The Critically Endangered gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) residing within Bardiya National Park (BNP) in Nepal constitutes the sixth major sub‐population of this unique lineage; however, this population is not well studied. A 46 km protected stretch of the Babai River and a 60 km stretch of the Karnali River in and around BNP were surveyed for gharials in early 2017 and in 2019. Gharial counts in 2017 – 17 from the Babai and one from the Karnali rivers – consisted of 10 adults, five sub‐adults and three juveniles. In 2019, 19 gharials were counted – 18 for the Babai and one for the Karnali – comprising 11 adults, six sub‐adults and two juveniles. In the Babai River within BNP, four breeding groups were identified. Gharials in BNP prefer sandy vs. rocky banks for basking and completely avoid sand‐grass and clay banks. Habitat preference did not vary with size class. Protected stretches of both rivers inside BNP (76 km) have resident gharial, intact habitats and few human threats. In contrast, the unprotected stretch of the Karnali (30 km) is threatened by boulder quarrying, sand mining and unlicensed fishing, and is avoided by gharials despite the availability of habitat. This study established baseline data, including indices of population size, distribution and habitat preferences, and documented resident gharials that are breeding in the Babai River in BNP. The conservation of this Babai population is crucial for the species’ survival in BNP. Based on this study, we recommend the following conservation actions on the Babai stretch: (a) determine hatching success; (b) assess juvenile recruitment; (c) consider supplementation by releasing captives; (d) study riverine features important as baselines; (e) accommodate upstream movements on the protected Babai stretch; and (f) protect the downstream Babai outside the boundary of the BNP.

No abstract

The Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) is a "Critically Endangered" insectivorous mammal. There is a lack of information on the ecology, distribution and behavior of this species in Nepal, even though community forests in the Midhills Region of Nepal are considered to be prime habitats for the species. We conducted an ecological assessment of the habitat use of this species in nine community forests covering an area of 170.69 ha in Balthali village in Kavrepalanchok district, Nepal. We divided each forest into 50 × 50 m grids and searched for Chinese Pangolin burrows along 50 m transects in each grid. We categorized burrows into two types, new and old burrows, and recorded 10 environmental variables for each burrow. We found a total of 542 burrows, including 323 old burrows and 219 new burrows. The average width and height of a burrow opening was 21.66 ± 3.94 cm (n = 542) and 22.42 ± 5.02 cm (n = 542). The total density of burrows in the study area was 3.1 ha −1 , with new burrows density of 1.2 ha −1 and old burrows density of 1.8 ha −1 . We found most burrows in sites with an elevation range of 1400 -1500 m above sea level, gentle slopes, brown colored soil, high density of tree crown cover and undergrowth vegetation, southern exposure, within 150 m from a water source and less than 200 m from a human settlement. Our study has generated baseline data on the habitat use of Chinese Pangolin, which we hope will help in designing site-specific action plans for Chinese Pangolin conservation in Kavrepalanchok district, Nepal.

Air pollution, particularly particulate pollution has been emerged as the major air quality issues in urban centers of Nepal including Pokhara. Pokhara is one of the major cities in Nepal located at 28.24 N, 83.99 E, and also one of the most popular tourist destinations. This study has been conducted to assess the traffic police personnel exposure to PM 10 (Particulate Matter of diameter 10 micron of less) in their occupational environment in Pokhara. This type study has been conducted for the first time in Pokhara.The monitoring was carried out for seven days in three shifts (morning: 7:30 am to 11:30 am, afternoon: 11:30 am to 3:30pm and evening shift: 3:30pm to 7:30pm) in three major HDTA's (High Density Traffic Areas) of Pokhara. On an average, the duration of sampling in each day was 8 hours in each of the sites. Subjective exposure to PM 10 was monitored by personal monitoring technique. Personal air sampler (PCXR4) manufactured by M/s SKC, USA was used. Altogether 35 samples were collected and analyzed gravimetrically in the laboratory. The overall mean concentration (averaged for 8 hours) of PM 10 was found to be 1559.107 µg/m 3 in Mahendrapul, 1759.032 µg/m 3 in B.P chowk and 1733.846 µg/m 3 in Prithvi chowk. The overall mean concentration of PM 10 was observed higher in morning shifts (2093.790 µg/m 3 ) than evening (1704.005 µg/m 3 ) and afternoon (1192.670 µg/m 3 ) shifts. PM 10 concentration was observed higher in Weekdays than Weekends. However, no significant difference in overall mean PM 10 concentration was observed in different sampling sites and week days (weekdays and weekends) at 0.05 level significance. Significant difference in PM 10 concentration was observed in different shifts only. It was concluded from the findings of the present study that traffic police personnel are exposed to very high level of PM 10 (almost 10 to 15 folds higher than National Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM 10 for Nepal i.e. 120µg/m 3 ) in all three HDTA's of Pokhara city.

