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Ongoing Project
1. Inventory of Herpetofauna of Northeast India: Inventory of the
herpetofauna is continuing in the region for last several years now.
However, intensive survey has been restricted to small pockets due to fund
crisis.
Preliminary inventory of biodiversity of Khonoma Nature Conservation and
Tragopan Sanctuary (KNCTS) is being carried out with support from Aaranyak.
The study will be recording the diversity of amphibians and reptiles as
well as mammals, birds and other biodiversity. KNCTS is a Community
Conserved forest near Kohima in south Nagaland. During a recent trip we
recorded a snake Rhabdophis nuchalis, which is a new record for India. The
area promises a lot and we expect to record a number of species not known
from India and perhaps not known to science even.
This project seeks financial support and technical collaboration from
suitable donors and institutions.
2. Description of New Species: More than six new species have been recorded
in seven years since the program began. Till now only Kalophrynus
orangensis <Link to photograph> and Kaloula assamensis <Link to
photograph> have been described scientifically. Description of another
is being reviewed and the rest are pending due to technical problems in
comparing the related species.
Lack of museum specimens in the country has led to delay in description of
those species. Limit of funds in this field deters taxonomists to visit
different museums enabling scientific description of a new species.
3. Herpetofauna of Sacred Groves: Cherrapunjee <www,cherrapunjee.com>,
the wettest place on the earth has very little forest left. These are
traditionally conserved and protected as "Sacred Grove" according
to Khasi religious beliefs. These sacred groves are small but evergreen in
nature and diversity of herpetofauna in these places is surprisingly high.
Occasional inventory is being carried out in the sacred groove since 2000.
It is also observe that social and religious development in the Khasi
community has led to deterioration of many of the last remaining patches of
forest, as most of the Khasi now practice Christianity leaving behind their
traditional culture.
A Scientific publication on the diversity of the herpetofauna of the sacred
groove is under preparation.
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