Small carnivores of Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, southern Western Ghats, India

R Sreehari,P O Nameer

doi:10.11609/jott.2311.8.11.9306-9315

Abstract

The first ever detailed study on the small carnivores of the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve (PkTR) in the southern Western Ghats, using camera trap techniques, reported 11 species. A total of 1,350 camera-trap nights were used for the study. This was supplemented with 242km of day transects and 344km of night transects using spot-lights. The small carnivores reported were the Small Indian Civet Viverricula indica, Common Palm Civet Paradoxurus hermaphroditus, Brown Palm Civet Paradoxurus jerdoni, Indian Grey Mongoose Herpestes edwardsii, Stripe-necked Mongoose Herpestes vitticollis, Brown Mongoose Herpestes fuscus, Ruddy Mongoose Herpestes smithii, Smooth-coated Otter Lutrogale perspicillata, Nilgiri Marten Martes gwatkinsii, Jungle Cat Felis chaus and Leopard Cat Prionailurus bengalensis. About 90% of the small carnivores captured in the camera traps in PKTR were members of the Viverridae family such as the Small Indian Civet (31.67%), Common Palm Civet (30%) and Brown Palm Civet (28.33%). The study recorded all the four species of mongoose known from the Western Ghats from PkTR. Two out of the 11 small carnivores belong to the ‘Vulnerable’ category on the IUCN Red List.

Highlights

Small carnivores constitute more than 50% of the order Carnivora (Schipper et al 2008)
Kumar et al (2002), reported five species of small carnivores from Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Tamil Nadu, which is adjacent to Parambikulam Tiger
The Common Palm Civet and Small Indian Civets were recorded from all the major vegetation types of Parambikulam Tiger Reserve (PkTR) while the Brown Palm Civet was recorded only from the evergreen forest

Summary

Introduction

Small carnivores constitute more than 50% of the order Carnivora (Schipper et al 2008). The small carnivores include mongooses of the family Herpestidae, civets (Viverridae), otters & martens (Mustelidae) and small cats (Felidae). They are mostly nocturnal and solitary animals and one of the less studied groups of mammals of the Western Ghats. The Western Ghats support 17 species in four families (Nameer et al 2001; Nameer 2015) Owing to their small size, low density and nocturnality, which are obvious hindrances to conduct research, these animals have not garnered enough attention from the research community (Mudappa 1998). Kumar et al (2002), reported five species of small carnivores from Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary Tamil Nadu, which is adjacent to Parambikulam Tiger

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Results

Conclusion