KOKRAJHAR, 27 JUNE

In the newly declared Raimona National Park of Assam, officials from the Assam Forest Department and conservationists have recorded the first photographic proof of the Mainland Serow, a vulnerable mammal species notified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Aaranyak, the region's biodiversity conservation organisation, and Assam Forest Department captured the photographic evidence of Mainland Serow in two independent events near the Ganda Bajrum anti-poaching camp, located in the western range of Raimona National Park, using white flash passive Panthera (New York, USA) V6 digital camera traps.

In a press statement, Aaranyak said that the finding is published as a scientific paper in the Journal of Threatened Taxa, authored by Aaranyak's senior scientist M Firoz Ahmed, senior conservation biologist Dipankar Lahkar, Nibir Medhi, and Nitul Kalita; Bhanu Sinha AFS, DFO of Kachugaon Forest Division; forest official Pranjal Talukdar, Biswajit Basumatary, Tunu Basumatary; Ramie H. Begum, Associate Professor, Assam University (Diphu campus); and Abishek Harihar, Director of Tiger Programme, Panthera.

"The discovery of Mainland Serow in Raimona National Park is good news for biodiversity conservation aspects, and we are thrilled by the finding. Our goal is to conserve this species and other wildlife extensively in the national park," Bhanu Sinha, AFS, DFO of Kachugaon Forest Division, said.

The mainland Serow population is widely distributed in the neighbouring Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary and the Royal Manas National Park of Bhutan, which may contribute to Raimona National Park's population recovery.

"We would like to extend our warmest thanks to the National Park Authority for their collaborative efforts that led to the discovery of this beautiful species. There is a wealth of wildlife in Raimona National Park, and the finding of this species is good news for the conservation world," M Firoz Ahmed, senior scientist with Aaranyak, said.

"The Mainland Serow (Capricornis sumatraensis thar) is present across various habitats extending from the Himalayas on the Indian subcontinent to southern China, mainland southeastern Asia, and Sumatra. The species' populations are fragmented, isolated, and rapidly declining due to poaching, habitat destruction, and habitat loss. The lack of reliable data on this species' abundance and distribution makes it difficult to implement effective conservation actions to ensure long-term survival," Dipankar Lahkar, a senior conservationist in Aaranyak, said.

Occasional poaching for bushmeat and habitat alteration due to logging during the ethnopolitical violence are the primary conservation concerns of Raimona National Park. With the government now protecting the park, future conservation efforts should consider securing and recovering the species' population and restoring the degraded habitats.

The Assam government declared the area a national park on June 8, 2021. After nearly three decades of ethnopolitical violence, the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTR) was established in 2020 and conservation efforts have been fueled since then.