Sujan Khanal

• Institute of Forestry

Endemic to the grassland of the Indian sub-continent, the hispid hare (Caprolagus hispidus) confronts various conservation challenges. Though it is enlisted as an Endangered species on the IUCN Red List, there has been limited study of this species. Being a tall grassland dweller with a small in size and elusive nature, it is rarely observed in the...

Human-wildlife conflict studies of high-altitude areas are rare due to budget constraints and the challenging nature of research in these remote environments. This study investigates the prevalence and increasing trend of human-wildlife conflict (HWC) in the mountainous Gaurishankar Conservation Area (GCA) of Nepal, with a specific focus on leopard...

The Chital or spotted deer (Axis axis), classified as a species of least concern, is found in various habitats, notably in moist and dry deciduous forest areas, short grasslands in the terai, swampy meadows, mixed forests, or plantation regions. Similarly, Barasingha or swamp deer (Rucervus duvaucelii) are large herbivores dwelling in grasslands, p...

The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is a Critically Endangered species found in Nepal and India. In Nepal, gharials are distributed in Chitwan and Bardia National Parks. Gharials are highly threatened due to various and severe anthropogenic activities. In this study, we assess the attitude, perception and willingness of a range of stakeholders living...

The Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) has experienced a rapid population decline throughout its distribution. In Nepal, it mostly occurs outside protected areas; therefore, habitat degradation due to anthropogenic activities is one of the major threats to its survival. However, the scarcity of information on the ecology and distribution of pang...

Chital or spotted deer (Axis axis) is one of the important cervids in Chitwan National Park of Nepal. They are easily observed roaming around. However, albino chital is barely found in the park. This study presents the first photographic report of albino chital in buffer zone community forest of the park. Albinism is associated with melanin and rar...

Asian woollyneck (Ciconia episcopus) is a large wading bird species whose conservation status has been recently down-listed, despite a lack of concrete information on its nesting ecology and breeding success. In this study, we report its breeding success and nest habitat suitability in Nepal from 39 nesting sites (2016-2020). Simal (Bombax ceiba) (...

Chitwan National Park (CNP) is heaven for winter birds migrating from North. Annually, various migrating bird species visit CNP for breeding, foraging and to escape the harsh winter in the north. In this context, we studied the pattern of common crane (Grus grus), a winter visitor to CNP, for 12 years where we found its fluctuating visit, more indi...

Burmese Ferret-Badger is observed for the first time in Gaurishankar Conservation Area of Nepal. Local community informed the conservation area authority when they found the species near to the human settlement. This species is generally distributed in the tropical and subtropical region and is not studied comprehensively. The identification was co...

The high mountains stretch over 20.4% of Nepal’s land surface with diverse climatic conditions and associated vegetation types. An understanding of tree species and forest structural pattern variations across different climatic regions is crucial for mountain ecology. This study strived to carry out a comparative evaluation of species diversity, ma...

Invasive Alien Plant Species (IAPS) are major threat to the earth's plant biodiversity. With the rapid expansion of IAPS in Nepal, the techniques of using IAPS in form of charcoal have derived profound benefit to the forest condition. This study aims to analyse the effect of removal of IAPS on forest management in terms of plant diversity at regene...

p>The striped hyena is one of the least studied large carnivores in Nepal. We evaluated status of Striped hyena ( Hyaena hyaena Linnaeus, 1758) and their conservation approaches in Rautahat and Sarlahi forests, Nepal. The overall objective of this study was to explore the baseline information on striped hyena and to recommend the future conservatio...