List of mammals of Kaziranga National Park

A rhinoceros grazing at Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga National Park is a national park and an UNESCO World Heritage Site in India. The park contains significant breeding populations of more than 35 mammalian species,[1] out of which 15 are threatened mammals according to the IUCN Red List.[2]

The park has the world's single largest breeding population of Indian rhinoceros,[2] with the 2006 census estimating the present population to be around 1,855, around 70% of the world's total wild population of 2,700.[3]

The park contains significant stock of three other large herbivores — the Asian elephant, the wild Asian water buffalo and the subspecies eastern swamp deer (Cervus duvauceli ranjitsinghi). A census on wild Asiatic buffaloes in March 2001 revealed the presence of 1,666 buffaloes — the largest single population of the species reported in this millennium,[4] up from 677 in the 1984 census. Assam is India's most populous state with respect to Asiatic elephants (an estimated 5,500 out of a total of 10,000 wild Asiatic elephants in India live in Assam),[5] and Kaziranga contains as many as 1,206 elephants (from the 2005 census), up from 1048 individuals (in the 2002 census).[6] The combined Kaziranga - Karbi Anglong Elephant Reserve has as many as 1940 elephants according to the 2005 survey.[5]

The eastern race of the swamp deer also had 468 individuals existing as noted in the 2002 census,[7] down from 756 individuals noted in the 1984 census.[2] Other stable populations of large herbivores include the gaur (30 individuals in 1984) and the sambar (58 in 1999). Smaller herbivores include the Indian muntjac (100 in the 1972 census), wild boar (431 in 1999), barking deer and hog deer (5045 in 1999).[6][2]

The park has a large variety of primates including all free roaming primates in India with the exception of the endemic Western Ghats primates and the newly discovered Arunachal macaque. This includes the vulnerable and rare species of Bengal slow loris, Assamese macaque, capped langur, golden langur and the only ape found in India — the hoolock gibbon.[8]

Kaziranga also has the rare distinction of being one of the very few places in the world which contains breeding population of three big cats outside Africa — the royal Bengal tiger, the Indian leopard and the clouded leopard.[8] Kaziranga had a population of around 30 Bengal tigers during the 1972 census, which grew to 86 in the 2000 census. This made Kaziranga the protected area with the highest tiger density in the world (0.2 tigers /km2), and Kaziranga formally became a tiger reserve in 2006.[3]

The park is also home to sloth bears and to lesser felids like the jungle cat, fishing cat and the leopard cat. Other small mammals include the rare hispid hare and several common species of mongoose (Indian gray mongoose, small Indian mongoose), civets (large Indian civet, small Indian civet), small canids (Bengal fox, golden jackal) pangolins (Chinese pangolin, Indian pangolin), weasels (hog badger, Chinese ferret badger), the particolored flying squirrel and bats.[2]

Kaziranga's rivers (especially the adjoining stretch of the Brahmaputra) are home to the blind, highly endangered Ganges dolphin.[2]

Even though the ubiquitous wild boar is present in Kaziranga, and Assam was part of the historical range of the critically endangered pygmy hog, the pygmy hog is no longer found in Kaziranga. The Indian Javan rhinoceros was probably also an inhabitant of Kaziranga before becoming extinct.[9]

List of mammals (incomplete)

References

Cited

  1. ↑ "Kaziranga National Park- Mammals Checklist". Kaziranga National Park Authorities. Retrieved 2007-02-23.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "UN Kaziranga Factsheet". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 2007-07-13. Retrieved 2007-02-23.
  3. 1 2 Hussain, Syed Zakir (2006-08-10). "Kaziranga adds another feather - declared tiger reserve". Indo-Asian News Service. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
  4. ↑ 'Wild buffalo census in Kaziranga', The Rhino Foundation for Nature in NE India, Newsletter No. 3, June 2001.
  5. 1 2 Elephant Survey in India (PDF), Ministry of Forest and Environment, Government of India, 2005, retrieved 2007-02-26
  6. 1 2 "Kaziranga National Park- Animal Survey". Kaziranga National Park Authorities. Retrieved 2007-02-23.
  7. ↑ Rashid, Parbina (2005-08-28). "Here conservation is a way of life". The Tribune. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  8. 1 2 "Here conservation is a way of life". The Hindu. 2003-09-10. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  9. ↑ WWF article, Retrieved on 2007-02-26.

General references

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