Table Of Content

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES villagewasatabouthalfakilometer. with croplands had only few tall trees of more than 5 m in The distribution ofRustyspotted Cat in India is based height. Since the Rustyspotted Cat is an arboreal species, onlyonafewreportsaboutitsoccurrence:Chakraborty(1978) inhabiting scrub forests, grasslands, and ruins near villages inJammuandKashmir,Pathak(1990)inGujarat,Chavanetal. (GurungandSingh 1996;Prater 1998),specialattentionmust (1991) in Gujarat, Tehsin (1994) in Rajasthan, bepaidtothemaintenanceoflargetreesdispersedthroughout Digveerendrasinh(1995)inMadhyaPradesh,Acharjyoetal. such regions where it occurs, as such trees are essential to (1997)inOrissa,Dubey(1999)inMaharashtra,andRaoetal. provide a viable habitatforthis species. (1999) inAndhra Pradesh. Although the species is reported tobewidespread,fromsouthernIndiatosomepartsofKashmir ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (Prater 1998), theonly publishedreportfromsouthern India was from Andhra Pradesh (Rao et al. 1999). However, We acknowledge the financial support (Grant No. SP/ Mukherjee (1998) mentions itsoccurrence in Mundanthurai SO/C-16/99)fromtheDepartmentofScienceandTechnology, plateau on the basis ofpersonal communications from field Government of India. We thank the Karnataka Forest researchers. Mudappa(pers. comm.)reporteditsoccurrence Department for permissions. Special thanks are due to inIndiraGandhiWildlife Sanctuary. Ourreportconfirms its Mr.Devraj,ACF,Mr.Basavaraju,RFO,andtheirfieldstaffat occurrence in the state ofKarnataka. Nugu. All published papers on Rustyspotted Cat are only occurrence reports, and no detailed studies are available on September4,2003 H.N. KUMARA this species. However, each of such reports contributes in MEWA SINGH' understandingitsdistribution,localityandhabitattype.Hence, Biopsychology Laboratory thepresentsightingisimportant, sinceitmarksthe ‘southern University ofMysore, mostsightinglocation’ ofitsdistribution inIndia. The scrub Mysore570006,Karnataka,India. forestsofNuguWildlife Sancmary and itsedgescontinuing 'Email: [email protected] Acharjyo. L.N., K.L. Purohit& S.K. Patnaik (1997): Occurrence of Gurung. K.K. & R. Singh (1996): FieldGuidetothe Mammalsofthe the Rustyspotted Cat (Fells ruhiginosa) in Orissa. J. Bombay IndianSubcontinent.AcademicPress,SanDiego. Nat. Hist. Soc. 94: 554-555. Mukherjee, S. (1998): Cats: Some large, many small, 5-13. ENVIS Chakraborty, S. (1978): The Rustyspotted Cat, Fells ruhiginosa Newsletter(Wildlife&ProtectedAreas):Vol. 1,No. 2.Wildlife I. Geoffroy in Jammu and Kashmir. J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. Institute ofIndia, Dehradun. 75: 478-479. Pathak. B.J. (1990): Rustyspotted Cat, Felis ruhiginosa Geoffroy: A Chavan, S.A., C.D. Patel., S.V. Pawar., N.S. Gogate & N.P. Pandya new record for Gir Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park. (1991): Sightings of the Rustyspotted Cat, Felis ruhiginosa J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 87: 445. GeoffroyinShoolpaneshwarSanctuary,Gujarat.J.BombayNat. Prater,H.S.(1998):TheBookofIndianAnimals.Revi.sedEdn.Bombay Hist. Soc. 88: 107-108. Natural HistorySocietyandOxfordUniversityPress, Bombay. Digveerendrasinh (1995): Occurrence ofthe Rustyspotted Cat (Felis Rao,K.T.,D.Sudhakar,V.Vasudevarao,V.Nagulu&C.Srlnivasulu ruhiginosa) in MadhyaPradesh. J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 92: (1999):RustyspottedCatPrionailiirusrubiginosus,AnewRecord 407-408. for Nagaijunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve, Andhra Pradesh. Dubey, Y. (1999): Sighting of Rustyspotted Cat Prionailiirits J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 96: 463-464, rubiginosus in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra. Tehsin,R. (1994): RustyspottedCatFelisruhiginosaGeoffroysighted J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 96: 310-311, nearUdaipur. J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 9J: 136. 