Kangkan KalitaGuwahati: A new scientific study by Kaziranga National Park (KNP) has confirmed that the Greater Hog Badger is thriving in its natural habitat, park officials said on Saturday. Locally known as ‘Mati Gahori’, this nocturnal burrowing mammal is a globally Vulnerable species protected under Schedule I of India’s Wildlife Protection Act.Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR) thus has unveiled the first scientific assessment report of the Greater Hog Badger (Arctonyx collaris), a nocturnal small burrowing mammal in the report was released on Friday. The study was conducted by Kaziranga’s Tiger Cell in collaboration with Wildlife Conservation Trust and Tiasa Adhya of The Fishing Cat Project with the objective of estimating the density and habitat occupancy of greater hog badgers within the Tiger Reserve by assessing the camera-trap images available from past All India Tiger Estimation data.Park authority said that at least 55 individual Hog badgers are estimated in approximately 1100 Km2 area, which indicates a healthy and potentially viable population widely distributed throughout the landscape.Taking to social media, Environment and Forests minister Jayanta Malla Baruah posted: “Exciting news from @kaziranga_ ! The Great Hog Badger is doing well…The first scientific assessment using camera-trap bycatch data has recorded over 60 Greater Hog Badgers in the park. The healthy presence of this elusive, nocturnal burrower across diverse habitats reflects the strength of Kaziranga’s ecosystems. Every species, big or small, plays a vital role in maintaining ecological balance and biodiversity.”Hog badgers are distributed across parts of South, Central and Southeast Asia. Its range extends from Bangladesh and northeastern India eastwards through Myanmar, Thailand, Lao PDR and Vietnam, south to Cambodia and peninsular Thailand. According to IUCN, an exact global population count is not available, the population trend is decreasing due to habitat loss and intense poaching pressure for which the species is listed as Vulnerable.KNPTR director Sonali Ghosh said that the Greater Hog Badger is an ecologically important mesocarnivore whose conservation in Kaziranga National Park has implications beyond the persistence of a single species. “As an omnivorous and highly fossorial mammal, the species contributes to ecosystem functioning through soil disturbance, nutrient redistribution, and the turnover of leaf litter during foraging activities. Such digging behaviour enhances soil aeration and may facilitate seed germination and microhabitat formation for invertebrates and small vertebrates,” she said.Greater Hog Badger is quite sensitive to hunting and has massively declined in its South East Asian range with probably only India and Thailand having a healthy population at present. Park officials said that this makes it a (much) higher conservation priority in the South Asian parts, notably in Assam and NE India. “This region is much more internationally significant than might be assumed from a casual look at a global range map and the finding from Kaziranga helps to prove this point,” the park authority added.
