The forest in the Dooars' foothills has given wildlife enthusiasts another reason to rejoice with the recent sighting of a marbled cat, which has not been spotted in the tiger reserve in almost two decades.
A camera-trap exercise, undertaken jointly by the state forest department and city-based NGO Nature Environment and Wildlife Society (NEWS) to assess the presence and distribution of lesser cats in the tiger reserve, has detected the presence of this rare cat in the forest.
"One of the camera-trap stations placed in the foothills of Sankosh beat has captured the image of the elusive cat. The cloud-like pattern of the spots on its body helped us come to the conclusion that it is a marbled cat. The spots on its forehead and crown merge into narrow longitudinal stripes on the neck, and irregular stripes on the back. The back and flanks are marked with dark, irregular dark-edged blotches, like that of clouded leopards," said Biswajit Roy Chowdhury of NEWS.
Additional principal chief conservator of forest Pradeep Vyas said this was an extremely rare species to sight because of its nocturnal nature. Former deputy field director of the tiger reserve, Subhankar Sengupta, said that this was the first photographic evidence of the presence of this lesser cat in Buxa in recent years. "These are nocturnal and arboreal animals. Hence, it is very difficult to sight them," he added.
According to Roy Chowdhury, the manager of Kumargram Tea Estate had claimed to have photographed a marbled cat in this forest several years ago. The marbled cat is similar in size to a domestic cat, with a more thickly furred tail, which may be longer than its body.
The marbled cat ('Pardofelis marmorata') is a small wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. The International Union for Conservation of Nature listed it as vulnerable in 2002. The total effective population of the species is suspected to be fewer than 10,000 mature individuals, with no single population numbering more than 1,000.
Poaching is prevalent throughout much of its range. Its skin, meat, and bones are in demand. During a survey in the Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh, a marbled cat was encountered that had been killed by a local hunter for a festival celebrated by the indigenous Apatani community in March and April every year.
Roy Chowdhury said that apart from the marbled cat, elusive species such as crab-eating mongoose, hog badger and yellow-throated marten were also sighted in some of the camera-trap stations.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/followceleb.cms?alias=Subhankar Sengupta,NGO Nature Environment and Wildlife Society,marbled cat,manager of Kumargram Tea Estate,International Union for Conservation of Nature
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