Gliding behaviour of Indian giant flying squirrel (Petaurista philippensis)

The Indian giant flying squirrel or large brown flying squirrel, Petaurista philippensis (Elliot, 1839) is one of 13 gliding squirrel species found in India. Nocturnal by nature, they have ability to glide up to 150 m. We studied its gliding habit in the human-modified landscape of the Kevdi ecotourism site (22.5198ºN, 73.9356ºE; Fig. 1), Panchmahal District, between two protected areas in Gujarat: Ratanmahal Sloth Bear Sanctuary and Jambughoda Wildlife Sanctuary. The Kevdi ecotourism site is a known locality of this species. Here, we present basic information on the gliding ecology of the species in the dry deciduous forests of central Gujarat.

Fine-scale ecological and anthropogenic variables predict the habitat use and detectability of sloth bears in the Churia habitat of east Nepal

Once widespread throughout the tropical forests of the Indian Subcontinent, the sloth bears have suffered a rapid range collapse and local extirpations in the recent decades. A significant portion of their current distribution range is situated outside of the protected areas (PAs). These unprotected sloth bear populations are under tremendous human pressures, but little is known about the patterns and determinants of their occurrence in most of these regions. The situation is more prevalent in Nepal where virtually no systematic information is available for sloth bears living outside of the PAs. We undertook a sign survey-based single-season occupancy study intending to overcome this information gap for the sloth bear populations residing in the Trijuga forest of southeast Nepal. Sloth bear sign detection/non-detection data and field-based covariates data were collected at the 74 randomly chosen 4-km2 grid cells using a varying number of 400m long transects in each grid cell. From our results, the model-averaged estimate of site use probability (ψ ± SE) was estimated to be 0.432 ± 0.039, which is a 13% increase from the naïve estimate (0.297) not accounting for imperfect detections of sloth bear signs. The presence of termite mounds and the distance to the nearest water source were the most important variables affecting the habitat use probability of sloth bears. The average site-level detectability (p ± SE) of sloth bear signs was estimated to be 0.195 ± 0.003 and was significantly determined by the index of human disturbances. We recommend considering the importance of fine-scale ecological and anthropogenic factors in predicting the sloth bear-habitat relationships across their range in the Churia habitat of Nepal.

Habitat occupancy of sloth bear Melursus ursinus in Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Mammals around the world face serious threats and experience massive decline in their populations and geographic ranges. The sloth bear has become extinct from two of five range countries and the existing population face serious conservation threats. Despite being endangered in Nepal, decades of conservation obliviousness have hindered their conservation and management. We assessed the distribution and habitat use by sloth bears in relation to landscape, environmental, and anthropogenic factors in Chitwan National Park, Nepal. We conducted a sign survey from March-June 2020 in 4*4 km2 grids (n=45) in a checkerboard approach. An observation was spatially replicated four times by recording information in four continuous search trails of 1 km each. We recorded presence/absence of sloth bears, termites, fruits and disturbance in the field and extracted information on tree cover, terrain ruggedness and vegetation index from remotely sensed image of the study area. The data was analyzed using single species-single season occupancy method in PRESENCE software. By using repeated observations these models account for imperfect detectability of species to provide robust estimates of species occupancy. Averaged habitat occupancy estimate obtained from the best models was Ѱ = 0.53 ± 0.04SE with detection probability p = 0.44 ± 0.1SE. Selection of variable based on summed AIC weight from the top models (AIC<2) showed that presence of termites (ƩWi=0.66) significantly influenced sloth bear habitat occupancy. Habitat occupancy was positively influenced by termites followed by fruits, disturbance, terrain ruggedness and vegetation productivity, whereas, it was negatively influenced by tree cover. We suggest that future conservation interventions and action plans aimed at sloth bear management must adequately consider these requirements and issues.

Using machine learning to predict habitat suitability of sloth bears at multiple spatial scales

Background Habitat resources occur across the range of spatial scales in the environment. The environmental resources are characterized by upper and lower limits, which define organisms’ distribution in their communities. Animals respond to these resources at the optimal spatial scale. Therefore, multi-scale assessments are critical to identifying the correct spatial scale at which habitat resources are most influential in determining the species-habitat relationships. This study used a machine learning algorithm random forest (RF), to evaluate the scale-dependent habitat selection of sloth bears (Melursus ursinus) in and around Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India. Results We used 155 spatially rarified occurrences out of 248 occurrence records of sloth bears obtained from camera trap captures (n = 36) and scats located (n = 212) in the field. We calculated focal statistics for 13 habitat variables across ten spatial scales surrounding each presence-absence record of sloth bears. Large (> 5000 m) and small (1000–2000 m) spatial scales were the most dominant scales at which sloth bears perceived the habitat features. Among the habitat covariates, farmlands and degraded forests were the essential patches associated with sloth bear occurrences, followed by sal and dry deciduous forests. The final habitat suitability model was highly accurate and had a very low out-of-bag (OOB) error rate. The high accuracy rate was also obtained using alternate validation matrices. Conclusions Human-dominated landscapes are characterized by expanding human populations, changing land-use patterns, and increasing habitat fragmentation. Farmland and degraded habitats constitute ~ 40% of the landform in the buffer zone of the reserve. One of the management implications may be identifying the highly suitable bear habitats in human-modified landscapes and integrating them with the existing conservation landscapes.

