Wildlife assessment of the Chandragiri hills, Kathmandu: Potentiality for ecotourism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17161/eurojecol.v6i1.13520Keywords:
bird, butterfly, herpetofauna, hiking route, mammal, threatened speciesAbstract
Wildlife assessments can provide crucial information regarding species richness, relative abundance and spatial, temporal, and ecological information on wildlife habitat associations. The assessment’s information can in turn be used for developing management policies including for establishing touristic zones. We investigated wildlife occurrences in the Chandragiri Hills, Kathmandu Nepal from 2015-2019 to provide baseline data to inform the potential sites for ecotourism. During the study period, we recorded 30 mammal species, 199 bird species, 34 herpetofauna species and 77 butterfly species. The area harbors three globally and six nationally threatened mammal species, two globally and seven nationally threatened with one endemic bird species, one globally and nationally threatened herpetofauna, and one nationally threatened butterfly species. We also explored four potential hiking routes for observing wildlife and providing scenic views of the Himalayan range and Kathmandu city. Therefore, we expect Chandragiri Hills can become one of the hot spot for tourists to observe both common and threatened wildlife species in Nepal.
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Smith, C. (1994) Butterflies of Nepal, Craftsman Press, Bangkok.
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Appel, A., Werhahn, G., Acharya, R., Ghimirey, Y., and Adhikary, B. (2013) Small carnivores in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal. Vertebrate Zoology, 63, 11–121.
Baral, H. S. and Inskipp, C. (2005) Important Bird Areas in Nepal: key sites for conservation. Bird Conservation Nepal and Birdlife International, Kathmandu and Cambridge.
Baral, H.S., and Shah, K.B. (2008) Wild mammals of Nepal. Himalayan Nature, Kathmandu.
Baral, N., Stern, M.J., and Hammett, A.L. (2012) Developing a scale for evaluating ecotourism by visitors: a study in the Annapurna conservation area, Nepal. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 20, 975–989.
Bibby, C.J., Burgess, N.D., Hill, D.A., and Mustoe, S. (2000). Bird Census Techniques Second Edition. Great Britain: Academic Press.
Bookbinder, M.P., Dinerstein, E., Rijal, A., Cauley, H., and Rajouria, A. (1998) Ecotourism’s support of biological conservation. Conservation Biology, 12, 1399–1404.
Cong, L., Newsome, D., Wu, B., and Morrison, A. M. (2014) Wildlife tourism in China: a review of the Chinese research literature. Current Issues in Tourism, 20, 1116–1139. doi:10.1080/13683500.2014.948811.
Donohoe, H.M. and Needham, R.D. (2006) Ecotourism: the evolving contemporary definition. Journal of Ecotourism, 5, 192-210, doi: 10.2167/joe152.0.
Ghimire, D. (2008) A Birdwatcher Guide to the Kathmandu Valley, Bird Conservation Nepal, Kathmandu.
Gregory, R.D., Gibbons, D.W, and Donald., P.F. (2004) Bird census and survey techniques. In W.J. Sutherland, I. Newton, and R.E. Green (Eds.), Bird ecology and conservation, a handbook of techniques, New York: Oxford University Press.
Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C., and Inskipp, T. (2000) Birds of Nepal. Helm Field Guide, Prakash Books, New Delhi.
Hausmann, A., Slotow, R., Fraser, I., and Di Minin, E. (2016) Ecotourism marketing alternative to charismatic megafauna can also support biodiversity conservation. Animal Conservation, 20, 91–100. doi:10.1111/acv.12292.
Higginbottom, K. and Tribe, A. (2004) Contributions of wildlife tourism to conservation. In K. Higginbottom (Eds.), wildlife tourism – impacts, management and planning, Common Ground Publishing Ground Pty, Ltd, Australia.
Hunter, L. (2011) Carnivores of the world. Princeton University Press.
Inskipp, C., Baral, H.S., Phuyal, S., Bhatt, T.R., Katiwada, M., Inskipp, T., et al., (2016) The state of Nepal’s bird: the national red list series. U.K: Zoological Society of London.
Jenks, K.E., Chanteap, P., Damrongchainarong, K., Cutter, P., Redford, T., Lynam, A.J., et al., (2011) Using relative abundance indices from camera trapping to test wildlife conservation hypotheses – an example from KhaoYai National Park Thailand. Tropical Conservation Science, 4, 113 – 131.
