Bandana Aul

Roost location and protection using Indigenous communities in the Nicobar Group of Islands, India.

Unique habitats in the Nicobar Islands

LocationCountryCategoriesDate
IndiaBats, Community, Hunting, Indian Sub-continent11 Jul 2006

This Project is an ecological initiative involving indigenous communities of the Nicobar Islands, India. It aims at conserving the endemic Nicobar flying fox or Tayam Peh, in Nicobarese, a medium sized flying fox species (FA: 118.5±11.5mm, Body mass: 172.8±60.4 g) from hunting pressure and current forest practices in the Nicobar Islands.

The increasing exposure to the outside world and introduction of modern weapons like air guns has made the situation worse, resulting in the decline of bat populations over its already narrow geographical range. There is reason to believe that the species might have already gone through a bottleneck being isolated on islands and being hunted. In the Central Nicobar Islands less than 10 individuals were sighted over a 10 month extensive survey (BPCP project, Nicobar Bats2003).

No information exists presently on the ecological requirements of the species. The indigenous people of the Nicobar Islands are exempted from the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Thus, it is very important for initiating them in conserving their islands flora and fauna and using forest resources sustainably. Intensive work is been proposed to determine the requirements of the species in terms of its diet as well as habitat specificity if any. There is virtually no information on where the species roosts and its diet. It is likely that the Nicobar flying fox roosts solitary as secondary sources have conformed that when hunted the bat has been sited only as single individuals.

Project Update September 2006

The team has been able to accomplish all the necessary data set on the agenda of the project and is back from the field to carry out data analysis and report preparation work. Though the team is now all in their respective home towns or in universities our heart and soul is still with the people in the islands, with whom we all share a special bond. Suresh and me are busy with our thesis too and Ivan after a successful field is back home with his family to carry out some plantation work. Martin, Emanuel and Amber are all in Central Nicobars and are busy with the setting up of permanent shelters which has commenced now. Simron wasn’t able to join us in field and instead Puneet was there to help us with the education work. Informal discussion s with the authorities has strengthened our interpretation that there needs to be a very formal and serious and extensive conservation education in the islands if we need to save what is still remaining. Inappropriate and illogical introduction of animals from the mainland India are posing to be a future threat on the already threatened ecosystem in the Central Nicobars. Recently a few horses for luggage carting have been introduced in the islands. No though seems to have been taken in the aftermath of such unplanned and thoughtless actions. Awareness of the threats of such action is on prime agenda of all conservationists in the islands.

Project Update November 2006

The team though no longer in field continues to reminisce the time spent in collecting the necessary information. The data analysis is shaping up good and so are the respective thesis of the team members. Information about the field still continues to trickle in and team member Ivan reported that while collecting bamboo from a site near his village in the middle Andaman Island he encountered bamboo bats in a hollow in his own words which came as an SMS to me, “Ma’am the slit in the bamboo is so small it is amazing how the bat might have got in…it is amazing”. The team members in the Nicobar Islands are busy with the permanent shelter construction and we all hope that it is complete till the next time we return to our respective field sites. News from the study site is that hunting is not as rampant as before as the people in the area are aware that our tema still continues to monitor the flying foxes and a concern for them is being built among the local inhabitants. We consider this as a success indicator as we are not in field and positive information is trickling in to us. My own thesis should be over by December and we plan to schedule are work further for the coming year after that.

Final Report

Read more about the activities undertaken and findings of this project in the final report below.

File DownloadSize
Final_Technical_Report.pdf3.89 MB

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