High altitude plants used in Bhutanese traditional medicine (gSo-ba-rig-pa)

Out of 7000 species of vascular plants 600 species are identified to be of medicinal value. Currently, 208 of these medicinal plants are constantly used for day to day formulations of Bhutanese traditional medicine, known as gSo-ba-rig-pa. Out of them 125 are high altitude plants. This paper presents the identification and description of the high altitude medicinal plants inhabiting Lingzhi, Bumthang and Dagala. The field work including spot identification, photographing and herbarium specimen collections WQScarried out in May-September for two consecutive years during 2005-2007 involving traditional physicians (Drungtshos), traditional pharmacists (sMen-pas), research assistants, and a taxonomist. In total 100 medicinal plants are identified and recorded here along with their local gSoba- rig-pa name and uses

Employing citizen science to understand amphibian and reptile diversity and distribution in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan

In the absence of systematic research institutions and local or long-term resident systematists added by Buddhist culture that discourages lethal sampling of animals, scientific collections are particularly sparse in Bhutan. Consequently, less charismatic taxa such as the reptile and amphibian fauna of Bhutan, including the Eastern-Himalayas, are poorly known. Citizen science was employed to better understand the occupancy and distribution of reptile and amphibian fauna in Bhutan. Using a dedicated amphibian and reptile Facebook group, we gathered 929 species records from 235 individuals between May 2014 and December 2019. Of the participants 70% were foresters, 10% were members of the general public, 6% were school teachers, 6% were college students, 5% were non-forester civil servants, and 3% were tour guides. Citizen scientists submitted records for 99 species of snakes, 70 species of amphibians, 87 species of lizards and 5 species of testudines. Of these, 70% of the records extended the published range of the species in Bhutan, and more than 48 species were new records for Bhutan. Our study demonstrates the potential of citizen science in developing countries with poorly documented fauna

Annotated Checklist and Conservation Status of Mammal Species in Sarpang District, Bhutan

Bhutan has a total geographical area of 38,394 Km² located in between the Indo-Malayan and Palearctic region, out of which 51.44% (19750.75 km²) of its total geographical area has been designated as the protected area. However, none of the districts have a structured baseline checklist of mammal species documented till date. Therefore, Sarpang Forest Division under the Department of Forests and Park Services had carried out five rigorous camera trap surveys including a nationwide tiger survey that covers representable areas of the district from 2014 till 2020. The survey shows that district has 36 mammal species that belong to 18 families under seven orders. Felidae and Cervidae families has the highest species abundance (n = 17%), while, Canidae, Herpestidae, Leporidae, Manidae, Melinae, Muridae, Mustelidae, Tupaiidae, Proboscidae, Pteromyidae, Suidae and Ursidae were the lowest (n = 3%). Above all, Sarpang homed 29.90% of total mammal species of Bhutan, out of which 3% of mammal species were categorized under Critically Endangered, 14% Endangered, 14% Vulnerable, 22% Near Threatened, and 47% Least Concern as per IUCN Red List. However, only 20 mammal species are listed under CITES and nine in Schedule I of Forest and Nature Conservation Act of Bhutan, 1995. Therefore, landscape-based planning such as the Division-based Conservation & Management plan; periodic monitoring of wildlife species using camera traps, and validation of Schedule I species are suggested for long-term conservation and management of globally threatened species inside the landscape of Sarpang district in Bhutan

A Preliminary Distribution of the Bengal Slow Loris Nycticebus bengalensis (Lacepede, 1800) in Bhutan

The distribution of the Vulnerable Bengal loris (Nycticebus bengalensis) in Bhutan is poorly known, mainly because of its nocturnal and arboreal habits. IUCN has omitted Bhutan as a Bengal loris range country despite its reported occurrence in the country by a few studies. To comprehensively document sightings of this species in Bhutan, we interviewed 400 local people and 47 forestry staff in four southern districts (Sarpang, Zhemgang, Pemagatshel, and Samdrupjongkhar) from 8 January to 31 March 2016. Twenty-two sightings were reported across 4.5% (n = 18) of local people and 8.5% (n = 4) of forestry staff. Georeferenced records of sightings were supplemented by official rescue records, to produce the first ever distribution map of the Bengal loris in Bhutan. All loris sightings were close to the Indo-Bhutan border adjoining the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, necessitating transboundary collaboration towards conserving the Bengal loris. Future intensive research is needed to generate comprehensive information on the abundance, distribution, and ecology of the species in Bhutan, in conjunction with conservation awareness programs for local people. We further recommend that IUCN recognizes Bhutan as a Bengal loris range country, to accurately depict the geographical extent of its global distributio

