Project Update: May 2007

The Phase I (September 2006- December2007)
Study permission from Assam forest Department was received and all local forest offices visited. Field sites were identified and secondary data generated from interaction with fringe villagers.

Phase II (January 2007-February 2007)
Field works initiated on 18th January 2007 from a place called Bijoypur at the foothills of Barail. During those winter months, the Herpetofaunal abundance was minimal although we came across some interesting mammalian records.

March 2007 - onwards
Field works covering the south-western side of Barail Wildlife Sanctuary(BWS). We made transects through existed forest trails as well as rocky evergreen forest streams. The field sites covered is Lakhicherra, Telacherra, Chamduba, Duiganga, Puticherra, Notbank, Adakuchi, Chotorampur, Bijoypur and Puraline all at low to mid elevations of BWS.

Herpetofaunal Records:
So far we came across 32 species of Herpetofauna of which 24 species of Reptiles and 8 species of Amphibians. This diversity constitutes a typical assemblage of either evergreen forest stream or thick forest floor species.

Important Distributional Records:
• An Agamid (Acanthosaura sp) encountered on 28th March 2007. Solving the species identity may yield further novelty to science.
• Assamese Water Skink (Tropidophorus assamensis), forms first record of this rare skink from Assam State.

Other Activities:
• Important natural history information’s of little known Herpetofauna were gathered and area specific threats delineated.
• Interaction with Zoology teachers of the two local colleges namely Cachar College and Gurucharan College both at Silchar. During this part of our Barail Herpetofauna Project we received field assistance from Abhishek Das, Mona Barman, Panna Barman, Pileos Khasia, Kolbinuse Khasia and Sadhan Tati all from fringe villages of BWS.