2 Asian Primates Journal 7(1), 2018 PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD OF THE ASSAMESE MACAQUE Macaca assamensis IN TRIPURA, NORTHEASTERN INDIA Anwaruddin Choudhury The Rhino Foundation for Nature in NE India, House No. 7, Islampur Road, Guwahati 781021, Assam, India. E-mail: [email protected] The Assamese Macaque Macaca assamensis (Mc- al. (2015) did not report its occurrence in the state. Clelland) is a relatively common primate of the Hima- Similarly, Corbet & Hill (1992) made no mention of laya (west up to Kumaon in Uttarakhand) and adjacent Tripura, and the range map excluded not only Tripura areas including the northeastern (NE) states (Choud- but many other areas of known distribution in north- hury 2016). Its occurrence in the state of Tripura (Fig. east India. Choudhury (2001), however, mentioned that 1) in NE India was doubted by many. Prater (1980), it occurs in all the northeastern states of India (including Mukherjee (1982), Mukherjee & Chakraborty (1992), Tripura). This was mainly based upon occurrence near Gupta (1994; 2000; 2001a; 2001b) and Majumder et Assam–Tripura border in North Tripura district (Choud- Fig. 1. Location of observed Assamese Macaque in Tripura (as represented by the red dot). 3 Asian Primates Journal 7(1), 2018 Fig. 2. Alpha male of observed group. © Anwaruddin Choudhury Fig. 3. Some members of the observed group. © Anwaruddin Choudhury 4 Asian Primates Journal 7(1), 2018 hury 2013); however, there was no photographic re- Tripura, Sanjay Dhoundiyal, and Sukanta Das). Special cord. Srinivasulu & Srinivasulu (2012) also listed the thanks to Siddharta Debbarma (Sub-divisional Forest species in Tripura but without any details or reference. Officer) who accompanied me in most of the trips and During my short visits (one day each) in October 1997 took a few photographs, and K.N. Bhar of the Election and April 2000, and seven days’ field work in January Commission of India. 2008 I did not come across any M. assamensis. I again spent 20 days in January–February 2016. On 3 Febru- REFERENCES ary 2016, some unidentified macaques were noticed in Choudhury, A.U. 2001. Primates in NE India: an the trees near Udaipur–Amarpur main Road (I travelled overview of their distribution & conservation status. through this road in 2008 also), roughly midway be- ENVIS Bulletin: Wildlife and Protected Areas 1(1): tween the two towns in Gomati district (earlier part of 92–101. South Tripura district). They were Macaca assamensis, of which there were no published records from interior Choudhury, A.U. 2013. The Mammals of North East areas. Subsequently I saw them on several other days India. Gibbon Books, and The Rhino Foundation for in the same spot, c. 10 km before reaching Amarpur nature in NE India, Guwahati, India. (23°30’ N, 91°36.3’ E; c. 100–130 m a.s.l.). Fig. 2 and Choudhury, A.U. 2016. The Mammals of India: A Fig. 3 illustrate the first photographic evidence of M. Systematic and Cartographic Review. Gibbon assamensis from Tripura. Books and The Rhino Foundation for nature in NE These were of the nominate subspecies, i.e., M. India, Guwahati, India. assamensis assamensis (McClelland) as indicated by Corbet, G.B. and Hill, J.E. 1992. The Mammals of the their tail-length. The area is a reserved forest known as Indomalayan Region: a Systematic Review. Oxford Boromura–Gandhari. There were at least 16 macaques University Press, Oxford, UK. in the group, which included one alpha male, one more Gupta, A. K. 1994. Status and conservation of non- adult male, two adult females with infant being carried, human primates in Tripura, India. In: Current two adult females without infant and eight subadults/ Primatology, Vol. 1: Ecology and Evolution, B. Thierry, juveniles. The habitat was tropical moist deciduous J.R. Anderson, J.J. Roeder and N. Herrenschmidt with some teak Tectona grandis L. f. plantations dis- (eds.), pp. 101–111. Université Louis Pasteur, tributed therein. The macaques were observed mostly Strasbourg, France. in mixed natural patches, and would flee upon detect- ing us. Gupta, A.K. 2000. Primates of Tripura. Forest Department, Government of Tripura, Agartala, India. Potential threats to the group observed include jhum or slash-and-burn shifting cultivation. Some tribes also Gupta, A.K. 2001a. Non-human primates of India: an kill primates for the pot. Other conservation concerns introduction. ENVIS Bulletin: Wildlife and Protected in nearby areas are clearing of forest, even inside re- Areas 1(1): 1–29. served forests, for paddy cultivation and expansion of Gupta, A.K. 2001b. Status of primates in Tripura. rubber cultivation. In some places land allotted to tribal ENVIS Bulletin: Wildlife and Protected Areas 1(1): people under the Forest Dwellers (Rights) Act are con- 127–135. verted into rubber gardens. Majumder, J., Majumdar, K., Bhattacharjee, P.P. and Since the site is the only confirmed locality exclu- Agarwala, B.K. 2015. Inventory of mammals in sively within Tripura, therefore it was recommended to protected reserves and natural habitats of Tripura, the local forest administration to protect the area, may northeast India with notes on existing threats and be as an ‘eco-park’, as in Tripura such eco-parks have new records of Large Footed Mouse-eared Bat and protected several forest patches from destruction. Greater False Vampire Bat. Check List 11(2): 1-11. Mukherjee, R.P. 1982. Survey of non-human primates ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS of Tripura, India. Journal of Zoological Society of The following persons are thanked for their support India 34(1-20): 70–81. during my visits to Tripura: drivers (Goutam Goswami, Mukherjee, R.P. and Chakraborty, R.N. 1992. Report Akter Hossain, Biswajit Podder and Rakesh Dey) and on the Census of Non-human Primates of Tripura. security personnel (Tapan Pal, Tapash Bhowmick, San- Forest Department, Tripura, India. jib Debnath, Goutam Das, Sanjit Singha, Upananda 5 Asian Primates Journal 7(1), 2018 Prater, S.H. 1980. The Book of Indian Animals, 4th Srinivasulu, C. and Srinivasulu, B. 2012. South Asian edition. Bombay Natural History Society, Bombay, Mammals: Their Diversity, Distribution and Status. India. Springer, New York. .