3. DISAPPEARANCE OF ELEPHANTS IN UTTARA KANNADA WecarriedoutasurveyofmammalsinUttaraKannada, Gersoppa Dam. In 1995, three more elephants were found Karnataka,betweenFebruaryandApril,2002.Duringawalk dead in thewater. Only oneoldadultmale was leftthat used of 198 km in several regions, in additionto direct sightings, torange in the forests between Mastimane and Votehallaon the locals, officials of the Public Works Department and Joga-Gersoppa road. During our survey, we had also found Karnataka Forest Department were interviewed to gather dung and signs offresh movement ofthe elephant. But this informationon theoccurrenceofdifferentanimal species in elephant was also reported dead by the end of 2002. The eachregion.Wefoundthatanelephantherdhaddisappeared details on the death ofthis elephant were not available and fromGersopparegion.Localsandofficialsstatedthatduring not revealed by anyone. However, there are no elephants in 1992,twoelephantswerefounddeadinthebackwatersofthe theregion anymore. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 102 (3), Sep-Dec 2005 337 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES NairandGadgil(1978)hadreportedaherdofelephants result in population fragmentation, and isolation between from the Gersoppa region that used to range north ofRiver populations.Anothernotableresultofsuchlocalextinctions Sharavati,especiallyintheforestsatBadal,Jankadkal,Medini, is also the reduced overall area ofoccupancy ofa species. Herebail, Mahime and Gersoppa. A few herds ofelephants WeacknowledgethefinancialsupportfromDepartment were alsoreported southofSharavati riverat Meginavalley, ofScienceandTechnology,GovernmentofIndia(GrantNo. Kollur Ghat and Nagavalli. Towards the north, a few herds SP/SO/C-16/99). werereportedfromDandeliforestarea.NairandGadgil(1978) alsoreportedtwoelephantsthatwereshotdeadonthebanks July 11,2003 H.N. KUMARA ofSharavati. MEWA SINGH' ThedisappearanceoftheelephantherdfromGersoppa Biopsychology Laboratory, region has created a more than one hundred kilometre gap University ofMysore, between the existing populations at Meginavalley (in the Mysore570006,Karnataka, south)toDandeli(inthenorth).Thisisonemoreexampleof India. thelocal disappearanceofaspecies. Itis such processesthat 'Email: mewasingh(g)sanchamet.in REFERENCE Nair, P.V. & M. Gadgil (1978): The status and distribution ofelephant populations of Karnataka. J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 75\ 1000-1016. MANDARIN DUCKS AIX GALERICULATA (LINNAEUS) ON THE SAT TAL LAKES 4. NEAR NAINITAL, UTTARANCHAL The Mandarin DuckAi.xgalericidata is an EastAsian also thehighestrecord (1400m above msl) from theregion. species whose native breeding range is restricted to the According to the available data on the species distribution eastern part of Russia, northern China and Japan. Its main (Madge and Bum 1988), the observation from the Sat Tal wintering areas are in the lowlands of eastern China and lakesisthewesternmostrecordforMandarinDucksfromits southernJapan. There is also an introduced feral population native Asiatic population. intheUnitedKingdom(MadgeandBurn 1988). In the Indian subcontinent, the Mandarin Duck is a ACKNOWLEDGEMENT very rare winter vagrant (Grimmett etat. 1998). It has only beenrecordedonceinNepalandonceinBangladesh(Gardiner WewouldliketothanktoKrysKazmierczakforvaluable 1991; Grimmett etal. 1998). There are only two records of suggestions and comments on the manuscript. MandarinDuckfromIndia,bothfromthenortheastandmore than50yearsold.OneMandarinDuckwasobservedinAssam August25,2003 ALVREZEC (Baker 1902), and one in Manipur (Grimson 1934). All NationalInstituteofBiology, observations of Mandarin Ducks from the Indian Vecnapot 111,SI-1001 Ljubljana,Slovenia. subcontinent,excepttheonefromNepal,wereatlowaltitudes. Email:[email protected] On Eebruary 13, 1999 we were bird watching around Nainital(1940mabovemsl),Uttaranchal,northernIndia.We TOMAZJANCAR werecountingbirdsonthelakesofSatTal,situatedinahilly DOPPS-BirdLifeSlovenia, wooded area at an elevation of 1300-1450 m above msl Prvomajska9,SI-1000Ljubljana,Slovenia. (KazmierczakandSingh 1998).OnthelakeneartheChristian Email:tomaz.jancar(s>dopps-dmstvo.si Ashram, we observed three Mandarin Ducks (1 male, 2 females). The birds were very shy and flew away each time LUKABOZIC we approachedwithin 100metres, sowe usedatelescope to Pintaijeva16,SI-2106Maribor, observe them. The male wasincolourful breedingplumage, Slovenia. whichisunmistakableandcannotbeconfusedwithanyother Email:[email protected] duck species (see Madge and Bum 1988; Svensson et al. 1999). The three observed Mandarin Ducks were the only BORUTRUBink: duck orwaterbird species recorded in the areaon thatday. InstituteOmisbalcanica, ThisisthethirdknownrecordforIndia,andthefirstin Prazakova 11,SI-1000Ljubljana,Slovenia. the last50years. Exceptforthe observation fromNepal itis Email:[email protected] 338 J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 102 (3), Sep-Dec 2005