Distribution and Abundance of Wild Mammals in Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park and Human- Wildlife Interaction in sundarijal VDC

Abstract

Distributionrefers to the spatial (or local)arrangement or pattern of a species within anarea where they are found.The abundance of populations in different parts of the Parkgives an indication of the distribution of the population. This study was aimed to assesshabitat characteristics and also to determine distribution, abundance and habitatpreferences of wild mammals. The pellet groups counting along line transect was carriedout in Shivapuri mountain of Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park and questionnaire surveywas conducted in Sundarijal VDC adjacent to SNNP. Four major habitat types namelySalla forest, Mixed forest, Riverine forest and Grassland. The Salla forest was dominatedby Pinus sp.; Mixed forest was dominated by Rhododendron arboretum, Alnusnepalensis, Schima wallichii, Castanopsis indicaetc.; Riverine forest was dominated bySyzigium cumini, Prunus cerrasoides etc. and Grasssland was dominated by Ficusneriifolia, Buddleja asiaticaetc. Total density of tree species in different habitat typeswere 254.75/ha in Salla forest, 219.75/ha in Mixed forest and 190.50 in Riverine forest. Atotal of 431 pellet groups were recorded from 100 quadrates in all four habitat types (25quadrates in each). Rhesus monkey, Squirrel, Jungle cat, Ghoral, Langur, Barking deer,Rat, hare were found as main mammal species occupying the different parts of SNNP.Rhesus monkey was more abundant (1.14/quadrate) among the mammalian speciesfollowed by Squirrel, Jungle cat, Ghoral, Barking deer, Langur and Rat among therecorded mammals. Among four habitat types, Salla forest was found highly preferred(13.23%) for Rhesus monkey followed by Grassland (11.14%) for Rhesus monkey, Sallaforest (5.34%) for Squirrel, Grassland (5.10%) for Hare etc. A non-parametricSpearman’s correlation coefficient between pellet groups abundance and tree density(r =0.87) andcorrelation coefficient betweenpellet groups abundance andcanopy coverage (r= 0.86) shows that there is a high positive correlation between the pellet groupsabundance and tree density as well as canopy coverage. There were 505 reported cases of wild boar in sample areas, which is followed bymonkeys, birds, deer, rats and bear. The total visit of wildlife was 1337. The highestpercentage 32.05 of Net Area Damage of crops by Wild boar followed by deer, monkeys,rats, birds and bears 18.34, 17.11, 12.18, 10.11, and 4.42 percentages respectively. Theloss of crop from Wild boar which was the highest amount of 32432.1 kg. It was in thefirst position of ranking of crop damage. Similarly, Rat in second position whichdestroyed 14314.15 kg of crop, Monkey in third position with 13568.5 kg crop damage.