A study of mammal species survey Castle-rock to Tenai-ghat and to suggest
avoiding a train-wildlife collision.
1.Introduction:
Linear projects such as railways and highways are reviewed by the regional empowered committees
which pass through wildlife habitat in order to evaluate the consequence of the project to the wildlife
habitat. This examination helps to understand the unplanned impact on wildlife, forest cover and longterm environmental sustainability of the project. The Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980 outlaws the use
of any forest land for non-forest activities without prior approval of the central government. This practice
is known as forest clearance. In May 2019, the environment ministry distributed a circular to all state
governments that the FCA, 1980, will not put on for doubling of track and gauge conversion projects if
the land is railway land and was under non-forest use before 1980. Projects involving the construction of
new lines would still need to apply for forest clearance. If the doubling project fall under forest areas and
the impact of the project needs to be surveyed by the expert authority in order to guide the project
authority to plan to protect wildlife migratory routes and minimize the loss of wildlife habitat. Mitigation
is only one of the planning alternatives transportation agencies have to reduce or eradicate impacts of
road/rail construction and expansion projects. Transportation projects can (1) have road/rail alignments
that avoid critical wildlife habitat, (2) mitigate affected wildlife populations and habitats,
(overpass/Underpass/alternation of lands/corridor linking) or (3) compensate for the loss of wildlife
habitat and give land to the other areas to develop new forest acres.
The Western Ghats providing a fairly intact mammalian fauna distinctive peninsular India. According to
(Nameer et al. 2001) out the 135 species of mammals recorded in Ghats, 16 are endemic to the Western
Ghats. The distribution of mammalian fauna in the Ghats determined by a number of factors such as
topography, temperature, rainfall, vegetation and the history of habitat disturbance, transformation and
fragmentation of the habitats. Mammals are usually among the taxa that are directly impacted by linear
intrusions into their habitat; this is especially true of the larger mammals that are prone to collisions with
vehicles on roads (Forman et al. 2003) or with trains along railway tracks (Gunderson & Andreasson
1998, Roy et al. 2009).The region has numerous endemic plants and animals and also provides a critically
important tiger corridor between Karnataka and Goa. The sanctuary, with a beautiful mosaic of
woodlands and grasslands, is home to tigers, leopards, gaur, sloth bears, sambar, spotted deer, chitals,
foxes, wild dogs, king cobras elephants, and other threatened species of mammals, birds and reptiles. We
have previously recorded 22 mammals’ species adjoining areas of this railway track sector in between
Castle rock-Kulem section (Sukumar&Sitharam 2017).
2. StudyArea:
The south Western Railways (SWR) plans to double line from Hospet to Marmagaon to boost the
movement of imported coal from Marmagaon port to steel industries and upcoming thermal power plants
in Karnataka. The Hospet-Hubli-Londa-Tinaighat-Vasco (407 Km) doubling rail line was sanctioned by
the Railway Board at a total cost of Rs. 2,127 crore in 2010-11.The present study falls Castle -rock-Tenaighat part of the Hospet-Vasco doubling line project fall under Uttara Kannada district in the state of
Karnataka. The proposed line passes through the core of Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary(400 km2 ) and
Anshi National Park (340 km2) which is an important tiger habitat of the Anshi-Dandeli Tiger Reserve
(rename as Kali Tiger Reserve during 2015 ) and the area is also a part of the Dandeli Elephant Reserve
(Uttara Kannada, Belagavi, Haveri and Dharwad), covering an area extending up to 2,321sqkm
and declared during 2002. The forests are a part of vital tiger corridors – one linking the Bhimgad
Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka and Radhanagri Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra and linking corridor
to Anshi National Park in Karnataka and the Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary and Mollem National
Park in Goa
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Asian_Month/2019,). Anshi park
adjoins the Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary, and together with six adjacent protected areas in the
states of Goa and Maharashtra, forms an almost uninterrupted protected forest area of over 2,200
km2.
