in Sri Lanka - Ministry of Environment

The crocodile populations are under increased threat and have even attracted the attentionof the international scientific community. Once again, habitat loss and habitat fragmentationresulting due to ever expanding human population and rapid development projects that bringsthese animals into conflict with humans is considered as the main threat to the two crocodilepopulations in Sri Lanka. Capture and relocation, the main management tool used at presentto mitigate such conflicts, cannot be considered as an effective conservation measure as theremaining natural habitats cannot absorb more animals as they are already near their carryingcapacity. Therefore the next best option would be to devise an alternate location for them suchas a ‘crocodile sanctuary’ so that their destiny will not have to end at the hands of humans.ConservationLess than 33% of the Sri Lankan reptiles are listed in the global list of threatened species. Outof the species of reptiles that are globally assessed, most are listed under the Data Deficient(DD) category. The main reason for this low representation in the global threatened list is thelack of data on many species of reptiles endemic to Sri Lanka, especially species belonging toTyphlopidae, Uropeltidae, and Hydrophidae snake families. Most of the species belonging tofamily Uropeltidae except species with single records have been assessed in the current list.Since systematic studies for the families Typhlopidae, and Hydrophidae have only commencedrecently, species of these families were placed under the DD category for the time being untilmore information becomes available. No specific conservation programmes have been carriedout for reptiles of Sri Lanka except for sea turtles. There is a need to formulate species recoveryplans for at least identified critically endangered and endangered species and their habitats(Erdelen 2012). Further there are habitats that support unique reptile species assemblagessuch as Aruwakkalu which is the type locality of four burrowing reptiles species Rhinophisdorsimaculatus (Orange shield tail), Rhinophis porrectus (Willey’s earth snake), and Nessiahickanala (Sharkhead snakeskink) which is being mined extensively by the Cement industry.Such habitats have to be identified and preserved to ensure long term conservation of thereptile fauna of Sri Lanka.Research NeedsAbsence or lack of accurate data on many species of Sri Lankan reptiles is the major impedimentin correctly assessing their current conservation status as well as preparing species specificconservation action plans for the threatened reptile species. Most of the studies done to datehave focussed mainly on the distribution of reptiles with little attention being paid to studythe ecology and biology of at least the threatened and endemic reptile species. Therefore, aresearch agenda needs to be prepared for the reptiles identifying the priority areas that needto be focussed in order to facilitate research that will address the present information gaps inreptile fauna of Sri Lanka. Further, there is practically no information available on the reptilefauna of Northern and North-eastern parts of the island due to three decades of civil warthat existed in the region. It should be noted that some species of Typhlops that have beendescribed from this region has not been recorded after their initial descriptions (Taylor, 1947;Smith, 1943). Also reptile fauna found in the isolated mountains in the dry zone needs to beinvestigated further as studies done to date have shown that the natural forests associatedwith such isolated hills may be the last refugees for the herpetofauna inhabiting the dry zone(Wickramasinghe & Munindradasa 2007; Gower & Maduwage 2011). A systematic study of thedistribution of reptile fauna in Sri Lanka is also a major research need as 22 reptile species101