Golden langur

Agartala, Oct. 4: Tripura, endowed with a rich forest cover encompassing 59 per cent of the state’s area, is in danger of losing its seven primate species in a few years’ time from now.

All the seven species have been put on Schedule-1, which means that they are in the category of “rare and highly endangered species” according to Wild Life Protection Act, 1972. The wildlife section of the state forest department sent a formal proposal on February 28 this year to Atul Kumar Gupta, chief of the Wild Life Institute of India (WLII) based in Dehradun for conservation measures.

Describing the primates as the “flagship species of bio-diversity”, Mohammed Ayub Khan, chief wildlife warden in Tripura, said of the 15 primate species available in India, seven were found in the state till recently and eight in neighbouring Assam.

But insurgency has taken a toll on wildlife in the state also. Officials of the wildlife section of the forest department have not been able to visit two of the state’s wildlife sanctuaries because of militant threats over the past few years.

While the Sipahijala wildlife sanctuary in Bishalgarh subdivision of West Tripura is still accessible, officials and staff cannot enter the Deo and Roa sanctuaries in North Tripura district and Trishna sanctuary in Belonia subdivision of South Tripura district.

Khan said a wildlife scholar from Dehradun had spotted a tiger in Trishna sanctuary last year but he was warned by militants against visiting the sanctuary and staying there again.

“Apart from the threat of killing and abduction by militants, we have severe fund constraints that have not allowed us to carry out a full-fledged survey since 1990,” Khan said.

Elaborating on the state of primates in Tripura, Khan said his department had undertaken a survey in March this year in the Sipahijala sanctuary. Altogether three species — Slow Loris, Golden Langur and Hoolock Gibbon were not at all sighted in the Sipahijala sanctuary.

“We could trace altogether 318 pigtail macaque, 620 rhesus macaque, 122 capped langur and 212 Phayre’s langur or the famous “spectacled monkey”, Khan said.

Asserting that the shrinking primate population would lead to major ecological imbalance, Khan said that Phayre’s langur was one of the rarest species in the Northeast, found only in Tripura, Assam and the bordering areas of Mizoram.

“They are gregarious, shy and keen to live together,” Khan said, adding that they were worst-affected by forest cover depletion.

Khan said the forest department had requested the Wildlife Institute in Dehradun to prepare a comprehensive project for research.