Indian Scientists Building DNA Database to Protect the Elusive Red Panda

Indian scientists are building a DNA database for red panda populations in the country, even as a report warns of “serious threats” to the bushy-tailed and chestnut-furred animals. The main threats are from habitat degradation, amid “low levels” of crime related to the species in India.

According to Zoological Survey of India scientist Mukesh Thakur, the reference DNA database for existing populations of red pandas will aid conservation efforts and come in handy to combat illegal wildlife trade by helping law enforcement officials assign the seizure (of illegal wildlife trade derivatives) to the source of origin, which would aid prosecution.

Thakur has also acknowledged and accepted the recent genetic evidence that red pandas are actually two separate species – Chinese (Ailurus styani) and Himalayan red panda (Ailurus fulgens).

The two species are distributed in the eastern and north-eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests and the eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests, which geographically fall in China, India, Nepal, Bhutan, and northern Myanmar.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature categorises red panda as endangered because its population has “plausibly declined by 50 percent over the last three generations (estimated at 18 years) and this decline is projected to continue, and probably intensify, in the next three generations.”

Experts estimate that around 14,500–15,000 individual red pandas remain worldwide. The main reasons for the population decline are habitat loss and degradation in almost all the range countries.

In India, the animal is distributed in three states only: West Bengal (Darjeeling district only), Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, Thakur said, noting there is no recent report of red panda presence from the Meghalaya Plateau. The animal is protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 in India, which means it is accorded the same protection as tigers.

Adding to conservation efforts, Thakur is leading the study of fine-scale landscape genetics of red panda covering the eastern Himalayas and building a reference DNA database to help in the identification of confiscated cases, under an ongoing five-year project of the government of India’s Department of Science and Technology INSPIRE Faculty scheme.

“We are collecting poop of red pandas from all across the distribution in the eastern Himalayas to build a DNA database and we have already done it from the wild populations in Kangchenjunga landscape, covering North Bengal and Sikkim. We collected 250 plus faecal samples and genetically identified 24 unique individuals in the landscape in India,” Thakur of Centre for DNA Taxonomy and coordinator – Centre for Forensic Sciences, Zoological Survey of India, told Mongabay-India.

“Now in the second phase, we are focussing on red panda populations in Arunachal Pradesh. So far about 50 faecal samples have been collected from various parts of Arunachal Pradesh and my students, Hiren and Supriyo are still in the field for sample collection and conducting surveys. I hope by next year we will have the complete picture of red panda populations in India,” he said.

The 25,085 square km Kangchenjunga landscape (KL), encompassing India, Nepal and Bhutan, ranges in elevation from 40 metres to 8,586 metres and is home to more than seven million people, while hosting more than 4,500 species of plants and at least 169 mammal and 618 bird species.

The landscape supports the transboundary population of red pandas in India, Nepal, and Bhutan. To learn more about how populations are faring in the India part of the landscape, the scientists undertook distribution modelling and fine-scale landscape genetics. They discovered that due to habitat fragmentation and rapid changes in the land use patterns, the red panda populations exist in a series of localised, small, imperfectly connected populations.

“Our investigations suggest that about 1309.54 square km area is suitable for red pandas in the Indian part of the Kangchenjunga landscape, of which 62.21 percent area falls under the protected area network,” Thakur said, adding that there is no India-level exact estimate of the red panda populations.

The National Studbook on the red panda (April 2018) states that the current captive population of red pandas in India includes 24 individuals in three zoos. The population retains a limited amount of genetic diversity and includes closely related individuals.

Red panda related crimes imperil populations

Even as conservation efforts are underway, a recent report by TRAFFIC India brought red-panda related crimes into sharp focus. TRAFFIC is a non-governmental organisation working globally on trade in wild animals and plants.

It said that red panda-related crimes were found to be lowest in Bhutan while significant incidents have been recorded from Nepal. Similarly, though not reported prominently by media, these crimes (targeted/non-targeted poaching, trade of products mainly fur) does exist in India too, albeit at a fairly low level. Only a few incidences of live animal trade (for pets) and no incidences of web-based trade were encountered during the study.

During the study, 32 national/international experts were contacted, 54 markets in India and two markets in Nepal were surveyed and 1,900 persons were interviewed in 289 villages of three states in India. Along with this, CITES trade database records from 2010 to 2018 were analysed while 18 e-commerce portals were actively monitored for 45 days to document any incidence of sale of red panda products over these platforms.

Saket Badola, head of TRAFFIC India and the report’s author, said that there is both good news and bad news for red panda populations in India.

“Based on interactions with local communities, we found that there was no targeted poaching and people have moved away from this. The youth is not seeking the fur for any purpose. When we went to villages, we could see pelts and they didn’t seem very old. So when we interacted with the communities, we found that there was no targeted poaching as such but as they lay traps for other species, the red pandas become entangled and are killed due to that,” said Badola.

The study said that communities do not favour the use of products made from red panda but there are a few traditional caps and pelts that are still being kept as heirlooms and are inherited within the family and may enter the supply chain at any time. As per the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 of India all these articles should have been declared to the authorities. A special drive should be undertaken to register all these inherited articles, the study suggests.

In India, the red panda is protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, which means it is accorded the same protection as tigers. A recent study suggests that a special drive should be undertaken to register all red panda derived inherited articles that should be declared to the authorities.

The report indicates that poaching of red pandas is still prevalent in Nepal with reports from the previous four years indicating nearly 70 units of red panda hides, and also to a lesser extent in India. While no cases of poaching or trade could be gathered in Bhutan during the study period, surveys near the Indo-Bhutan border indicate that there might still be a demand for red panda pelts in Bhutan.

Based on the responses of the experts, the main reason attributed for poaching and trapping of red pandas in India and Nepal was for their fur (70 percent), while live trapping for the pet trade (20 percent), captive breeding (five percent), and traditional medicines (five percent), were the other reported reasons.

Evidence suggests that demand for red pandas from outside India still exists. For example, in Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh, it was mentioned that in the last two to three years, in at least two instances, foreign tourists visiting the area had offered to buy a live red panda if captured from the wild, the study elucidates, stressing on the importance of community conservation reserves as probably the “single most important approach” to reducing poaching and trafficking and should be considered a high priority for funding support across the red panda’s range.

Indian scientists are building a reference DNA database for red panda populations to help officials trace seized red panda products to the region of origin and combat illegal wildlife trade.

“To protect red pandas fully, it is important that community-based conservation and protection measures are implemented, including mitigation of non-targeted trapping practices. Cross border co-operation and co-ordination is also necessary for the protection of wildlife that migrates beyond borders,” said Badola.

The report recommends threat assessment, population estimations, boosting community conservation initiatives, building on red panda crime database and creating DNA databases at regional levels for red panda protection.

While the major threats are habitat degradation, deforestation and the rapid change in the land use pattern from human activities, poaching is imperiling the animal in many parts of Arunachal Pradesh, said Thakur, disagreeing with the TRAFFIC India report, adding that the “facts are underestimated.”

“We recorded several incidences of red panda poaching in northeast India in the last two years of field surveys. The demand is for red panda pelt, mostly for local consumption,” Thakur added.

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Source: Mongabay

Image Courtesy: Newscientist

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