Certificate - Etheses - Saurashtra University

eeding period of the bears, so there are frequent encounters of the mothers with
human beings. The resources available in the vicinity of the villages are non-timber
forest produce and agricultural crops, which perhaps attract bears to live in these areas
and thus have resulted in human-brown bear conflicts. Further due to encroachment
on the forest land and continuous habitat degradation in the course of time, the status
of the bears not only be endangered in this area, but it may also lead to more
conflicting situation. In the alpine pastures in India, brown bear causes extensive
livestock depredation, and the migratory shepherds often eliminate them in retaliation
to reduce livestock depredation.
As the brown bear is one of the least widely distributed large mammal in the Indian
sub-continent, yet very little is known about its ecology and behaviour in India. There
is no information available on its ecology and behavioural aspects, which can help
conservation and scientific management of its population. To mitigate the conflicts to
tolerable level, understanding of its ecology and behaviour of brown bear, pattern and
circumstances of livestock killing, and nature and extent of crop damage and local
protection methods is necessary. Hence the proposed study undertaken for the Ph.D.
degree aims at the ecology of brown bear with special reference to human-brown bear
conflict in Kugti wildlife sanctuary in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh.
The chapter 1 deals with the Introduction, problem statement and objectives of the
study on brown bears. The Chapter 2 and 3 deal the Review of literature and Study
area respectively.
In the Chapter 4, food habits of brown bear have been studied in Kugti wildlife
sanctuary during 2002-2004. The food habits of Himalayan brown bear were
determined by analyzing scat samples and direct observations on feeding activities
and signs. Brown bears were seen actively feeding during the day time. Based on scat
analysis, direct feeding observations and indirect signs, the dietary composition of
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