A softshell turtle discovered at Kaziranga National Park

Guwahati, Feb. 24: The biodiversity-rich Northeast continues to throw up pleasant surprises.

Close on the heels of the World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature?s announcement that the Northeast has the second richest forest reserve in the world in terms of plant diversity, another study has revealed that the century-old Kaziranga National Park has as many as 76 species of amphibians and reptiles.

The species were recorded for the first time in the abode of the one-horned rhino during a survey of herpetofauna (amphibians and reptiles) between January and December last year. The survey was supported by the UK-based Clifford Foundation.

The survey team was led by Firoz Ahmed, a wildlife biologist with Aaranyak, a non-governmental organisation working in the field of environment. He is also the honorary wildlife warden of the department of environment and forests, Assam.

The other members of the team were Abhijit Das, Bibhuti Prasad Lahkar, Rabindra Nath Sharma and Niranjan Kumar Vasu.

Ahmed said the findings would help the conservation and management of herpetofauna, which are often neglected.

The team?s discovery includes a critically-endangered black softshell turtle, aspideretes nigricans. The species was first found in the pond of a shrine at Chittagong in Bangladesh. Ahmed said the rare turtle was first discovered in the wilds of Upper Assam in 2000 by two Austrian scientists.

?This is for the first time it has been reported from a protected area, which will ensure its survival. Outside the park, they are killed for their meat,? he added.

Two other important amphibians found in the park are theloderma asper (warty tree frog) and phrynoglossus borealis (northern frog). The former is generally found in the hills of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, South China and South East Asia. The latter, a small frog, is found in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. The existence of the two has been recorded for the first time in Assam.

?Our immediate plan is to prepare a colour field guide to spread awareness among the park authorities and visitors as well as teachers and students from the region about the herpetofauna and their conservation,? Ahmed said.

Though the survey team found no noticeable threat to herpetofauna, it said loss of habitat because of expanding human settlements and high traffic on the highway that bifurcates the park were sources of concern. Hundreds of amphibians and reptiles are killed every year by vehicles speeding on National Highway 37, especially during the monsoon.