The black panther, elephants and tigers live in the park but are rarely seen. Other large mammals
here are Indian bison, sloth bear, Indian wild boar, bonnet macaque, northern plains gray langur,
gray slender loris, several deer including: barking deer (muntjac), mouse deer (chevrotain),
sambar deer and spotted deer (chital or axis deer). Wild dog, jackal, jungle cat, leopard cat, small
Indian civet, Indian gray mongoose, flying squirrel, porcupine, Malabar civet, Indian giant
squirrel and pangolin also make their home in the forests here. Reptiles in the park include the
king cobra, spectacled cobra, Russell's viper, saw-scaled viper, common krait, Indian rock
python, rat snake, vine snake, green or bamboo pit viper and monitor lizards. Interesting birds
include the Ceylon frogmouth, great hornbill, Malabar pied hornbill, Malabar grey hornbill,
Indian grey hornbill and Asian fairy bluebird. Around 200 species of birds are recorded in the
park. These include the distinctive adjutant stork, ashy woodswallow, black-crested bulbul, blueheaded pitta, brahminy kite, broad-billed roller, crested serpent eagle, great hornbill, golden-
backed woodpecker, Malabar pied hornbill, Sri Lanka frogmouth and yellow-footed green
pigeon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali_Tiger_Reserve)
The region is home to many endemic and endangered species. Due to the same, several environmentalists
and wildlife activists are opposing the project. With increased traffic with the doubling of the CastlerockTenaughat railway line, the risks of collisions of mammals with trains we propose the study in the
following objectives
3. Objectives:
Following were the broad objectives of the study:
i) Estimation of diversity of mammal species in this area both through direct sightings and indirect
evidences also corroborated with camera traps.
ii) Impact of doubling of railway line on the mammalian community especially on deaths or injuries to
mammals in train collisions due to increased rail traffic.
iii) Formulation of mitigation plan to reduce the impacts of doubling of railway line on movement of
mammals across the rail track.
4. Methods.
Both direct and indirect methods such as camera traps, study of animal signs, pellets, scats and other
remains were employed to enumerate the diversity of mammalain assemblage in the project area. Each
method employed is briefly described.
i) Camera traps: Camera trapping was carried out along the stretch of the present railway track that is
proposed to be doubled, in order to record the movement of mammal species. Most camera trap models
are triggered by a passive infrared sensor detecting a moving object warmer than the ambient temperature
such as animals, people, or vehicles passing in front of them. Camera trapping is most often used to
capture images of medium to large sized terrestrial mammals and birds, but has also been recently used
for arboreal mammals (Oliveira-Santos et al., 2008). Camera traps have been used to record fauna in a
wide range of habitats, from snow leopard in the Himalayas (Jackson et al. 2006) and bobcat in northern
California (Larrucea et al. 2007) to a wealth of studies in tropical forests (e.g. Karanth & Nichols 1998;
Karanth et al. 2002; Rovero& De Luca 2007; Tobler et al. 2008a). Besides their use for carrying out
faunal inventories and obtaining information on activity pattern and habitat preference, scientifically
robust, inferential sampling studies using camera traps can allow the estimation of occupancy and animal
density.
Cudde-back X-Change Infrared camera trap model was used in this survey. At each location a camera
trap was kept for 2 or 3 nights. From the railway track maximum 100 m both side of track camera trap
were fixed. The spacing between two cameras traps were location 50m-250m distance. Total distance
between Castlerock railway station and Tenaighat railway station is twelve km. Camera traps were
deployed along the animal tracks and paths in order to get photograph of species close to the railway
track. Six camera traps were used for this survey. Every location of Camera trap (GPS location) was
recorded by hand held Garmin GPS.
ii) Animal signs:
Transects: Transects were laid parallel to the existing railway track on both sides of the track up to 10
meters and animal signs were searched visually. Every animal sign (foot print/pugmark/track sign,
feeding sign, scat/pellets/faces, and scrapes/stretches/animal parts) was recorded. GPS locations of the
every evidence taken by handheld Garmin GPS and locations plotted on maps using GIS software
(Sathyakumar et al. 2011, Roy & Sukumar 2017).
Sambar deer pellet
Indian Gaur hoof mark
Leopard scat
Sambar deer hoofmark
Direct Observation/Sightings: During the routine field survey whenever any animal was sighted close
to railway track/forest areas were recorded. Species, date, time, place, GPS location were recorded for
each sighting. Even if no animal were sighted during the field survey on that particular day the
information was recorded in a particular data sheets.
5. Results:
5.1. Camera traps: A total of 72 (12 nights*6 camera traps) camera trap nights were ran during the
period (29.06.2019-10.07.2019) .The camera traps were kept close to railway track on the animal paths
and in between station Castle-rock & Tenai-ghat. Traps were kept based on consultations with local
railway staff, forest staff and own assessment by research team. (photo of camera trap) A total of twenty
three (23) photographs were captured belonging to six different species of mammals (including one bird
species) were captured. The Indian gaur with 9 images topped the list followed by Indian porcupine (8)
and Sambar deer (3). Results are tabulated in the table (Table1).
