K. Muthamizh Selvan

• Pondicherry University

The Peninsular Indian population of the endangered Asian elephant occurs in the Western and Eastern Ghats, and further north-east in the Eastern Central Indian (ECI) range. Using DNA obtained from fresh elephant dung, this study assessed the genetic variation, population structure, and gene flow in the two southern populations, SI1 and SI2, separat...

In the human‐dominated epoch of the Anthropocene, nations worldwide are trying to adopt a variety of strategies for biodiversity conservation, including flagship‐based approaches. The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) plays a pivotal role as a flagship species in India's biodiversity conservation efforts, particularly within its tropical forest ecos...

Book elucidates different approaches and options available to manage human-elephant conflicts in the Indian context. The provides a general overview of different conflict situations and range of approaches that are available for the frontline officials to consider during such situations.

Asian elephants are endangered while they have faced ~70% population decline in India in the last 60 years. Climate change projections indicate exacerbation of ongoing habitat loss (>40%) by 2070, potentially impacting genetic structure of wild elephants across India. Therefore, we provide consolidated baseline data on genetic diversity and structu...

Aim Climate change alters the water cycle, potentially affecting the distribution of species. Using an ensemble of species distribution models (SDMs), we predicted changes in distribution of the Asian elephant in South Asia due to increasing climatic variability under warming climate and human pressures. Location India and Nepal. Methods We compi...

During a questionnaire study conducted between November 2010 and April 2012 in three districts (East Kameng, Papumpare, and Lower Subansiri) of Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India, to assess wildlife-human conflict levels, a skinned specimen of an endangered Chinese pangolin (Manis penta-dactyla) was found. This small mammal is rarely encountered in...

A questionnaire survey in 48 villages covering over 10,000 km2 in Arunachal Pradesh, India, was conducted to quantify the livestock depredation and resultant killing of dholes in retaliation. Depredation was reported to be caused highest by dhole (Cuon alpinus) in comparison to tiger (Panthera tigris) and leopard (Panthera pardus). Respondents clai...

Low density occurrence of large carnivore species and direct hunting of predators and prey make carnivore conservation complex. Vital baseline information on population status of large carnivores is still deficient in most forests of eastern Himalaya, which are known to be the biodiversity hotspots. To fill this information gap, we estimated the la...

Large ungulate population monitoring is a crucial wildlife management tool as ungulates help in structuring and maintaining the large carnivore populations. Reliable data on population status of major ungulate prey species are still non-existent for most of the protected areas in the Indian part of the eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot. Twenty...

In this study, we estimated leopard cat abundance and density using photographic capture-recapture methods. The leopard cat, Prionailurus bengalensis, is a common spread small cat in Asia, which is mainly nocturnal and solitary in nature. It occurs in across a range of habitat types. The study was conducted in Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR) 26 degrees 5...

Low density occurrence of large carnivore species and direct hunting of predators and prey by the indigenous communities make carnivore conservation complex. Vital baseline information on population status of large carnivores are still deficient in most forests of eastern Himalaya, which are known to be the biodiversity hotspots. To fill this infor...

The population of the Asiatic wild dog or dhole (Cuon alpinus) in the wild has been estimated to be less than 2500 mature individuals. This has led to the IUCN assessing the Asiatic wild dog as Endangered. The killing of Asiatic wild dogs in retaliation for livestock depredation is one of the major threat for the species across its geographic range...

Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot is rich in pheasant diversity, as eleven of the seventeen pheasant species in India occur here. Despite the richness, these pheasants have been least studied in their natural habitats and their current population status, ecology and behavioural patterns are unknown. We estimated abundance, habitat use and acti...

a b s t r a c t Prey selection and the feeding habits of tiger Panthera tigris, leopard Panthera pardus and Asiatic wild dog Cuon alpinus were investigated from June 2009 to December 2011 in Pakke Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh. A total of 422 scats were analyzed of which, 109 scats were of tigers, 150 were of leopard and 163 scats were of dholes...

Harvesting wild animals through hunting has become a major conservation issue, especially for large-bodied animals. We surveyed the Ziro valley in Arunachal Pradesh in order to assess the socio-economic status and dependence of indigenous people on wildlife species. We used structured questionnaire for the survey and houses were selected randomly....

There have been no confirmed records in neighbouring Bangladesh (Hearn et al. 2012). In India, this species is restricted to eastern Himalayan foothills especially Arunachal Pradesh (Duckworth et al. 2005; Mishra et al. 2006; Choudhury 2010) and Assam (Prater 1971). Considering the low population densities and continuing loss of forested habitats,...

Current Status, ecology and biology of the dhole or Asiatic wild Dog is reviewed and summarized providing information on morphology, taxonomy, evolution, abundance, distribution, social behavior, foraging and hunting behavior, reproductive ecology, conservation and management status and other characteristics peculiar to the former is considered. Th...

The marbled cat is the least studied small cat in Southeast Asia and is also perhaps the most enigmatic. We present the first photographic evidence of a marbled cat Pardofelis marmorata in the semi-tropical evergreen forests of Pakke Tiger Reserve in the Assam Valley in Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India. We also present evidence of hunting which i...