biodiversity assessment in some selected hill forests of south orissa

SCIENTIFIC NAME
Panthera pardus
Melursus ursinus
Canis lupus pallipes
Hyaena hyaena
Canis aureus
Sus scrofa
REMARK
According to the secondary information collected, Leopards found in the Mali Parvet
and is uncommon. They are rarely sighted by the live stock herders and they are
occasionally sighted near the villages.
Sloth bears, popularly known as Bhalu, are common in the Mali parvat and the
adjacent hill ranges. They take shelter in numerous caves and bush thickets. Sloth
bears are very often encountered by the villagers and they avoid disturbing them
inside forest. They are active just before dusk for foraging whole night and retire by
dawn and sometimes raid in the crop field for Maize, Jack fruit etc.
Wolves, locally known as Kug are relatively common in the area. They are common
in bare and open region. They hunt by day and night and near human habitation they
are believed to be cattle and goat lifters. The wolves are sometimes sighted in the
forest as per the secondary information sources.
Hyaena or Gadha bagh are rarely encountered in the area.
Jackals or locally known as the Maluas are frequently sighted at the foot hills during
dusk. We had direct sighting of more than 5 individuals during one night in that area.
The Jackals are smaller than wolf and perhaps one of the most adaptable canid.
They are mostly found in lowlands, inside holes near agricultural field, among dense
grasses and scrub thicket. They are occasionally seen in groups except during
breeding period.
The wild boar herds are also uncommon in Mali parvat, which are always hearted by
the farmers for their crop raiding activities in the agricultural fields situated near the
forest land. They are often victimized by the poachers for meat and use of their jaw
bone in traditional healing of tonsillitis.
The encounter rate of herpetofaunal diversity of the area was quite high in the sense that we encountered 11
species of snakes and 7 species of lizards and 7 species of frogs during two days field survey. Observation
of some of the herpetofauna, altitudinal variation in species distribution and their habitat specification is
provided in the following table. The checklist of herpetofauna is provided in Appendix_.
NIYAMGIRI (19º 26’ to 19º 43’ N and 83º 18’ to 83 º 28’ E):
The Niyamgiri hill ranges come across the migratory path of elephants and in 2004 the State Wildlife
Department brought a proposal for declaration of certain parts as elephant reserve, which comes under
Phulbani- Gajapati and Kalahandi Elephant reserve. The area has been recommended for creation of
Niyamgiri wildlife sanctuary in the revised working plan for the reserve forest and proposed R.F. of Kalahandi
Forest Division for the period of 1997-1998 to 2006-2007 comprising an area of 9129.19 hectors. The area
was declared as Nature conservation / game sanctuary by the Raja of Kalahandi in pre independence era,
which shows the rich biodiversity. The contiguous forest across Devagiri of Rayagada district, Niyamgiri and
Karlapat Wildlife Sanctuary of Kalahandi district makes it an important migratory path for elephants, tigers
and other mega herbivores.