Table1. Camera trap findings in between Castle-rock-Tenai-ghat sector
Animal Name
Indian Gaur (Bos gaurus )
Indian Porcupine(Hystrix indica )
Sambar deer(Rusa unicolor )
Small Indian Civet (Viverricula indica)
Chital deer(Axis axis)
*Peacock(Pavo cristatus)
Overall
No of
Photo
Capture
9
8
3
1
1
1
No of
Individual
Cap/CTN
13
8
3
1
1
1
0.125
0.111
0.042
0.014
0.014
0.014
23
27
0.319
5.2. Indirect signs: A total of 406 animal signs (footprint//hoof mark/pug mark/pellet
faces/Scat/Shelter/Digging/Track sign /Feeding sign /others) were recorded between Castle rock
railway station and Tenaighat railway station during the transect walks. Among the signs foot
print/hoof marks were the dominant signs followed by signs of shelter and feeding signs (Table
2). Most abundant signs (57%) belonged to Indian Gaur (Bos gaurus) followed by Hanuman
langur (Semnopithecus dussumieri) (20%) and Sambar deer (Rusa unicolor)(10%). Pugmarks (7)
and scat (1) of the large carnivore Leopard was also recorded.
5.3. Direct sightings: There were 10 direct sightings of different animals during the routine field
survey. They were Indian Gaur two (2) times, Hanuman languor four (4) times, Indian muntjac
two (2) times, Indian porcupine (1) time, Bonnet macaque (1) one time. The sighting details are
given here details is given (Table 3).
Fig1.Camnera trap location Castle rock Tenaighat
Table2.Animal sighs found both side of railway track (10m) in between Stations Castle rock –
Tenaighat
Animal Name
Indian Gaur ( Bosgaurus)
Hanuman Langur
(Semnopithecusdussumieri)
Sambar deer
(Rusa
unicolor)
Wild boar ( Sussrorfa)
Indian
Porcupine(Hystrixindica )
Leopard
(Pantherapardus)
Barking Deer
(Muntiacusmuntjak)
Jungle cat (Felischaus )
Mouse
Deer(Moschiolaindica)
Malabar Giant
squirrel(Ratufaindica )
Grand Total
Foot
print/
hoof
mark
188
Pugmark
Pellet
Faeces
Scat
Shelter
Diggings
Track
Feeding
Sign
Others
Total
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
40
0
230
57
0
0
0
32
0
48
0
0
0
0
80
20
41
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
41
10
4
0
0
0
0
0
19
0
0
0
23
6
1
0
0
0
0
0
4
0
0
6
11
3
0
7
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
8
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
7
2
5
%
0
0
0
0
3
0
0
0
0
0
3
1
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
239
7
4
32
4
48
23
2
40
7
406
100
Fig2. Surveyed railway post location Castle rock to Tenaighat
Fig3.Location of all animal signs found Castle rock to Tenaighat
Table3.Direct sightings of mammal species during routine field survey Castle rock to Tenaighat
Date
Animal
sighted
Barking
deer
No of
Animals
Rly Km
post
GPS
Latitude
15.41177
GPS
Longitude
74.32672
15.41884
74.36710
6
15.40087
74.32264
4
15.40573
74.32603
Hanuma
n
Languor
Barking
deer
16
15.40237
74.33069
1
15.40063
74.32350
Castle Rock-Tenaighat
Railway track
Hanuma
n
Languor
5+
15.44423
74.38664
Forest Rest House
complex Castle rock
Indian
porcupin
e
2
15.40056
74.32293
Time
Place of sighting
30-Jun-19
08:45AM
In-between Castle rock
railway station to NH
748 Road (forest road)
30-Jun-19
10:20AM
Castle Rock-Tenaighat
Railway track
Hanuma
n
Languor
6
1-Jul-19
01:30PM
Bonnet
Macaque
6-Jul-19
12:30AM
Indian
Gaur
6-Jul-19
01:30PM
Forest Rest House
complex Castle rock
( Karnataka
Government Adventure
Camp)
In between Castle rock
station to Castle rock
Forest Range office
road
Castle rock market
complex
7-Jul-19
10:30PM
Forest Rest House
Complex Castle rock to
NH
7-Jul-19
10:28AM
8-Jul-19
09:00PM
1
18/7-18/8
13/3-13/4
9-Jul-19
12:00AM
Castle rock market
complex
10-Jul-19
11:20AM
Tenaighat station
Highway 748 railway
gate near
Hanuma
n
Languor
Indian
Gaur
12
2
22/3
15.40237
74.33069
15.41244
74.34092
A total of thirteen species (13) mammal were recorded in the Castle rock to Tenaighat section
close to railway track by camera traps (5), indirect signs survey (10) and direct sightings (5).