Conservation status, feeding guilds, and diversity of birds in Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary, Karnataka, India

The present study was carried out to investigate the importance of habitat quality for the diversity, distribution, and abundance of avifauna in Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary, Ballari District from February 2015 to January 2016. A total number of 189 species of birds, belonging to 62 families and 18 orders were recorded during the survey. A family-wise analysis showed that the families Accipitridae (12 species), followed by Muscicapidae (11 species), Ardeidae & Alaudidae (8 species each), and Cuculidae (7 species) dominated the avifauna of the region. The residential status of birds revealed that 74% (140 species) were resident, 23% (44 species) were winter, 2% (3 species) were summer and 1% (2 species) was passage migrant’s species. The study resulted in the recording of fives globally Near Threatened category, viz, Painted Stork, Black-headed Ibis, Oriental Darter, River Tern, and Pallid Harrier; and two Vulnerable species, viz, Yellow-throated Bulbul and Woolly-necked Stork. The feeding guild analysis revealed that the insectivorous guild has the most number of recorded avian species (33%, 63 species), followed by carnivorous (31%, 58 species) and least by nectarivorous (1%, 2 species). This study provides baseline data for monitoring the avifauna in the sanctuary and demonstrates the importance of the area in bird conservation. The study also highlights the negative impact of anthropogenic activities as the main cause for the loss of diversity of both birds and their habitat and the urgent need to conserve this biodiversity-rich area with long-term monitoring programs.

Severe Conservation Risks of Roads on Apex Predators

The global expansion of road networks threatens apex predator conservation and ecosystem functioning. This occurs through wildlife-vehicle collisions, habitat loss and fragmentation, reduced genetic connectivity and increased poaching. We reviewed road impacts on 36 apex predator species and created a new index to assess their current vulnerability to roads. Our findings reveal all apex predators are currently exposed to road impacts. Five of the nine most vulnerable species occur in Asia, the sloth bear being the most severely affected. Critically endangered species such as the Iberian lynx and red wolf are severely affected by roads. Using a widely applicable novel index we assessed the potential impact of future roads on apex predators in three areas: the Brazilian Amazon, Africa, and Nepal. Proposed roads will have an impact on forest predators over the whole Brazilian Amazon. In Africa and Nepal, roads will fragment the distribution ranges of nine and seven apex predators, respectively. Roughly 500 protected areas will be intersected by roads, threatening core apex predator habitat. Therefore, we advocate the need for rigorous road development planning to apply effective mitigation measures as an urgent priority, and to avoid construction in wilderness areas and predator strongholds.

Relocation of a GPS collared conflict Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus (Mammalia: Carnivora) in Karnataka, India

The relocation of conflict bears has been a tool used widely across the United States and Canada with mixed results. It has also been used in India with Sloth Bears, though without follow-up it remains unknown how successful these relocation efforts have been. We documented the capture and relocation of a conflict female Sloth Bear from a rural area near Bangalore, Karnataka, India to Bannerghatta National Park roughly 30km away. This female bear, approximately six years old, was fitted with a VHF/GPS store-on-board collar, and her movements tracked. She did not attempt to return to her capture location but during the first two-month period after being released she did roam over an area roughly six times that of typical female Sloth Bear home range. Over the subsequent months the area over which she roamed continued to decline. She was least active mid-day and more active in the evening, night, and early morning. During her last few weeks in January, before she was killed by an explosive device just outside of the park, her movement pattern shrank considerably. The post-mortem examination showed that she had been pregnant when killed and would have given birth within the next two weeks. These reduced movements were consistent with those of periparturient female bears or potentially with a bear becoming more acclimated to her new surroundings. The relocation effort appeared successful up until the Sloth Bear was killed by poacher activity.

Vulnerable sloth bears are attracted to human food waste: a novel situation in Mount Abu town, India

Human–carnivore interactions are on the rise globally, and often take the form of damage to property and livelihoods, human injuries or fatalities, and retaliatory killing of carnivores. Potential conflict situations are rarely recognized early, and circumstances are often complicated by mismatches between people's perceptions and reality. Following media reports of sloth bear Melursus ursinus attacks on people, we evaluated the situation in a tourism-dominated town in southern Rajasthan, India. Using a spatially explicit survey design, we interviewed 241 residents of Mount Abu to record recent bear sightings and attacks, prevailing attitudes towards bears, and respondents’ understanding of bear ecology. We obtained independent secondary information on tourism levels and bear attacks to verify information received during interviews. We used recursive partitioning to identify factors that explained residents’ attitudes towards sloth bears, and multi-model inference to identify land cover and other features that influenced bear presence. Respondents perceived increasing bear presence and attacks, and secondary data supported these perceptions. Respondents’ insights regarding bear ecology, particularly bears being attracted by rubbish bins, were supported by multi-model inferences. Mount Abu's residents, especially women and younger men, had negative attitudes towards bears, independent of their education level or occupation. Our findings suggest a novel situation in Mount Abu, with sloth bears habitually accessing rubbish bins, which leads to increased bear–human interactions and negative attitudes among residents. We recommend immediate action focusing on waste management, which could help prevent an escalation of the situation and reduce attacks by bears that could otherwise lead to retaliatory killings.