Call of the leopard

When the night falls, the phantom calls !

A small greenery cover on fringes of a suburb of Kathmandu valley, surrounded by agricultural farmlands and moderate sub-urban and rural settlements, where there is frequent movements of local people for their daily livelihood activities (agriculture) as well as attended on regular basis by internal & external tourists for recreational purposes like bird watching, hiking, mountain biking etc., is also frequented by an invincible resident, a leopard. The leopard frequently spray marks urine and scratches on trunk of a tall Schima wallichi (Nepali: chilaune) tree, which is the usual behavior of leopards for territory marking and identification. Local people knows about its presence and they hear it calling/growling every night, while few have even sighted in daylights. According to them, the leopard prowls in the cover of darkness to take stray dogs, which has become their urban prey as their natural prey (barking deer, wild boar, monkeys etc.) are believed to be depleting due to habitat encroachment, fragmentation and illegal hunting [SMCRF 2015]. The leopard thrives despite the change in their habitat unlike their food by changing their menu [Athreya et al. 2014]. As scientifically as its known, leopards cannot change its spots, but it does can change its behavior for it is the most adaptable and versatile of all the great cats.

Spatial location of the tree with scratch mark. [Google Earth Pro v7.1.5]

This is the scenario which is very common today in most of the leopards' global range around the globe, so are the cases in many parts of Nepal too. The coexistence only remains to be one until there is, but not limited to, a conflict. The dynamics of their behavior is just so dynamic across their range, habitat, regions, areas, and individuals. The same species have made far-west Nepal [Karki & Rawat 2014] and bordering Uttarakhand of India [Sondhi et al. 2016] a most probable global hotspot of human-leopard conflict making lives difficult at both the ends. Yet they are equally proving that they can coexist alongside human settlements as urban as Kathmandu valley which is one of the most fastest urbanizing cities in South Asia [WorldBank 2012].

But its just like a matter of the string where the tension is gradually building up. This is a high time for us to give enough attention towards these charismatic spotted big cat to understand their behavior, their ecology, their situation! Maybe the leopard is calling for sake of their plight being unheard of! Maybe they are trying to signal us through their spiritual power, for they are the part of the forest deity, Ban devi, the goddess of the jungle. The forests are there because they are there.

May the people living with leopards always be bestowed with the eternal blessings of the Ban devi for generations and generations to come as have been since the dawn of the time.

P.S. Coming soon is an artwork expressing spiritual connections of people living with leopards under the blessings of Ban devi!

Cited articles:
Athreya V. et al. (2014). A cat among the dogs: leopard Panthera pardus diet in a human-dominated landscape in western Maharashtra, India. Oryx.
Karki JB & Rawat GS. (2014). Human leopard conflict in Nepal: A case study from Baitadi district of Nepal. DNPWC Special Issue-2071.
Sondhi S, Athreya V. et al. (2016). Human attacks by leopards in Uttarakhand, India: an assessment based on perceptions of affected people and stakeholders. A technical report submitted to the Uttarakhand Forest Department.
SMCRF (2015). Biodiversity survey of Chandragiri Hill, Kathmandu, Nepal. Small Mammals Conservation and Research Fund.
WorldBank (2012). Urban Growth and Spatial Transition in Nepal: An Initial Assessment.

PHOTOS:

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Dogs for wildlife conservation - CK9

Meet with the CK9 dogs

We, I and Adarsh dai, had a chance to shortly meet Jennifer Hartman and Suzie Marlow from CK9 group, while they were on their way to airport travelling to their next work site after 2 months of work in Nepal’s challenging terrains. A short intro about this group, Conservation Canines (CK9) is a part of Center for Conservation Biology, University of Washington. And they deal with scat detection dogs or sniffer dogs trained to find scats of wild animals in the wild. After finding scats of wild animals, biologist/ecologist/geneticist can study more in detail about the species through DNA extracted off these scats. These dogs are highly trained for the work that they do, such as going out in the wild in completely new and challenging terrains of every sorts all over the world whenever an elusive species need to be studied. And what’s more interesting about them is that these dogs are not any specific pedigree breed dogs, they are all mixed or abandoned strays picked up from shelters in US.

