in CHAL with the protected area covering nearly 41% of the total habitat. The habitat suitability analysis based on the probability of occurrence showed only 16.58% (A = 315.81 km2) of the total potential habitat is highly suitable. Red Panda occupancy was estimated to be around 0.0667, indicating nearly 7% (218 km2) of the total habitat is occupied with an average detection probability of 0.4482±0.377. Based on the habitat use analysis, altogether eight variables including elevation, slope, aspect, proximity to water sources, bamboo abundance, height, cover, and seasonal precipitation were observed to have significant roles in the distribution of red pandas. In addition, 25 tree species were documented from red panda sign plots out of 165 species recorded in the survey area. Most common was Betula utilis followed by Rhododendron spp. and Abies spectabilis. The extirpation of red pandas in previously reported areas indicates a need for immediate action for the long-term conservation of this species in CHAL.

Distribution of grey wolves Canis lupus lupus in the Nepalese Himalaya: implications for conservation management

The grey wolf Canis lupus lupus is Critically Endangered in Nepal, and is a protected species there. Understanding the species’ status and distribution is critical for its conservation in the Nepalese Himalaya. We assessed the distribution of the grey wolf in the Himalayan and Trans-Himalayan regions using data from faecal and camera trap surveys and published data sources. We recorded 40 instances of wolf presence. Using these data we estimated a distribution of 28,553 km 2 , which includes potential as well as known habitat and comprises 73% of the Nepalese Himalaya. There is evidence of recovery of the grey wolf population in Kanchenjunga Conservation Area in the eastern portion of the species’ range. A livestock insurance scheme has been shown to be a viable option to reduce retaliatory killing of wolves as a result of livestock depredation. The wolf plays an important ecological role in the Himalaya, and its conservation should not be delayed by the ongoing taxonomic debate about its subspecific status.

Yes, Nepal can double its tiger population. A reply to Aryal et al.

The government of Nepal has made a commitment to the global community to double the wild tiger population in Nepal by 2022 (GTI 2013). The target is 250 adult tigers in the five protected areas sup...

Tigers in the Terai: Strong evidence for meta-population dynamics contributing to tiger recovery and conservation in the Terai Arc Landscape

The source populations of tigers are mostly confined to protected areas, which are now becoming isolated. A landscape scale conservation strategy should strive to facilitate dispersal and survival of dispersing tigers by managing habitat corridors that enable tigers to traverse the matrix with minimal conflict. We present evidence for tiger dispersal along transboundary protected areas complexes in the Terai Arc Landscape, a priority tiger landscape in Nepal and India, by comparing camera trap data, and through population models applied to the long term camera trap data sets. The former showed that 11 individual tigers used the corridors that connected the transboundary protected areas. The estimated population growth rates using the minimum observed population size in two protected areas in Nepal, Bardia National Park and Suklaphanta National Park showed that the increases were higher than expected from growth rates due to in situ reproduction alone. These lines of evidence suggests that tigers are recolonizing Nepal’s protected areas from India, after a period of population decline, and that the tiger populations in the transboundary protected areas complexes may be maintained as meta-population. Our results demonstrate the importance of adopting a landscape-scale approach to tiger conservation, especially to improve population recovery and long term population persistence.

The Terai Arc Landscape

Publisher Summary The Terai is one of the most fragmented and threatened ecosystems in Asia. The large mammals of the Terai are mostly confined to the protected areas, although the ecological and behavioral traits of these species demand extensive habitat areas for effective, long-term conservation. The conservation challenge in the Terai is to manage and maintain ecologically, demographically, and genetically viable populations of the Terais endangered megaspecies. To achieve this goal, a coalition of governmental and non-governmental partners from Nepal and India adopted a landscape-scale conservation strategy to connect twelve protected areas across the Himalayan foothills with habitat linkages to facilitate species dispersal and seasonal movements. Since the tiger is an important focal species in the Terai, the linkages are identified based on its ecological requirements and behavioral characteristics. This chapter reveals that a strategy that elicits local stewardship to link core refuges for conservation of tigers and other iconic megaspecies of Asia, which are losing ground against the human tide, is possible even in human-dominated landscapes. Humans and wildlife have co-existed for millennia in Asia, and people who have traditionally lived with wildlife in their backyards are usually tolerant to some degree of depredation and crop damage. Therefore, if conflict can be maintained at low levels, and both people and wildlife can share the benefits of conservation, there can be scope for their co-existence.Publisher Summary The Terai is one of the most fragmented and threatened ecosystems in Asia. The large mammals of the Terai are mostly confined to the protected areas, although the ecological and behavioral traits of these species demand extensive habitat areas for effective, long-term conservation. The conservation challenge in the Terai is to manage and maintain ecologically, demographically, and genetically viable populations of the Terais endangered megaspecies. To achieve this goal, a coalition of governmental and non-governmental partners from Nepal and India adopted a landscape-scale conservation strategy to connect twelve protected areas across the Himalayan foothills with habitat linkages to facilitate species dispersal and seasonal movements. Since the tiger is an important focal species in the Terai, the linkages are identified based on its ecological requirements and behavioral characteristics. This chapter reveals that a strategy that elicits local stewardship to link core refuges for conservation of tigers and other iconic megaspecies of Asia, which are losing ground against the human tide, is possible even in human-dominated landscapes. Humans and wildlife have co-existed for millennia in Asia, and people who have traditionally lived with wildlife in their backyards are usually tolerant to some degree of depredation and crop damage. Therefore, if conflict can be maintained at low levels, and both people and wildlife can share the benefits of conservation, there can be scope for their co-existence.