Guwahati: Conservationists and forest officials have made an exciting discovery in Assam’s Raimona National Park, capturing the first photographic evidence of Chinese pangolin.
A team comprising forest officials from Kachugaon division, along with conservationists from Aaranyak and other organisations, has confirmed the discovery.
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The Chinese pangolin is a solitary, nocturnal and burrowing mammal that is highly trafficked and elusive, with limited information available on its distribution and current occurrence across its range.
There are two species of pangolins found in India – Indian pangolin and the Chinese pangolin.
Due to its low population and extensive poaching, the Chinese pangolin has been listed as critically endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and placed in Schedule-I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
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Despite stringent legal protections in India, pangolins continue to be hunted for their meat, body parts and use in traditional medicine.
Chinese pangolins are found in a range of countries across east, north and southeast Asia, including India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Laos and Vietnam.
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In India, the Chinese pangolin is found only in the foothills of the Himalayas, specifically in the northern and northeastern regions.
Raimona National Park, situated along the foothills of the Himalayas, is contiguous with the Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary in Bhutan, forming part of the India-Bhutan Transboundary Manas Conservation Area’s westernmost protected area.
The park is considered an important protected area that connects the forested regions of northern West Bengal, Bhutan and Manas National Park to the west, north and east, respectively.
“The Raimona park authorities, in collaboration with Aaranyak, have been conducting systematic annual camera trapping surveys since 2019 to assess and monitor the species assemblages and populations of terrestrial mammals,” senior scientist with Aaranyak, M Firoz Ahmed, said.
“During systematic surveys in 2022, with 1,470 trap-days of camera trapping, three independent photo-captures of a Chinese pangolin were obtained from the Ranganadi area of the park’s western range,” he added.
The photographs were captured on a dry stream that joins with the Ranganadi river.
It was the first confirmed photographic evidence of the Chinese pangolin in Raimona National Park.