Understanding Human-Canid Conflict and Coexistence: Socioeconomic Correlates Underlying Local Attitude and Support Toward the Endangered Dhole (Cuon alpinus) in Bhutan

Understanding human–canid conflict and coexistence must focus on documenting human–canid interactions and identifying the underlying drivers of reciprocal human attitude which enables appropriate strategies to minimize conflict and forge coexistence. The dhole (Cuon alpinus), Asia's most widely distributed wild canid, is highly threatened by human persecution and anthropogenic activities. Despite its "endangered" status, its ecological role as an apex predator, negative interactions with humans, and dhole-specific attitude studies are limited, thus hindering the development of a comprehensive dhole-conservation strategy. Here, we investigate the influence of socioeconomic factors of age, gender, income, residency inside/outside a protected area (PA), and other variables (cultural beliefs, livestock loss, and quantity of livestock loss) on the attitudes of local people and support for dhole conservation in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. We conducted a semi-structured questionnaire survey of 1,444 households located within the PA and non-PA from four representative regions in the country. Using R programming, we ran Pearson's chi-square test of independence to test the overall difference in the attitude and support for dhole conservation, followed by recursive partitioning through a conditional inference regression tree to identify its significant covariates with the highest explanatory power. Majority (79.1%) of respondents (χ2 = 488.6; df = 1; p χ2 = 412.7; df = 2; p

Population abundance and distribution of the endangered golden langur (Trachypithecus geei, Khajuria 1956) in Bhutan

Reliable population estimates are lacking for many South Asian primate species, including the golden langur (Trachypithecus geei), which is endangered and restricted to Bhutan and northeast India. Although well studied in India, few studies exist on this species in Bhutan. In November 2017, we undertook a nationwide survey of golden langurs in Bhutan using double observers along trail-based transects in 17 blocks within its habitat, and modeled its distribution using MaxEnt. A total of 2439 golden langurs in 222 groups were collectively encountered by 17 teams of double observers, from which, an overall population of 2516 ± SE 363 individuals and 236 ± SE 9 groups were estimated. Group sizes varied from 2 to 35 individuals with a mean of 11 ± SD 0.38 individuals. A total of 468 adult males (19%), 924 adult females (38%), 649 juveniles (27%), and 398 infants (16%) were counted. Adult male-to-female sex ratio was 1:1.97 and adult female-to-infant ratio was 1:0.43. We determined 2848 km² of suitable area for golden langurs in Bhutan and estimated a density of 0.88 individuals/km². Our population estimate of golden langurs in Bhutan is much lower than the current IUCN estimate of 4000 individuals for Bhutan, necessitating a reassessment of its current conservation status due to threats from road kills, electrocution, and development activities like road construction, hydropower, and electrical transmission lines. We further recommend our refined double-observer survey method to reliably estimate primate populations in rugged terrain

Conservation threats to the endangered golden langur (Trachypithecus geei, Khajuria 1956) in Bhutan

Threat assessment is critical to species conservation and management planning, because prior identification and assessment of key threats to conservation planning can assist in developing appropriate interventions or strategies. Comprehensive threat assessments are currently lacking for many threatened primates. In this paper, we classify and rank all direct threats to the endangered golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) in Bhutan in order to provide a practical guide to future conservation of the species. Information on threats was based on interviews with local people, discussion with field forestry staff, and social media interaction. We classified threats to golden langur habitats and populations, and ranked them using Miradi™, an analytical software for the adaptive management of conservation projects. We identified five habitat threats: (1) hydropower development, (2) road development, (3) housing development, (4) resource extraction, and (5) agricultural expansion. We also identified seven population threats: (1) electrocution, (2) road kill, (3) road injury, (4) dog kill, (5) retaliatory killing, (6) illegal pet keeping, and (7) hybridization with capped langurs. We rated the overall threat to golden langurs in Bhutan as 'medium'. Hydropower, road, and housing development constituted 'high' impact, while agricultural expansion, resource extraction, electrocution, and road kill had 'medium' impact; the remaining threats had 'low' impact. To immediately mitigate threats to golden langurs, we recommend: (a) installing speed limit signage and speed breakers with strict enforcement of speed limits; (b) installing insulated electric cables and fencing around power transformers; and (c) reducing and restraining domestic dog populations