Out of thirteen, two species (Indian Gaur, Indian porcupine) were found all three methods,
whereas three species (Barking deer, Hanuman langur, sambar deer) found both indirect sign and
direct sighting method ( Table4).
Table 4. Mammal species founds in Castle rock-Tenaighat section (camera trap, indirect sign,
and direct sightings)
Animal
Sl No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Camera
trap
Barking deer
Indirect
sign
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
Bonnet Macaque
Chital deer
√
Hanuman Languor
Indian Gaur
Indian Porcupine
√
√
Jungle cat
Leopard
Malabar Giant squirrel
Mouse Deer
11 Sambar deer
12 Small Indian Civet
13 Wild boar
5.4. Kernel density analysis:
Direct
sighting
√
√
√
A kernel density map will be generated in Arc GIS software after plotting indirect signs. “Kernel density
is an estimate nonparametric way to estimate the probability density function of random variable and
calculates the density of point features around each output raster cell (Silverman 1986). Raster cell is a
spatial data model that defines space as an array of equally sized cells arranged in rows and columns, and
composed of single or multiple bands. Each cell contains an attribute value and location coordinates”
(http://support.esri.com/other-resources/gis-dictionary/term/raste).
In the map (Figure 4) we can clearly identify three major animal sign clusters. The orange zone (railway
post will be given by Sunipa) has the maximum number and types of animal signs. We can therefore
expect that for crossing this railway track, animals are using the three zones more (near railway posts
railway post will be given by Sunipa) located within this cluster frequently. Therefore, we can say that
these three zones have the maximum importance along this entire stretch from Castle rock to Tenaighat
station and also that these locations need maximum maintenance to ensure that the passage is kept free for
animal movement. ( Fig.4.)
Fig4.kernel density analysis pf all Animals signs Castle rock to Tenaighat
6. Discussion & management recommendation:
6.1. On site constructions & habitat connectivity:
As kernel density ( Fig3) was concentrated at threevarious zones of the track between Castle rockTenaighat,some underpasses (Box culverts) can be made between Rly Km post (Rly Km post ) to ( Rly
km post) will be given by Sunipa) Castek rock –Tenaighat sector).
Low fencing can be erected on both sides of the railway track at certain places to funnel smaller mammals
towards an underpass. The remaining areas, except for high terrain, may also be fenced where needed to
guide larger animals towards a bigger underpass.
For arboreal species (especially Malabar Giant Squirrel but also primates such as Bonnet macaque and
South Indian Grey plains langur) the construction of a canopy bridge using low cost material may be
needed to ensure their crossing over the track.
The report “Ecofriendly measures for mitigating linear Infrastructure” by Wildlife Institute of India
(2017) can be taken as the standard reference for designing the appropriate type of structures for allowing
animals of different body sizes to cross.
6.2. As our survey was done during peak monsoon period, we may leaveover some of the animal signs;
thesemay be found during dry season. The following causation zone locations were given by railways
(The station master Castle rock) in between stations Castle rock to Tenaighat. Beside kernel density zones
these areas also need to be giving emphasis on animals crossing. (Table4). Extra 2-3 box culverts may
be made beside three kernel density zones as there is no culvert for these sectors.
Table4: location of causation zones Castle rock to Tenaighat
Sl
no
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Causation Zone
Length
From
To
(m)
24/000 23/600
400
22/800 21/300
1500
22/300 21/300
1000
16/500 14/200
2300
16/300 15/900
400
15/600 14/800
800
14/600 14/200
400
13/000 12/600
400
12/500 12/000
500
Total
7700
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Sambar deer (Rusa unicolor) image capturedin camera traps Castle rock to Tenaighat
Indian
image captured in camera traps Castle rock to Tenaighat
Gaur
(Bosgaurus)
Chital deer (Axis axis) image captured in camera traps Castle rock to Tenaighat
Indian Porcupine (Hystrixindiac) image captured in camera traps Castle rock to Tenaighat
Sambar deer (Rusa unicolor) image capturedin camera traps Castle rock to Tenaighat