DISTRIBUTION AND CURRENT POPULATION STATUS OF FRESHWATER TURTLES OF KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA AMTYAZ M. Sc., M. Phil. Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (Wildlife and Fisheries). DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF KARACHI, KARACHI-75270 2016 BOARD OF ADVANCED STUDIES & RESEARCH UNIVERSITY OF KARACHI CERTIFICATE I have gone through the thesis and titled "DISTRIBUTION AND CURRENT POPULATION STATUS OF FRESHWATER TURTLES OF KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA " submitted by Mr. AMTYAZ S/O AURANG ZEB for the award of Ph. D degree and certify that to the best of my knowledge it contains no plagiarized material. Date: 15th March 2016 BOARD OF ADVANCED STUDIES & RESEARCH University of Karachi DECLARATION I, AMTYAZ S/O AURANG ZEB hereby declare that on part of the work presented by me has been plagiarized from anywhere. Proper references are cited, wherever necessary. I understand that the university reserves the right to cancel the degree if any of the above declaration is proved false before or after the award of degree. Signature of the candidate: Name of the candidate: Amtyaz Title : "Distribution and Current Population Status of Freshwater Turtles of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa". Degree : Ph. D Department/ Subject : Zoology Date : 15-03-2016 DEDICATION Dedicated to my beloved mother TABLE OF CONTENTS Sr. No Particulars Page No I Abstract i - iii II Abstract in Urdu iv - v III Acknowledgements vi - viii CHAPTER 1 1 Introduction 1 - 43 1.1 Order Chelonia/Testudines of Pakistan 5 1.2 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 10 1.3 Charsadda 16 1.4 Peshawar 24 1.5 Nowshera 30 1.6 Mardan 34 1.7 Dera Ismail Khan 37 CHAPTER 2 2 Review of Literature 44-70 CHAPTER 3 3 Materials and Methods 71-78 3.1 Direct Counting Methods 72 3.2 Indirect Counting Methods 74 CHAPTER 4 4 Results 79-143 4.1 Charsadda District 80 4.2 Peshawar District 80 4.3 Nowshera District 81 4.4 Mardan District 82 4.5 Dera Ismail Khan District 82 4.6 Drains and Canals of Study areas 83 4.7 Rivers of Study areas 83 4.8 Peshawar Valley 84 4.9 Lissemys punctata andersonii 107 4.10 Nilssonia gangeticus 112 4.11 Nilssonia hurum 117 4.12 Chitra indica 121 4.13 Pangshura tectum 125 4.14 Pangshura smithii 129 4.15 Hardella thurjii 134 4.16 Geoclemys hamiltonii 139 CHAPTER 5 5.1 Discussion 144-175 5.2 Conclusion 176-177 5.3 References 178-195 LIST OF TABLES Table No. Particulars Page No. CHAPTER 1 1.1 IUCN and CITES Status of freshwater turtles of Pakistan 8 1.2 Habitat, Feeding habits, Reproduction and Behavior of 9 Freshwater turtles of Pakistan 1.3 National parks of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 13 1.4 Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan 14 1.5 The use of turtles in some Traditional Chinese Medicine 42 preparations CHAPTER 4 4.1 Status of Population and Distribution of Freshwater Turtles of 85 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 4.2 Status of Population and Distribution of Freshwater Turtles in 87 Charsadda District 4.3 Status of Population and Distribution of Freshwater Turtles in 89 Peshawar District 4.4 Status of Population and Distribution of Freshwater Turtles in 91 Nowshera District 4.5 Status of Population and Distribution of Freshwater Turtles in 93 Mardan District 4.6 Status of Population and Distribution of Freshwater Turtles in 95 Dera Ismail Khan District 4.7 Status of Population and Distribution of Freshwater Turtles in 97 Drains and Canals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 4.8 Status of Population and Distribution of Freshwater Turtles in 99 Rivers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 4.9 Status of Population of Freshwater Turtles of Peshawar Valley 101 4.10 Status of Population and Distribution of Freshwater Turtles in 103 selected districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa LIST OF FIGURES Figure No. Particulars Page No. CHAPTER 1 1.1 Maps of Pakistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa showing study 15 districts 1.2 Maps of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Charsadda District 17 1.3 Jindi River in Charsadda 18 1.4 Swat River in Charsadda 19 1.5 Kabul River in Charsadda 20 1.6 Hisara Drain in Charsadda 21 1.7 Kashmalo Drain in Charsadda 22 1.8 Dub Drain in Charsadda 23 1.9 Maps of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Peshawar District 25 1.10 Naguman (A distributary of Kabul River) in Peshawar 26 1.11 Shahalam (A distributary of Kabul River) in Peshawar 27 1.12 Budhni River in Peshawar 28 1.13 Bara River in Peshawar 29 1.14 Maps of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Nowshera District 31 1.15 Kabul River in Nowshera 32 1.16 The junction of Kabul River and Indus River in Nowshera 33 1.17 Maps of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Mardan District 35 1.18 Jalala Drain in Mardan. 