In what might cheer up conservationists, a recent survey of the Indo-Bhutan Manas landscape has recorded the presence of at least 55 species of herpetofauna comprising 20 amphibian and 35 reptile species.
The Indo-Bhutan Manas landscape is one the world’s single-largest protected area landscapes known for its diverse assemblage of flora and fauna. This is mainly due to the fact that it lies at the juncture of two biodiversity hotspots-Himalayan and Indo-Burmese biodiversity hotspots. The Indian part of this landscape, specifically the Manas Wildlife Sanctuary holds the status of UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site.Although the rich diversity of mammals and birds of the park had been documented, there was, however, scanty information on reptiles and amphibians of the park.
“The survey was conducted in a diversity of habitats-semi-evergreen forest, moist deciduous forest and Terai-Bhabar grasslands emphasizing critical herpetological microhabitats. In all of these habitats, sites like forest streams, forest understorey, rocky areas, and waterlogged areas in the interior of the forest were sampled mostly using visual-encounter search,” said Sonali Ghosh, Deputy Director of the park. “The survey was carried out both in the day and at night, keeping in view the activity pattern of diurnal and nocturnal species,” Ghosh said.
“Some of the noteworthy species recorded included the green tree frog, bubble nest frog, twin spotted tree frog, blue fan-throated lizard, water monitor lizard, king cobra and pope’s pit viper etc,” she added.“Most of the herpetofaunal species recorded from Royal Manas are new country records for Bhutan. Some of the species found are of utmost scientific interest and Manas National Park in India was found to hold an admixture of Indian, Indo-Malayan and Indo-Chinese elements.
Habitat patches at lotajhar, Doimari inside Manas National Park were found to be particularly rich in forest species whereas grassland-wetland areas such as Kuribeel under Bansbari Range were identified as critical turtle habitat of the park,” she said.
Dr Abhijit Das, a Herpetologist of the Wildlife Institute of India stated that the survey indicated a bewildering herpetofaunal diversity of the landscape much of which is still unknown. He emphasised the need for conducting long term and periodic surveys to have a better understanding of the species’ richness and ecology, which will eventually contribute to the conservation of this ecologically important group.