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The Semi-arid wildlands of the West Bengal state of India are known habitats of Indian Grey Wolf (Canis lupus pallipes) and Striped Hyaena (Hyaena hyaena) in India. However, increasing anthropogenic pressure in these regions is one major factor behind habitat loss and rising carnivore-human conflict. We mapped the suitable habitat and estimated the niche overlap of both species in the study landscape. Further, we assessed the habitat quality, identified corridors and quantified land sharing by both species. The anthropogenic disturbance (human settlements) was found to be one of the most significant contributors for both species. The higher Schoener’s D (0.612) and Hellinger’s based I value (0.858) indicates a considerable niche overlap of about 3529 km2. We observed a high level of fragmentation in suitable patches of Grey Wolf compared to the Striped Hyaena. For both Striped Hyaena and Grey Wolf, connectivity exists among the large patch of western and southern Purulia and Bankura. The Grey Wolf corridors in the Jhargram district were also found connected with other areas. We found that both the species, which are generally known rivals showing tolerance towards each other, which is an strong evidence of land sharing among the species. We recommend that the suitable patches and corridors identified in the study may be prioritized for conservation and management.

Perception towards the wildlife conservation of locals determines the future of conservation programs, hence we assessed the perception of forest communities in East Siang district towards wildlife conservation in their surroundings. We collected questionnaire data from 1079 respondents of East Siang District, Arunachal Pradesh during Nov 2018 to Feb 2019. The influence of different parameters including socio-demographic, socio-economic and human-wildlife interactions on local communities opinions concerning wildlife conservation were examined. The respondents provided wide and diversified responses about the significance of wildlife for different purposes such as food consumption (hunting) to mixed concerns (aesthetic, moral and future values) and ecological balance. The responses were recorded and tested independent variables, namely age, gender, household size, education, house type, crop damages, livestock attacks, human attacks, village, circles and occupation. The ANCOVA test revealed that villages (p = 0.000), circles (p = 0.001), education (p = 0.012), human attacks (p = 0.003) and gender (p = 0.033) were significantly associated with their opinions. Whereas the socio-economic status of locals also had a role in shaping perceptions about the wildlife conservation. The respondents belonging to the lower socio-economic classes have the negative attitude while upper classes have a positive attitude. Our research suggests that primary (adjusted standardized residual: asr = 2.3) and middle school (asr = 2.7) educated male respondents consider wildlife as food resources (asr = 3.7). However, the graduates believed that wildlife has a role in ecological balance (asr = 6.6). The increase in wildlife attacks on humans is unlikely to support conservation (asr = 4.5). It is suggested to enhance awareness creations, adoption of best practices to mitigate wildlife-human conflict and alternative livelihood for promoting wildlife conservation in the study landscape.

Exploring gut microbiome is imperative to comprehend the foraging habits, species health and the various environmental and physiological challenges being experienced by the species in the wild. The present study provides the first report of the gut microbial diversity of Arunachal macaque, Macaca munzala, an endangered cercopithecine macaque discovered recently and confined to Western Arunachal Pradesh of Northeastern India. The observed predominant phyla include Firmicutes followed by Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria with the dominant classes represented by the Clostridia, Betaproteobacteria and Coriobacteriia. The gut microbiome of Arunachal macaques displayed a unique signature and significantly resembled with humans indicating dependency of Arunachal macaque for dietary intake on anthropogenic food. Although results demonstrate dietary plasticity of Arunachal macaque to co-exist with human-mediated habitat change, it raises concerns on the availability of natural food resources and provides evidence of change in dietary habits of Arunachal macaques in Western Arunachal Pradesh. The results highlighted necessity for immediate attention of the forest officials/managers in strategise screening/planting natural food resources and monitoring anthropogenic activities in the distribution of Arunachal macaques. The study offers suggestions in better planning for conflict management to reduce physical interactions and crop losses made by the Arunachal macaques.