36 1.19 Maps of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Dera Ismail Khan 38 1.20 Indus River in Dera Ismail Khan 39 CHAPTER 3 3.1 Map of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa showing study sites 76 3.2 Map of study sites in Peshawar Valley 77 3.3 Map of study sites in Dera Ismail Khan 78 CHAPTER 4 4.1 Status of Population and Distribution of Freshwater Turtles of 86 KPK 4.2 Status of Population and Distribution of Freshwater Turtles in 88 Charsadda District 4.3 Status of Population and Distribution of Freshwater Turtles in 90 Peshawar District 4.4 Status of Population and Distribution of Freshwater Turtles in 92 Nowshera District 4.5 Status of Population and Distribution of Freshwater Turtles in 94 Mardan District 4.6 Status of Population and Distribution of Freshwater Turtles in 96 D. I. Khan District 4.7 Population status of Freshwater turtle Species in Peshawar 98 Valley 4.8 Status of Population of Freshwater Turtles in Selected 100 Districts of KPK 4.9 Status of Total Population Density of Freshwater Turtles in 102 Selected Districts of KPK 4.10 Status of Population Density of different Species of 104 Freshwater Turtles in Selected Districts of KPK 4.11 Comparison of Turtle Population in Drains/Canals with Rivers 105 of KPK 4.12 Comparison of Turtle Population of Freshwater Turtles of 106 Peshawar Valley with Southern District (D. I. Khan) 4.13 Distribution of Lissemys punctata andersonii 110 4.14 Lissemys punctata andersonii (Indian flap-shell turtle) 111 4.15 Distribution of Nilssonia gangeticus 115 4.16 Nilssonia gangeticus (Ganges soft-shell turtle) 116 4.17 Distribution of Nilssonia hurum 119 4.18 Nilssonia hurum (Indian Peacock soft-Shell turtle) 120 4.19 Distribution of Chitra indica 123 4.20 Chitra indica (Indian Narrow headed soft-shell turtle) 124 4.21 Distribution of Pangshura tectum 127 4.22 Pangshura tectum (Indian Roofed turtle) 128 4.23 Distribution of Pangshura smithii 132 4.24 Pangshura smithii (Brown Roofed turtle) 133 4.25 Distribution of Hardella thurjii 137 4.26 Hardella thurjii (Crowned River turtle) 138 4.27 Distribution of Geoclemys hamiltonii 142 4.28 Geoclemys hamiltonii (Spotted pond turtle) 143 CHAPTER 5 5.1 Notification for addition of freshwater turtles in Wildlife Act, 163 1975 5.2 Some of the equipment’s for turtle poaching 164 5.3 Capturing techniques for Turtles 165 5.4 Captured turtles 166 5.5 Dead specimen of Freshwater turtles 167 5.6 Trading activity of body parts of turtles 168 5.7 Trading activity of turtles 169 5.8 Another trading activity 170 5.9 Canal closure during winter season 171 5.10 Eggs in a nest of Freshwater turtle 172 5.11 Turtle’s capturing 173 5.12 Making a net 174 5.13 Awareness is giving to local community about turtles 175 ABSTRACT ABSTRACT Freshwater turtles have served as an important food resource in many Asian countries. However, several countries of our region have made few attempts for conservation and management of this resource. The present study of distribution and current population status of freshwater turtles was conducted in Charsadda, Peshawar, Nowshera, Mardan and Dera Ismail Khan (D. I. Khan) Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Province during the years 2013-2015. Eight species of freshwater turtles viz. Lissemys punctata andersonii (Webb, 1980a), Nilssonia gangeticus (Cuvier, 1825), Nilssonia hurum (Gray, 1831), Chitra indica (Gray, 1831), Pangshura tectum (Gray, 1863), Pangshura smithii (Gray, 1863), Hardella thurjii (Gray, 1831) and Geoclemys hamiltonii (Gray, 1831) were recorded. In the present study, seven species of freshwater turtles were recorded from Charsadda district, Lissemys punctata and Nilssonia gangeticus were common. Chitra indica, Nilssonia hurum and Pangshura smithii were less common; Pangshura tectum and Hardella thurjii were rare. Geoclemys hamiltonii was not recorded from district Charsadda. According to the present data, (2013-2015) N. gangeticus was recorded as 29.76 %, L. punctata as 29.25%, N. hurum as 11.31%, C. indica as 10.01%, P. smithii as 9.87%, P. tectum 6.70% and H. thurjii as 3.10%. In the district of Peshawar, seven species were recorded, Lissemys punctata and Nilssonia gangeticus were common, Nilssonia hurum, i Pangshura smithii and Chitra indica were less common, while Pangshura tectum and Hardella thurjii were recorded as rare. Geoclemys hamiltonii was not recorded from this district. According to the present data (2013-2015), L. punctata was recorded as 35.03%, N. gangeticus as 24.07%, N. hurum as 14.87%, P. smithii as 12.52%, C. indica as 09.00%, P. tectum 2.35% and H. thurjii as 2.15%. Seven species were recorded in the Nowshera District. Nilssonia gangeticus and Nilssonia hurum were common; While Lissemys punctata, Pangshura tectum and Pangshura smithii were recorded as less common. Hardella thurjii and Chitra indica were rare. Geoclemys hamiltonii was not recorded in Nowshera district.