Chapter-4

Distribution and Conservation Status of Assam Roofed turtle,

Pangshura sylhetensis in Assam

1Pranab Kumar Sarma, 2Chittaranjan Baruah and 3D.K. Sharma

1Mangaldoi College, Mangaldai-784125, Darrang, Assam

2 and 3Department of Zoology, Gauhati University, Guwahati – 781 014, Assam, India

E-mail: 2chittaranjan_21@yahoo.co.in

Introduction

The State of Assam is located between 24.30 N and 280 N and 89.50 E and 96.10E and with an area of 78,438 km2 representing 2.4 percent of the India’s landmass. The turtle fauna of Assam is diverse comprising of  Pangshura sylhetensis (Jerdon, 1870) commonly known as Assam roofed turtle. It is a small turtle differing from other species of Pangshura in having 13 pairs of marginal scutes, and attaining a carapace length of 200 mm and is endemic to northeastern region of India and Bangladesh. According to IUCN (2007), it is one of the Asia’s Most Endangered Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles. The species was first reported from the Khasi hills. Study of population status, distribution pattern in an area can be used to formulate conservation strategies and taxonomic relationship among the species. This paper reports the present status and distribution of P. sylhetensis in Darrang, Sonitpur and Udalguri districts of Assam.

Analysis of zoogeography of Pangshura sp. provides information and ranges of their natural distribution and boundaries that helps to find out the endemic status of the species. Endemism constitutes an important feature while formulation of conservation strategies. Therefore distribution of  the species and their habitat associations have been attempted in this study.

The study sites

The study was conducted in five sites viz. Kuruwa, Kulshi, of Darrang and Udalguri districts, Biswanath ghat, Gomirighat and Jia Bharali River in Sonitpur district of Assam, India (Table-1).

Jia Bharali river: This study sites under the river Jia Bharali and its tributaries are Diji, Dinai, Doigurung, Nameri, Dikori and Khari criss-cross of Nameri National Park (200 sq km).

Biswanath ghat: It is popularly known as “Gupta Kashi” located at the confluence of Bridhaganga (Burigonga) river with the Brahmaputra.

Gomirighat: It is on the north bank of the river Brahmaputra, adjacent to Ghanhigaon in Sonitpur District.

Kuruwa ghat: It falls under Kuruwa Reserve Forest (155 Ha) is located on the north bank of the river Brahmaputra.

Kulshi river: It is at the North border of Udalguri touching foothills of Bhutan falls Khalingduar Reserve Forest (7033 Ha).

Table-1: The Survey Areas

Methods

The study was conducted in different representative ecozones of northern part of the River Brahmaputra valley of Assam during January 2004 - December 2007. Extensive surveys in 3 districts of Assam, India were made in different seasons. Surveys were also done in Buffer Zones of Protected areas considered important by earlier workers.

The survey for Pangshura sylhetensis habitat was done using quadrats;  transects, museum records and interviews with local people using photo sheets and questionnaires.

The study area was censused one to three times per day between 7a.m. to 5 p.m. in winter, premonsoon and postmonsoon season. Searching for nests was carried out by walking an 1.5 Km transect in 2 hrs. Local fishermen gave information about nest and eggs of P. sylhetensis.

During survey period most turtles were marked with red paint on the plastron and released in the same area. For identification of the species Das (1995) was followed.

Live turtles were collected and without causing any injury, measured for curved carapace length (CCL), straight carapace length (SCC) curved carapace width (CCW) and shell height (SH). Scute and bone terminology used by Zangerl (1969) was followed.

Dead specimens collected from the study sites were preserved and measured for curved carapace length (CCL), straight carapace length (SCL), curved carapace width (CCW), shell height (SH) and body weight.

Results and discussion

A total of 136 representatives of P. sylhetensis belonging to the family Geoemydidae have been collected from study sites and released after investigation (Plate 4A and 4B). Eight dead specimens of P. sylhetensis were collected from Biswanath ghat and Gomirighat.

The present field survey has identified the following important habitats for Pangshura sylhetensis in Darrang, Udalguri and Sonitpur districts of Assam-

Darrang district: Poska phukhuri near Barampur, Dighirpar phukhuri near Arjuntal, Marasuti of Mangaldoi river near Karimchowka, Beel near Shiv temple of Kuruwa ghat, Beel near Ganesh Kuwari of Dumuni chowki, Khalihoi beel, Rowmari , Chereng and Mowamari beel, Dova near areng of Darrang district.

Udalguri district: Dhansirighat, Mara-dhansirighat, Pond of Rawta charali, Kachubeel, beel near Orang National Park, Namkhala bazaar area of Udalguri district.

Sonitpur district: Nameri National Park, beel near Beseria village, near Gabharu river, Gahigaon wetland, Gohpur wetland of Sonitput district of Assam.

