Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 May 2024 | 16(5): 25265–25267

 

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) 

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8862.16.5.25265-25267

#8862 | Received 30 November 2023 | Final received 17 February 2024 | Finally accepted 26 April 2024

 

 

First photographic record of Asiatic Brush-tailed Porcupine Atherurus macrourus Linnaeus, 1758 from Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam, India

 

B. Piraisoodan 1, Asish Immanuel Baglary 2  & Bibhuti Mazumder 3

 

1-3 Office of the Divisional Forest Officer-cum-Field Director, Nameri Tiger Reserve, Tezpur, Assam 784027, India.

1 fd.nameritr@gmail.com, 2 research.nameritr@gmail.com (corresponding author), 3 rfokalamati@gmail.com

 

 

Editor: Anwaruddin Choudhury, The Rhino Foundation for Nature in North East India, Guwahati, India.             Date of publication: 26 May 2024 (online & print)

 

Citation: Piraisoodan, B., A.I. Baglary & B. Mazumder (2024). First photographic record of Asiatic Brush-tailed Porcupine Atherurus macrourus Linnaeus, 1758 from Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(5): 25265–25267. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8862.16.5.25265-25267

  

Copyright: © Piraisoodan et al. 2024. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.  JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.

 

Funding: NTCA under CSS-Project Tiger.

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements:  We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the PCCF & HoFF, Assam, and PCCF (WL) & CWW, Assam, for their unwavering support to Nameri Tiger Reserve during the first-ever camera trap survey in the Satellite Core. Special thanks to the range forest officer, Nameri Wildlife Range, for his invaluable support throughout the process. Lastly, we extend our heartfelt appreciation to the forest frontline staff of Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary, Kalamati Range, for their dedication to safeguarding and documenting the wildlife of the Sanctuary.

 

 

The Asiatic Brush-tailed Porcupine Atherurus macrourus is a nocturnal rodent species endemic to southern Asia and is distributed throughout central China, north-eastern India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand (Dhendup & Dorji 2017; Molur 2020). In northeastern India, the species has been reported from Arunachal Pradesh (Agarwal 2000; Datta et al. 2008), Assam (Choudhury 2013), Meghalaya (Agarwal 2000), Mizoram (Forest Clearance 2013), Nagaland (Kumar & Kaul 2013) and northern West Bengal (Dash et al. 2021). In Assam specifically, it has been camera-trapped in Barak Valley (Gassah & Ismavel 2020) and Manas National Park (Bhatt et al. 2023). Despite being recorded in various protected areas (PAs), the species is considered uncommon in the northeastern states of India, with its geographic distribution limited to specific pocket areas (Talukdar et al. 2019). The species is classified as ‘Least Concern’ by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Molur 2020) and in India, it is listed in Schedule I of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972 (amended). There is a pressing need to ascertain the distribution of the species, given reports indicating a 20 percent (approx.) global decline in the populations of all three porcupine species found in the region, including the Indian Crested Porcupine Hystrix indica, Himalayan Crestless Porcupine Hystrix brachyura, and Asiatic Brush-tailed Porcupine Atherurus macrourus (Molur et al. 2005). Despite these concerning trends, very limited literature is available on their population, behavioural ecology, feeding, and nesting habits, posing challenges for the formulation of effective conservation action plans.

Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary is situated in the foothills of the eastern Himalaya and is contiguous with Doimara Reserve Forest and Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh. Out of the 220 km2 of eastern wet alluvial grasslands, moist deciduous, and semi-evergreen forests (Champion & Seth 1968), most parts have been encroached upon. In 2015, the remaining 120 km2 of the forested area was notified as a ‘satellite core’ of Nameri Tiger Reserve. Once abundant with Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis, Wild Buffalo Bubalus arnee, White-winged Wood Duck Asarcornis scutulata, and Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis, which are now locally extinct (BirdLife International 2023). Furthermore, it has been recognized as an Important Bird Area (IBA) and is home to rich avifauna including migratory birds (Nameri Tiger Reserve 2023).

As part of the Phase IV Protocol of the National Tiger Conservation Authority 2022–23, 58 camera traps were deployed in the satellite core area with a sampling effort (n = 30) from 25 November to 25 December, 2022. Each trail camera (CUDDEBACK X‑Change Color Model 1279) was positioned in a fabricated camera trap holder at a height of approximately 30–45 cm above the ground. The cameras were placed to face each other in 2 km2 grids (Figure 1). The species was recorded from two camera trap stations (92.543°N, 26.892°E & 92.490°N, 26.904°E) with three independent captures (Image 1). The captures occurred post-midnight at 0055 h, 0209 h, and 0106 h, indicating its nocturnal nature. The species was observed in a semi-evergreen forest with tree species such as Bombax ceiba, Stereospermum tetragonum, and Amoora wallichii. Moreover, the species is not site-specific and inhabits tropical wet evergreen, tropical semi-evergreen, and sub-tropical broadleaf hill environments (Talukdar et al. 2019; Bhatt et al. 2023). The species can be distinguished from the Indian Crested Porcupine and Himalayan Crestless Porcupine due to the absence of a crest, with its dorsal covered with rigid spines and its tail-bearing scales with short spiny bristles in-between, ending in a cluster of alternately expanded and contracted papery hair 8–10 cm long, giving it a brush-like appearance (Agarwal 2000). Given that this is the first photographic record of the Asiatic Brush-tailed Porcupine in Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary, it will assist in the upgradation of the IUCN Red List distribution map for the concerned species. Furthermore, this is a least studied species and no robust information is available, making it extremely important to systematically study the species, its distribution, and ecology before any potential threats arise.

 

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