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Journal of Threatened Taxa Building evidence for conservaton globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Communication Current population status of the endangered Hog Deer Axis porcinus (Mammalia: Cetartiodactyla: Cervidae) in the Terai grasslands: a study following political unrest in Manas National Park, India Alolika Sinha, Bibhut Prasad Lahkar & Syed Ainul Hussain 26 October 2019 | Vol. 11 | No. 13 | Pages: 14655–14662 DOI: 10.11609/jot.5037.11.13.14655-14662 For Focus, Scope, Aims, Policies, and Guidelines visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-0 For Artcle Submission Guidelines, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions For Policies against Scientfc Misconduct, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-2 For reprints, contact <[email protected]> The opinions expressed by the authors do not refect the views of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, Wildlife Informaton Liaison Development Society, Zoo Outreach Organizaton, or any of the partners. The journal, the publisher, the host, and the part- Publisher & Host ners are not responsible for the accuracy of the politcal boundaries shown in the maps by the authors. Partner Member Threatened Taxa Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2019 | 11(13): 14655–14662 Current population status of the endangered Hog Deer Axis porcinus (Mammalia: Cetartiodactyla: Cervidae) Communication in the Terai grasslands: a study following political unrest ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) in Manas National Park, India ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) PLATINUM 1 2 3 Alolika Sinha , Bibhut Prasad Lahkar & Syed Ainul Hussain OPEN ACCESS 1,2 Aaranyak, 13, Tayab Ali Byelane, Bishnu Rabha Path, Guwahat, Assam 781028, India. 1,3 Wildlife Insttute of India, Post Box 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun, Utarakhand 248001, India. 1 [email protected] (corresponding author), 2 [email protected], 3 [email protected] Abstract: The Endangered Hog Deer Axis porcinus has experienced drastc populaton declines throughout its geographical range. There is limited knowledge of its current populaton status, partcularly from northeastern India. In this study the populaton density of Hog Deer was assessed in Manas Natonal Park, which was a deer stronghold prior to the armed confict that lasted for almost two decades, resultng in depressed deer populatons. With the cessaton of confict, eforts were invested by both government and conservaton organisatons for the recovery and conservaton of charismatc fauna in the park. Studies on Hog Deer populatons, however, were lacking and thus reliable informaton on current status is unavailable. Current populaton status and threats faced by Hog Deer were assessed to aid informed conservaton decisions. Distance sampling techniques (line transects) were applied in the grassland habitat during the dry season of two consecutve years. The estmated Hog Deer density was 18.22±3.32 km-2. The potental threats to Hog Deer identfed in Manas include habitat loss, habitat degradaton due to spread of invasive plant species, illegal huntng, and other anthropogenic disturbances. Our study suggests that the Hog Deer populaton, though reviving, needs immediate conservaton atenton. Keywords: Armed confict, geographical range, invasive species, populaton density. DOI: htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.5037.11.13.14655-14662 Editor: David Mallon, Manchester Metropolitan University, Derbyshire, UK. Date of publicaton: 26 October 2019 (online & print) Manuscript details: #5037 | Received 01 May 2019 | Final received 01 October 2019 | Finally accepted 05 October 2019 Citaton: Sinha, A., B.P. Lahkar & S.A. Hussain (2019). Current populaton status of the endangered Hog Deer Axis porcinus (Mammalia: Cetartodactyla: Cervidae) in the Terai grasslands: a study following politcal unrest in Manas Natonal Park, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 11(13): 14655–14662. htps://doi.org/10.11609/ jot.5037.11.13.14655-14662 Copyright: © Sinha et al. 2019. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of this artcle in any medium by adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton. Funding: Ocean Park Conservaton Fund Hong Kong (OPCFHK), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Auckland Zoo Conservaton Fund. Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests. Author details: Alolika Sinha is a wildlife biologist working with an NGO Aaranyak in Assam and a PhD Scholar with Wildlife Insttute of India. Her research interest includes populaton and habitat ecology. She is currently working on hog deer and grassland conservaton projects in Assam. Dr. Bibhuti Prasad Lahkar is a conservatonist, working with Aaranyak. For his PhD, he studied the ecology and management of grassland ecosystem in Manas. He has successfully implemented many conservaton projects in northeast India and has been awarded with “Heritage Heroes Award” by IUCN WCPA in 2016. Dr. Syed Ainul Hussain, is Scientst-G and a professor working with Wildlife Insttute of India. He has many scientfc publicatons to his credits and members of many esteemed organisatons/commissions. Author contributon: AS, BPL and SAH developed the concept and designed the framework. SAH provided valuable inputs in statstcal analysis and manuscript writng. AS and BPL acquired the resources. AS collected data, performed statstcal analysis and interpretaton, manuscript writng and revisions. BPL and SAH supervised the project and contributed to the manuscript. Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Assam Forest Department and Manas Project Tiger Directorate for providing necessary permission to carry out the study. We are grateful to Ocean Park Conservaton Foundaton, Hong Kong, Auckland Zoo Conservaton Fund, New Zealand and USFWS for fnancially supportng the study. We thank Mr. Arup Kumar Das of Aaranyak for preparing the maps. We sincerely acknowledge Mr. Qamar Qureshi (WII) for his valuable inputs in study design, data analyses and interpretaton. Our sincere thanks to Sunny, Ayan and Anumitra for their support and cooperaton. We are also indebted to Krishna and Rohan, the feld assistants and all the Mahouts of Manas Natonal Park, without whose actve partcipaton the survey would not have been possible. We also acknowledge the reviewers for their valuable comments in the manuscript. 14655 Hog Deer populaton in Manas Sinha et al. INTRODUCTION recommended that estmatng populaton abundance was important in assessing the conservaton status of The Hog Deer Axis porcinus, historically distributed A. porcinus. Though deer populaton estmates are across South and Southeast Asia, underwent a drastc available for few well-managed protected areas, mostly range-wide decline during the mid and late 20th Century in Nepal (Odden et al. 2005; Bhatarai & Kindlmann 2012; (Brook et al. 2015; Timmins et al. 2015). Subsequently, Lovari et al. 2015), data from other areas of southern A. porcinus was categorised as an Endangered species Asia are lacking. by the IUCN in 2008 (Timmins et al. 2015). Despite The Hog Deer (Image 1) is a grassland obligate being an Endangered species, it is one of the least (Dhungel & O’Gara 1991; Odden et al. 2005), primarily studied mammals and its range-wide decline was mostly threatened by habitat degradaton or loss and illegal overlooked (Brook et al. 2015). The southeastern Asian huntng. It is an important prey for large carnivores populaton is locally extnct in most countries, including (Stoen & Wegge 1996; Lovari et al. 2015), and thus plays China, Lao PDR and Vietnam (Ohtaishi & Gao 1990); the a vital ecological role. India is one of the strongholds only wild populatons remain in Cambodia and Myanmar of A. porcinus populatons in southern Asia, although (Brook et al. 2015; Lwin et al. 2016). In southern Asia, historically it has received litle atenton and available with a declining populaton trend, the Hog Deer is mostly informaton is mostly anecdotal (Biswas 2004). To confned to protected areas (Karanth & Nichols 2000; implement ratonal conservaton measures, reliable Biswas 2004; Odden et al. 2005). Timmins et al. (2015) estmates of populaton abundance are fundamental, © Alolika Sinha Image 1. Hog Deer Axis porcinus, 14656 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2019 | 11(13): 14655–14662 Hog Deer populaton in Manas Sinha et al. and their lack can undermine the entre process (Lopez- Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis, Swamp Deer Bao et al. 2018). Thus the current populaton status Rucervus duvaucelii, Asiatc Water Bufalo Bubulas arnee, of A. porcinus was assessed and potental threats to and others (Lahkar 2008). These grasslands are under the populaton in Manas Natonal Park in Assam were threat from invasion by alien plant species, mostly by documented. Chromolaena odorata and Mikania micrantha (Lahkar et Manas Natonal Park (henceforth, Manas) in al. 2011; Nath et al. 2019), agricultural