Jnawali, S.R., Baral, H.S., Lee, S., Subedi, N., Acharya, K.P., Upadhyay, G.P., et al., (2011) The status of Nepal's mammals: the national red list series, Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Katuwal, H. B. and Dahal, S. (2013) Golden Jackals in Human Dominated Landscape of the Manaslu conservation Area, Nepal. Vertebrate Zoology, 63, 315-319.
Katuwal, H.B., Sharma, H.P., Shaner, P.J.L., Gurung, R., Thapa, V., Magar, T.G., et al., (2018) Updating spatial information of 27 mammal species in Nepal. Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 28, 1735-1745.
KC, A., Rijal, K., and Sapkota, R. P. (2015) Role of ecotourism in environmental conservation and socioeconomic development in Annapurna conservation area, Nepal. International Journal of Sustainable Development of World, 22, 251-258.
Khanal, B., and Smith, C. (1997) Butterflies of Kathmandu Valley, Tec Press Books, Bangkok, Thailand.
Kurnianto, A.S., Wafa, I.Y., Alifianto, F., and Kurniawan, N. (2016) The potential of butterflies in tourism diversification product: Case study at Coban Rais waterfall, Batu, East Java. Journal of Indonesian Tourism and Development Studies, 2016, 4, 115-122.
Larm, M., Elmhagen, B., Granquist, S.M., Brundin, E., and Angerbjörn, A. (2018) The role of wildlife tourism in conservation of endangered species: Implications of safari tourism for conservation of the Arctic fox in Sweden. Human Dimension of Wildlife, 23, 257-272, doi: 10.1080/10871209.2017.1414336.
Lindsey, P.A., Alexander, R., Mills, M.G.L., Romañach, S., and Woodroffe, R. (2007) Wildlife viewing preferences of visitors to protected areas in South Africa: Implications for the role of ecotourism in conservation. Journal of Ecotourism, 6, 19–33. doi:10.2167/joe133.0.
Loubser, G.J.J., Mouton, P. le F.N., and Nel, J.A.J. (2001) The ecotourism potential of herpetofauna in the Namaqua National Park, South Africa. South African Journal of Wildlife Research, 31, 13–23.
Lütolf, M., Guisan, A., and Kienast, F. (2009) History matters: Relating land-use change to butterfly species occurrence. Environment Management, 43, 436–446. doi:10.1007/s00267-008-9256-6.
O’Brien, T.G., Kinnaird, M.F., and Wibisono, H.T. (2003) Crouching tigers, hidden prey: Sumatran tiger and prey populations in a tropical forest landscape. Animal Conservation, 6, 131 – 139.
Shah, K.B., and Tiwari, S. (2004) Herpetofauna of Nepal: A Conservation Companion – Kathmandu. IUCN Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Sharma, H.P., Rimal, B., Zhang, M., Sharma, S., Poudyal, L.P., Maharjan, S., et al., (2020) Potential distribution of the Critically Endangered Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) in different land covers of Nepal: Implications for conservation. Sustainability, 12, 1282. doi:10.3390/su12031282
Shrestha, U.B., Shrestha, S., Chaudhary, P., and Chaudhary, R.P. (2010) How representative is the protected areas system of Nepal? Mountain Research and Development, 30, 282-294.
Smith, C. (1994) Butterflies of Nepal, Craftsman Press, Bangkok.
Subdedi, T. and Gurung, S. (2018) Raptor Migration Summary Thoolakharka Nepal – Autumn 2018. Report submitted to Nepal Raptor Conservation Program, Himalayan Nature and Nepal Ornithological Union, Nepal.
Thapa, K.B., Rana, N., and Shah, K.B. (2019) Distribution of King Cobra in Nepal. Himalayan Naturalist, 2, 26-33.
Thomas, J.W. (1982) Needs For and Approaches To Wildlife Habitat Assessment, USDA Forest Service / UNL Faculty Publications. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usdafsfacpub/81
Wanger, T.C., Iskandar, D.T., Motzke, I., Brook, B.W., Sodhi, N.S., Clough, Y., et al., (2010) Effects of land-use change on community composition of tropical amphibians and reptiles in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Conservation Biology, 24, 795–802. doi:10.1111/J.1523-1739.2009.01434.X.
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2020-08-24
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How to Cite
Katuwal, H. B., Basent, H. ., Sharma, H. P., Koirala, S., Khanal, B., Neupane, K. R., Thapa, K. B., Panta, D. B., Parajuli, K., Lamichhane, S., Rai, M., Pun, T., Shakya, S., & Baral, S. (2020). Wildlife assessment of the Chandragiri hills, Kathmandu: Potentiality for ecotourism. European Journal of Ecology, 6(1), 27-50. https://doi.org/10.17161/eurojecol.v6i1.13520
