Grizzled squirrel safe at Chinnar: Forest dept

The Hindu, October 25 2018
Thiruvananthapuram:

The Kerala Forest Department has clarified that 68 Grizzled Giant Squirrel individuals were directly sighted at the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary during a 2017 survey. The squirrel population was estimated to be 104 individuals in the potential riparian habitat.
No hunting incidents
Referring to a report on the dwindling population of the Grizzled Giant Squirrel species, which appeared in these columns, P.M. Prabhu, Assistant Wildlife Warden, said no hunting incidents of the species had been reported since the sanctuary was established.
He said the sanctuary had a “very healthy and stable population of another flagship species, the Indian Star Tortoise, indicating that habitat disturbance was very negligible”.
Help of tribes
The study was conducted in 50 km of potential habitat of the “sanctuary (riparian forest) which was selected based on the indigenous knowledge of the tribal people inhabiting the sanctuary”, he said.
For the survey, 21 line transects were taken and surveyed repeatedly by 31 participants for six days. “This recent study report is more relevant and authentic,” Mr.Prabu said.

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Dwindling Grizzled Giant Squirrel species

K.S. Sudhi, Kochi
The Hindu, October 03, 2018  

Grizzled Giant Squirrel is living on the edge in the Chinnar Wild Life Sanctuary, one of its habitats in Western Ghats.
Researchers could count only 24 squirrels (Ratufa macroura) there, giving rise to fears that its population might have depleted by 85% in the sanctuary over a decade.
A recent study pointed out that the “current population estimation is about 78% to 85% lesser than the previous population estimation carried out in 1993 and 2007 respectively, which is quite alarming.” It was after gap of a decade that the status of the species was estimated.
The findings of the study, carried out by Kiran Thomas and P. O. Nameer of Kerala Agricultural University, was published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa recently.
The animal, which got its common name from the white flecks of hair over its greyish body, is seen in pairs or as a family party of three individuals only during the breeding season.
The species is endemic to the southern States of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. The only known population of the squirrel in Kerala is in the sanctuary. The population of the species in the country is estimated to be less than 500 mature individuals.
Earlier studies had indicated that the squirrel population was declining by over 30% during the last quarter century, thanks to the hunters and habitat loss.
The current population density of the species is estimated to be 15.26 squirrels per sq km against the density of 18 to 23 squirrels/sq km of 1993 and 64 squirrels/sq km of 2007, the study noted.
The Chinnar population is troubled by the increased predator pressure and the extremely low regeneration of its preferred food plant species due to heavy grazing by cattle.
During the study, the researchers chanced upon several suspected hybrid squirrels.

 

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