Gharials Gavialis gangeticus have been reared in ex situ facilities in the Gharial Conservation and Breeding Center (GCBC) in Chitwan National Park of Nepal since the 1980s.  There remains a paucity of detailed information concerning their growth rates, particularly with respect to season.  We randomly selected 20 gharials (45 months old) in the GCBC, tagged them, and recorded total length (TL) and weight over three warm (April–September) and two cold (October–March) seasons between 01 April 2013 and 30 September 2015.  We also recorded amounts of fish consumed by these gharials every month over the 30-month period.  On average per season, the gharials grew by 9.48±3.63 cm (1.58cm/month) in length and gained 2.61±1.14 kg (0.43kg/month).  Growth rates were significantly higher during warm seasons.  The highest increase in both length (mean= 21.2±8.61 cm) and weight (mean =5.59±2.12 kg) occurred during the first warm season (April 2013–September 2013) of the study, and annual growth rate was also highest during the first year.  Our data indicated strong correlation between mean length and body weight.  A total of 2,103.9kg fish was consumed by 20 gharials over 30 months, for a mean consumption of 3.5kg fish per individual per month.  Mean fish consumption was also significantly higher during warm (96.99±37.35 kg) versus cold (29.83±17.09 kg) seasons.  Survival rate was 100%.  Our findings establish baseline data for growth and feeding rates of captive gharials that will be useful in making management decisions in captive breeding and rearing facilities.

No abstract

Gharial ( Gavialis gangeticus ) is a Critically Endangered crocodilian species whose abundance in Nepalese rivers is low due to the threat they face. We estimated gharial abundance in the Rapti River, one of the major rivers in Chitwan National Park (CNP) holding the largest numbers of gharials in Nepal. The Rapti River, running across the CNP, was divided into 18 segments, each measuring ~4 km, and gharials were counted directly with three replicates. Gharial count data were analyzed using an N‐mixture model (negative binomial) and the overall occupancy of gharials was estimated using a single season occupancy model. Covariate effects were also investigated on gharial abundance. Our findings revealed that the Rapti River is home to 150 gharials (119–181), with a mean abundance of 8.3 (SD = 3.45) across each segment. The presence of humans and square of Rapti River depth were the significant covariates that had a negative and positive impact on gharial abundance, respectively. Similarly, the number of sandbank present influenced the detection probability of gharials. Our study shows that gharial population estimation can be improved using the N‐mixture model. The overall gharial occupancy estimated using single season occupancy model was 0.84 (SD = 0.08), with a detection probability of 0.37 (SD = 0.02). The management authority should concentrate on segments to minimize human disturbance (e.g., fishing, washing clothes, extraction of riverbed materials). If the gharial population in this river declines, their population in central Nepal will be threatened. Hence, we suggest designating the Rapti River section that passes across the CNP as a “no extraction zone.”

ABSTRACT. We tested microsatellites that were developed for the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) for cross-species amplification and to provide an estimate of inter-and intraspecific variation among four species of Neotropical crocodiles (C. rhombifer, C. intermedius, C. acutus, and C. moreletii). Our results indicated that with the exception of 2 loci in C. intermedius, all 10 microsatellite loci were successfully amplified in the 4 species, producing a set of variably sized alleles that ranged in number between 2 and 14 alleles per locus. Similarly, private alleles (i.e., unique alleles) also were reported in all 4 species for at least 3 loci. The mean observed and expected heterozygosities (averaged across species for all 10 loci combined) ranged from 0.39 to 0.77 and from 0.44 to 0.78, respectively. In addition to this, we evaluated these microsatellites in 2 populations of C. acutus and C. moreletii to assess their utility in estimating intraspecific levels of polymorphisms. These Assessment of microsatellites in Neotropical crocodiles microsatellites also showed considerable allelic variation in population level analysis. The set of 10 microsatellite loci in our study had the potential to be used as a tool in population and conservation genetic studies of Neotropical crocodiles.