Lion tailed macaque on top of a tree at Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary. | Photo Credit: MURALI KUMAR K
A report on the status of diurnal arboreal mammals in and around the forest of Sharavathi Valley Lion-tailed Macaque (LTM) Sanctuary which has been submitted to the Karnataka Forest Department recently has revealed that there are 730 LTM in vicinity.
“The LTMs are being a habitat specialist confined to a narrow range of evergreen forests along the slopes and adjoining forests in the study site. The estimated number of groups was 41 and the estimated minimum population size was 730 for the entire Sharavathi Valley LTM Sanctuary and its adjoining LTM habitat,” states the report
The report conducted by Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore and the Karnataka Forest Department states many anthropogenic activities have been a major concern in the area.
“In addition to hunting, loss of habitat due to the expansion of agricultural fields, developmental activities and the extraction of firewood have drastically affected habitat availability,” states the report.
The report has also called for initiatives and interventions which are required to manage the LTM and its habitat in the sanctuary.
They include population monitoring of the LTM and its habitat, restoring connectivity between forest patches for LTM, restoration of the degraded habitat or the forest land after removal of the acacia plantation, joint management as as platform for sustainable extraction, processing and marketing of Uppage (Garcinia gummi-gutta) and insulating the power line to avoid animal death due to electrocution.
The lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) is caught in mid-call at the Kudremukh National Park. The primate, termed endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, is endemic to the Western Ghats. It was nearly 30 years ago, that the region was declared as a National Park based with the macaque as the “flagship” species for conservation. | Photo Credit: MURALI KUMAR K
“Uppage is the most widely extracted Non-Timber Forest Products in recent years due to continual demand from pharmaceutical industries. This is due to the discovery of Hydroxy citric acid in Uppage as a treatment for obesity control. Many faunal species are dependent on Uppage for food which includes monkeys, civets and squirrels. Early harvests affect the feeding ecology of these animals. If the fruits of Uppage are harvested as a ripe fruit or collected from natural fall will have lesser competition between dependent fauna and people,” it stated
It added that LTMs generally traverse under higher canopies, but due to habitat degradation, they are occasionally forced to seek alternatives.
“Electric wires connected to road networks appear to be an easy path, but they are charred to death when they approach these current lines. To overcome this, it is advised that all the existing power lines along the sanctuary or the entire LTM habitat have to be insulated,” it added.
