OPEN ACCESS The Journal of Threatened Taxa fs dedfcated to bufldfng evfdence for conservafon globally by publfshfng peer-revfewed arfcles onlfne every month at a reasonably rapfd rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org . All arfcles publfshed fn JoTT are regfstered under Creafve Commons Atrfbufon 4.0 Internafonal Lfcense unless otherwfse menfoned. JoTT allows unrestrfcted use of arfcles fn any medfum, reproducfon, and dfstrfbufon by provfdfng adequate credft to the authors and the source of publfcafon. Journal of Threatened Taxa Bufldfng evfdence for conservafon globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Onlfne) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Prfnt) Short Communfcatfon Small carnfvores of the montane forests of Eravfkulam Natfonal Park fn the Western Ghats, Indfa S. Nfkhfl & P.O. Nameer 26 November 2017 | Vol. 9| No. 11 | Pp. 10880–10885 10.11609/jot. 2211 .9. 11. 10880-10885 For Focus, Scope, Afms, Polfcfes and Gufdelfnes vfsft htp://threatenedtaxa.org/About_JoTT For Arfcle Submfssfon Gufdelfnes vfsft htp://threatenedtaxa.org/Submfssfon_Gufdelfnes For Polfcfes agafnst Scfenffc Mfsconduct vfsft htp://threatenedtaxa.org/JoTT_Polfcy_agafnst_Scfenffc_Mfsconduct For reprfnts contact <[email protected]> Publfsher/Host Partner Threatened Taxa Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 November 2017 | 9(11): 10880–10885 Small carnivores of the montane forests of Eravikulam National Park in the Western Ghats, India ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) 1 2 Short Communication Short S. Nikhil & P.O. Nameer ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) 1,2 Centre for Wildlife Studies, College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University, KAU Main Campus, Thrissur, OPEN ACCESS Kerala 680656, India 1 [email protected], 2 [email protected] (corresponding author) Abstract: The study of small carnivores of the montane forests of isolated, compact and sharply defined stunted evergreen Eravikulam National Park in the southern Western Ghats, India trees, locally known as sholas (Images 1 & 2) and recorded nine species of small carnivores using the camera trapping technique. These include three species of Mongoose (Herpestidae), classified as 11A/DS2 - southern wet temperate forests two species each of lesser cats (Felidae) and civets (Viverridae), one (Champion & Seth 1968). The sholas are confined to the species each of Otter and Marten (Mustelidae). They are Stripe- necked Mongoose Herpestes vitticollis, Brown Mongoose Herpestes sheltered valleys, while the mountain tops are occupied fuscus, Indian Grey Mongoose Herpestes edwardsii, Jungle Cat Felis by grasslands (Ranganathan 1938; Meher-Homji 1965; chaus, Leopard Cat Prionailurus bengalensis, Common Palm Civet Jose et al. 1994; Thomas & Palmer 2007). Of the 16 Paradoxurus hermaphrodites, Small Indian Civet Viverricula indica, Asian Small-clawed Otter Aonyx cinereus, and Nilgiri Marten Martes small carnivores of Western Ghats, all except the Honey gwatkinsii. It is interesting to note that the felines (lesser cats) are the Badger Mellivora capensis, are known to occur in Kerala more common small carnivores in the montane forests. Felis chaus was (Mudappa 2013; Nameer 2015); the small carnivore the most abundant small carnivore, which is followed by Prionailurus bengalensis and Herpestes vitticollis. Two species are Vulnerable as community shows a high degree of endemism in the per the IUCN Red List, viz., Martes gwatkinsii and Aonyx cinereus. Western Ghats. The Brown Palm Civet and the Nilgiri Marten are endemic to the Western Ghats at species Keywords: Camera trapping, endemism, Eravikulam National Park, Felidae, Herpestidae, Idukki, IUCN Red List, Kerala, Mustelidae, level while the Stripe-necked Mongoose and the Brown Viverridae. Mongoose are endemic to the Western Ghats at the sub- species level (Pocock 1941; Menon 2014). Small carnivore species diversity studies were The montane landscape (>1500m) in the Western reported from different landscapes and protected areas Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot, is situated in the hills of in southern India. For example, eight species of small Nilgiris, Anamalais, Palni, High Wavies and Agasthyamalai carnivores were reported from Kalakad-Mundanthurai Hills. The natural vegetation in these montane Tiger Reserve (Mudappa 2002), 11 species from landscapes is dominated by the grasslands, classified as Karnataka State (Kumara & Singh 2006a,b), seven 11A/C1-Southern Montane Wet Grasslands (Champion species from the southern Western Ghats (Pillay 2009), & Seth 1968). These grasslands are interspersed with nine species from the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger DOI: http://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2211.9.11.10880-10885 | ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8084A8BD-705F-4984-BC1F-8A920FA20AFC Editor: H.N. Kumara, SACON, Coimbatore, India. Date of publication: 26 November 2017 (online & print) Manuscript details: Ms # 2211 | Received 02 September 2017 | Final received 04 November 2017 | Finally accepted 09 November 2017 Citation: Nikhil, S. & P.O. Nameer (2017). Small carnivores of the montane forests of Eravikulam National Park in the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 9(11): 10880–10885; http://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2211.9.11.10880-10885 Copyright: © Nikhil & Nameer 2017. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium, reproduc- tion and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication. Funding: Kerala Agricultural University. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Acknowledgements: We thank the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (WL) & Chief Wildlife Warden, Kerala Forest Department for the permission to study the small carnivores of Eravikulam National Park (Permit No. WL-10-43470/2013). We thank the Wildlife Warden, Asst. Wildlife Warden and all other staff of the of ENP for helping with the logistics and other support. Sreehari R, prepared the map used in this paper. Sreekumar ER, Ajay KG assisted us with the field work. Our thanks are due to the Dean, College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University for encouragement and support. We thank the anonymous reviewers and the subject editor for their critical comments. 10880 Small carnfvores of Eravfkulam Nafonal Park Nfkhfl & Nameer © S. Nfkhfl © S. Nfkhfl Images 1 & 2. The montane grassland-shola habftat at Eravfkulam Reserve, Karnataka (Kumara et al. 2014), and 11 specfes the southern Western Ghats. The average elevafon of from Parambfkulam Tfger Reserve (Sreeharf & Nameer ENP fs 2,000m, wfth the alftude rangfng from 1800– 2016). 2685 m, consftufng an excellent example of a montane A study was conducted between 2014 and 2015 landscape. Anamudf (2695m), the hfghest peak fn on the small carnfvores of the montane landscape penfnsular Indfa, fs located fn ENP, whfch fs surrounded of Eravfkulam Nafonal Park fn the southern Western by Chfnnar Wfldlffe Sanctuary and Marayur Sandal Forest Ghats. We report the fndfngs on the occurrence and Dfvfsfon fn the north-east, Anamudf Nafonal Park to the abundance of small carnfvores fn thfs paper, whfch fs east, Mankulam Forest Dfvfsfon to the west, and Munnar expected to serve as baselfne fnformafon on these Forest Dfvfsfon to the south. lesser-known taxa from a hftherto unexplored habftat. The mean maxfmum temperature fs 24 0C and the mean mfnfmum temperature fs 10.5 0C. January fs Study area and Methods the coolest month wfth the maxfmum and mfnfmum Eravfkulam Nafonal Park (ENP) extends to 97km 2 and temperatures varyfng between 15.3 to -3 0C (Rfce 1984). lfes wfthfn the laftudes 10 005’–10 020’N and longftudes The mean annual rafnfall fs 5,238mm, wfth fts peak 77 0E–77 010’E fn Idukkf Dfstrfct of Kerala State (Ffg. 1), durfng June to August. The hflls also experfence fog Ffgure 1. Locafon Map of montane landscape of Eravfkulam Nafonal Park Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 November 2017 | 9(11): 10880–10885 10881 Small carnfvores of Eravfkulam Nafonal Park Nfkhfl & Nameer Ffgure 2. Camera trap locafons fn the montane landscape of Eravfkulam Nafonal Park and heavy wfnd. The major vegetafon of the montane The shola forest fs domfnated by tree specfes such as landscape fs grassland-shola ecosystem. Around 60% of Pfthecellobfum subcorfaceum, Euonymus angulatus, the area fs covered by grasslands, about 25% by shola Syzfgfum arnofanum, Ternstroemfa japonfca, Vaccfnfum forests, about 8% by southern sub-tropfcal hfll forest, leschenaulff, Maesa fndfca, Garcfnfa cambogfa , and Ixora and 7% by shrubs (Menon 2001). Jose et al. (1994) notonfana . The grasslands are domfnated by the specfes who studfed the lorfsfc composffon of the montane such as Andropogon lfvfdus, Arundfnella vagfnata, forests of ENP reported a tree densfty of 1884 ha -1 . Dfgftarfa wallfchfana and Arundfnella mesophylla (Jose 10882 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 November 2017 | 9(11): 10880–10885 Small carnfvores of Eravfkulam Nafonal Park Nfkhfl & Nameer et al. 1994). Table 1. Small carnfvores recorded from the montane forests of Eravfkulam Nafonal Park along wfth thefr camera trap success rate (CTSR) Methods Famfly / Camera Dfrect CTSR Scfenffc name a. Camera traps Common name trap sfghfng (%) Dfgftal scout cameras havfng passfve fnfra red sensors Vfverrfdae for heat and mofon detecfon (Cuddeback Atack model 1. Small Indfan Vfverrfcula 1 0 0.11 1149) were used for the survey. We lafd 180 trappfng Cfvet fndfca 2. Common Palm Paradoxurus 1 0 0.11 stafons at 12 blocks fn the montane forests of ENP (Ffg. Cfvet (Image 3) hermaphrodftus 2) from September 2014 to March 2015, wfth 15 camera Herpesfdae traps per block and kept open for fve consecufve days, 3. Indfan Grey Herpestes 0 1 0.00 that amounts to an efort of 900 camera-trap days wfth Mongoose edwardsff 4. Strfpe-necked Herpestes 4 2 0.46 21,600 trappfng hours. These trappfng stafons were Mongoose (Image 4) vffcollfs selected based on the presence of the fndfrect evfdence 5. Brown Herpestes 0 0 NA* of the small carnfvores. The camera traps were set Mongoose fuscus at a hefght of 30-40 cm above the ground and 150m Mustelfdae 6. Asfan Small- apart from each other (Mudappa et al. 2007). The Aonyx cfnereus 2 0 0.23 clawed Oter (Image 5) cameras were set up fn default mode wfth a fme-delay 7.