Presence of medium and large sized terrestrial mammals highlights the conservation potential of Patharia Hill Reserve in Bangladesh

Abstract

Establishing and managing protected areas is a common approach for in situ conservation of wildlife and their habitats, but its effectiveness relies on the magnitude of anthropogenic pressures and their successful mitigation. Bangladesh is a densely populated country, and demand for land and natural resources is accelerated in and around the remaining forests. It is particularly of concern for an important transboundary hill forest, called the Patharia Hill Reserve in the northeastern Bangladesh, which appears to be the last resort for many important forest mammals. We conducted a camera-trap survey for assessing the occurrence of mammals in this tropical forest patch during January 2019 and July 2021. An effort of 2,805 trap-nights yielded 1,986 records of 22 medium and large-sized mammal species. We confirmed the presence of globally ‘Vulnerable’ Fishing Cat, Oriental Small-clawed Otter, Hog Badger, & Northern Pig-tailed Macaque and the globally ‘Endangered’ Phayre’s Langur in this study. Our records include a number of species which are either the first record for the northeastern region or have been detected after several decades. In contrast, we could not detect several large carnivores which were recorded previously in the study site and in the Indian side of Patharia Hill Reserve. This study highlights the conservation value of this poorly known reserve forest, and presents a call for immediate action to maintain its function as a transboundary forest area.