2008-'09 - Kerala Forest Research Institute

Annual Report 2008-09
Respondents from only Elayur, Nilambur were aware of the Malabar civet. The
habitat of the civet at Elayur was getting lost at a fast pace. Cashew plantations
gave way to rubber plantations and the field surveys revealed that the Malabar
civet was not recently sighted there. The present study could not locate any Malabar
civet in captivity also, among the captive small Indian civets. As the captive breeding
of the small Indian civet was being done with great secrecy, the information on
captive civets is scarce. As most of the potential habitats are with private individuals,
there is tremendous pressure to change the landuse pattern, which might have
adversely affected the survival of the species. The animal being nocturnal in habit,
there is still hope of at least a few surviving individuals in some isolated patches at
certain remote corners. Creating awareness on the rarity of the species may help in
the conservation of the species in future.
Quantitative inventory of non-wood forest products in Northern Kerala. KFRI
Research Report No. 306 (Sasidharan, N., Sivaram, M. and Muraleedharan, P.K., 2008)
A list of 137 NWFPs collected for commercial purpose from the forest was prepared
and a quantitative inventory of the NWFPs was carried out in 15 Forest Divisions (11
Territorial and four Wildlife Divisions) of the seven northern districts of Kerala covering
an area of 4,220 km 2 . The NWFPs inventoried consisted of different life forms like
herbs, shrubs, climbers and trees yielding useful products such as bark, flowers,
fruits, seeds, leaves and roots. Most of the NWFP plants had clumped distribution,
seasonal availability, rarity and they occurred in varied terrain conditions. A pilot
study was conducted to determine the sample size and the number of plots to be
Medicinal roots stored for supply
Fruits of Phyllanthus emblica
10
Kerala Forest Research Institute