The group of langur species in the Himalayan range, comprising Semnopithecus ajax, Semnopithecus hector and Semnopithecus schistaceus, now proved to be one single species, were earlier thought to be different species. Their taxonomic confusion has led to deficiency in the understanding of their geographic range and their vulnerability to future climate has not been studied. This study attempts to map their distribution in the face of changing climate. The Western Indian Himalayas and Nepal were considered as the study area for this work. An ensemble model approach for Species Distribution Modelling (SDM), for estimating the habitat loss risks of the Himalayan Langur (HL) in the event of climate change was adopted in this study. Patch metrics and corridor analysis were used to understand fragmentation of suitable habitat. The suitable habitat area for HL was predicted to be 24,240 km2 in the present scenario. It is predicted to decline by 64.6% in 2050; 64.1% 2070 (RCP 4.5); and 63.6% in 2050, 20.3% in 2070 (RCP 8.5). A minimum shrinkage by 58% in the mean habitat patch size is predicted. A list of protected areas important for conservation of the species from the habitat connectivity perspective was extracted. The HL was predicted to shift both longitudinally as well as along the latitude, in the landscape, confirming effects of climate change on the species. The HL was also predicted to find refuge under climate change in areas that are not presently protected forests, suggesting management of the refugia would be needed in future.

Combined surveys based on non-invasive genetic methods and camera trapping increase chances of capturing most of the elusive species which are otherwise challenging to document, especially in high altitude areas due to tough terrains and inaccessibility. The Trans–Himalayan mountain ranges of India are neglected ecosystem in the context of faunal assessment and their monitoring. The present study provides a comparative performance of four methods i.e., line transects, camera traps and non-invasive DNA analysis in enumerating the mammalian diversity of Lahaul and Spiti (L&S) in Indian Trans Himalayan region. We undertook sign surveys, field questionnaire, camera trapping, and collected faeces (n = 471) from the trails/transects for DNA analysis. The study was conducted in seven different ranges/blocks of L&S. Together all methods resulted in the identification of 23 species of mammals with two new records, i.e. Asiatic Black bear (Ursus thibetanus) and Leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) in the region. Other key species detected are Himalayan Brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus), Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia), Tibetian Wolf (Canis lupus). The camera traps performed best with a maximum number of species (19) than the other three methods, i.e. Questionnaire survey (16), indirect sign survey (15) and DNA based (10). However, no significant differences (Kruskal-Wallis, K = 10; P > 0.05) was observed among the methods used for species detection. The camera trap detection varied significantly among the different forest ranges (K = 12; P

Large carnivores that occur in low densities, particularly in the high-altitude areas are globally threatened because of habitat loss and anthropogenic disturbances. Among the eight bear species, brown bear has the largest distribution range, where the Himalayan brown bear distribution is restricted to Himalayan high lands with relatively small and fragmented populations. In the Indian Himalayan regions, the brown bear is mostly distributed in the high-altitude ranges of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory (UT), Ladakh UT, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand but poorly studied due to elusive nature and rugged landscape. So far, very little information is available on the species except for few distribution records and short-term studies focused on bear-human conflict. Much of its distribution range in India is largely unexplored and hence, no scientific information is available which is vital for the conservation of the species and management of its habitats.Therefore, the present study was conducted aiming at distribution and occupancy assessment of brown bear in the Lahaul Valley of Himachal Pradesh. We have used both sign survey and camera trapping for understanding the site occupancy of the species using habitat covariates. The study landscape was divided into 10 km × 10 km grids, and in each grid, at least 4 camera traps were deployed strategically. Further, a total of 56 trails were also surveyed in the selected grids. The total effort of n = 758 camera nights and 544 km trail walk resulted with naïve occupancy of 0.54 in the Lahaul Valley, which is slightly lower than the estimated one (0.562–0.757). Out of 34 single-season occupancy models run for the brown bear with different site co-variants, only ‘agriculture land’ (β = 24; ±14) and combined effect of ‘agriculture land + alpine grassland’ (β = 28.0 ± 10) showed a positive association with occupancy of brown bear in the Lahaul Valley. Whereas, detection probability was mostly explained by habitat covariates such as ‘human settlement’ (β = 0.00 ± 0.00) and ‘alpine grassland’ (β = −0.73, ±0.31) which showed a negative association. The positive relationship of occupancy with agriculture land indicated that Himalayan brown bears are using an agriculture land which is leading to increasing bear-human conflict. Through the present study, we identified few areas in Lahaul Valley for priority conservation actions. Keywords: Human-brown bear conflict, Himalayas, Crop depredation