These observations resulted from the catch of 136 turtles during the study period (male 81 and female 55) (Table-2).  Further, 50 juvenile male’s and 20 juvenile females were observed during this study. This confirms the suitability of this habitat as having a breeding populations. Habitat destruction and over exploitation have threatened the survival of this species. Indian population of P. sylhetensis suffered a 90% decrease in the last decade and IUCN justifiably declared this species as endangered (IUCN, 2007). But present investigation documents a healthy population of P. sylhetensis in Nameri National Park, Biswanath ghat, Gomirighat and Kuruwa ghat areas, probably due to the level of protection and awareness among locals.

Nests of P. sylhetensis were observed only in March/April at Biswanath ghat and Kuruwa ghat with 6-8 eggs per nest. During this study period, three new habitats were located and their physiochemical parameters were recorded.

Table-2: The abundance of P. sylhetensis in the study sites.

Our survey shows that every year during the period from the first week of October to first week of February, a huge numbers of eggs of P. sylhetensis are collected by the inhabitants (particularly by children) and sold in the local market.  Other reasons for the decline of the species are illegal slaughtering for meat, egg perdition, water pollution and human disturbances (Rao, 1985 and Gupta, 2000). The killing of adult female freshwater turtles and incidental catch of breeding adults has probabily increased over the past few years. The nest poachers can easily identify the nests and dig out the eggs and sell these in the local markets.

Earlier, P. sylhetensis was recorded from Kukurmara and Chandubi beels of Kamrup district; Kalathua village of Sibsagar district; Rupali Bhumuk of Manas National park; Barpeta district, Kundil river of Sodia; Banko beel of Dibru-Saikhowa Wild Life Sanctuary; Lohit river near Saikhowaghat, Tinsukia district; Ghilamara of Lakhimpur district and Nameri National Park, Sonitpur district of Assam. Cachar district of Assam, Garo, Khashi and Naga hills.

Moll (1986) had reported P. sylhetensis from Cherrapunji (Khasi hills) and Garo hills of Meghalaya, Cachar dist. of Assam. Coudhury (1995) reported the new locality of P. sylhetensis in Sadiya, subdivision of Tinsukia district, Kolathua village of Sibsagar district, Assam. Choudhury et al. (1997) described the distribution and diet of P. sylhetensis in Assam. They conducted a survey between March 1995 to August 1996 in Kamrup district, Assam, north eastern India to ascertain the distribution of the species. They collected P. sylhetensis from Kukurmara river and Chandubi beel located in the south western part of Kamrup district. Praschag and Fachbach (2001) reported P. sylhetensis from Nameri National Park of Assam, India. This species has been reported from various locations from the Northeastern region in the past  (Tikadar and Sharma 1985, Choudhury 1995, Choudhury et al. 1997).

Conclusion

The survey shows that vast areas of their original habitats have been lost. Amongst all the study sites surveyed,  Jia Bharali seems to be an ideal home for P. sylhetensis. Other reasons for the decline of the species are illegal slaughtering for meat, poaching of egg, water pollution and by-catch. Killing of adult freshwater turtles and incidental catch of breeding adults has intensified over the past few years. Hence, there is an urgent need to sensitize and educate the people about the significance of chelonians and their conservation.

Acknowledgements

We thankfully acknowledge the Forest Officials, Government of Assam for the accord of necessary permission and help during the field work. We are also thankful to Rufford Small Grants Foundation, U.K and UGC, NERO, Guwahati for financial assistance.

References

Choudhury, A. 1995. The Assam Roofed Turtle Kachuga Sylhetensis in Sadiya – A New locality record. J. Bombay Natural History Society 92: 426.

Choudhury, N. K.; Sharma, D.K. and Sengupta, S. 1997. Notes on the distribution and diet of Kachuga sylhetensis. Hamadryad 22(1): 61-62.

Das, I. 1995. Turtles and Tortoises of India. Oxford University Press, Bombay, pp. 179.

Gupta, A. 2000. The Beleagured Chelonians of Northeastern India. Turtle and Tortoise Newsletter 6: 16-17.

IUCN/SSC.2007. Turtles in Trouble: Asia’s Most Endangered Tortoises and Freshwater Turtle. IUCN/SSC.

Jerdon, T.C. 1870. Notes on Indan Herpetology. P. Asiatic Soc. Bengal 66-85.

Moll, E. O. 1986. Survey of the freshwater turtles of India Part I: The Genus Kachuga. J. Bombay Natural History Society 83: 538-552.

Praschag, P. and Fachbach, G. 2001.Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Assam DachschildkrOte, Kachuga sylhetensis (Jerdon, 1870) (Reptilia: Testudines; Bataguridae).Salamandra, Rheinbach 37 (3): 129-148.

Rao, R.J. 1985. Freshwater turtle conservation in National Chambal Sanctuary. Tiger Paper XII (4): 28-29

Tikadar, B.K. and Sharma, R.C. (1985). Handbook of Indian Testudine. Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta, India.

Zangerl, R. 1969. The Turtle Shell. pp. 311–339. In:  Biology of the Reptilia. Vol. 1. Morphology. A. C. Gans, A. d’A. Bellairs, and T. S. Parsons (eds.). Academic Press, New York.