Having been following their facebook page (link) for nearly 4-5 years now when I was studying in Finland, I really liked the kind of work they have been doing for over the past 10 years in the field of wildlife conservation as well as animal welfare. It struck me immediately when I saw their facebook post (about 2 months back in Feb) that two of their team dog members, CK9 Athena and CK9 Skye, are in Nepal for pangolin work. But never had I imagined that I would get to meet them in person on the last day last moment of their work in Nepal, while they were leaving for their flight. Thanks to these wonderful and dedicated people from the Conservation Canines, who are also the dog handlers of these two sniffer dogs. Pangolins are one of the world’s most trafficked wildlife and are in the verge of extinction. And scientists from UW are going to try tracking illegal trade of pangolins by use of molecular genetics tools. They have pioneered similar work in tracking the origin of illegally traded ivory through use of genetics and helped identify two main elephant poaching hotspots (more info). Definitely this is not our last meet, we will meet in the coming days for more works on pangolins. And I am equally excited about their passion of training local dogs in Nepal for similar works in the future. Putting the nose of dogs for such work will not only aid wildlife conservation, but also helps provide a stray or abandoned yet equally capable dog a very healthy, exciting and meaningful life. And no any wildlife or dogs are hurt during the work, which makes this whole process a noninvasive.

PHOTOS:

CK9 Athena and Skye, with their handlers Jennifer and Suzie.

The CK9 team with Adarsh dai.

Photo sources: Adarsh Man Sherchan.

More links about CK9 and their work:

http://conservationbiology.uw.edu/conservation-canines

http://conservationcanines.org

https://www.washington.edu/storycentral/story/uw-conservation-canines-are-saving-endangered-species

http://www.washington.edu/news/2016/09/19/award-for-genetic-tracking-to-rein-in-pangolin-poaching
http://www.washington.edu/news/2015/06/18/evidence-from-ivory-dna-identifies-two-main-elephant-poaching-hotspots
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/140618-elephants-ivory-dna-poaching-africa-science-world

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Leopards in Chandragiri landscape

Phantom of Kathmandu

Chandragiri landscape is a hilly range covering most of south-western ridge of Kathmandu valley. The hills are preserved by community forestry management, and are full of dense lush green hill forests. This landscape elevates from around 1500m asl to above 2500m asl with varying degree of vegetation types along the altitudinal gradients. It is an important biodiversity area, but not much of it has been studied in detail.

Leopards are largest wild carnivore and on top of the food chain in this landscape. They share their habitat throughout the landscape with humans along villages mostly in fringes and base of the hill range. Barking deer, wild boar, rhesus and assamese macaques could form the main prey base for leopards in this landscape. Stray or feral dogs roaming freely along the human settlements could also form one of the main urban prey options for leopards. Other sympatric carnivores include leopard cat, jungle cat, large indian civet, masked palm civet and golden jackal.

The indirect signs like scats, pugmarks and scratch marks of leopards are observed very often in the jungles of this landscape.  One day it so happened that I even felt a very fresh yet pungent smell of a spray or urine mark of leopard while walking a trail under canopy of the jungle. I felt the leopard could have been very near but never did I see it then. There are cases of leopards in conflict with people in and around the human settlements in the landscape. Settlement areas like Kirtipur, Matatirtha, Pharping, Chalnakhel are some of the regions around this landscape where leopards sneak into, mainly in search of domestic prey such as goats, stray cattle, pet animals and stray dogs.  Since Jan 2016 to Feb 2017, two leopards have been caught at two different occasions from local houses in Kirtipur and were released elsewhere in natural habitat; one leopard got killed in a man leopard conflict in Matatirtha; while another leopard died of an unidentified cause in Chalnakhel. This makes at least four leopards to have been removed from the area in just about one year time. We don’t know how many leopards still prowl this landscape, but it may not be long that they get to survive many generations to come.

PHOTOS:

FILE PHOTOS:

leopard captured after tranquilized in Kirtipur (Jan 2016).

Photo source: himalayan times

leopard rescued after tranquilized by Radha K Gharti, senior 

vet of zoo and kathmandu's professional leopard catcher

(Feb 2017).  Photo source: nepalireporter.com

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Owl festival and the fishing cat encounter !!!

Owl Festival 2017 at Jagadishpur Reservoir Ramsar site

I went to attend Nepal Owl Festival 2017 at Jagadishpur, Kapilvastu (mid-west lowland Nepal) along with my work colleague, Nagendra (Awasthi) dai. We traveled in night bus, and reached the festival site the next morning by 7am. The festival went well with nature and bird watching program early in the morning and followed by various cultural programmes later in the day. The Jagdishhpur reservoir is one huge wetland lake and a ramsar site important for numerous migratory and resident water birds.

During the birding sessions, over 30 species of birds were spotted that included bar-headed goose, bean goose, gray lag goose, asian open-bill, ruddy-shelduck, ferruginous duck to name some by expert birders. During the night, lot of calls of owls was heard. I was also excited about this place that it is a known habitat for fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus), they had been recorded (Sagar Dahal et al. 2014) in and around the lake area. Most of the time, I was wondering about their presence around and really wanted to go track their signs.

So, in this 2nd day of the festival after our morning birding session, I insisted Nagendra dai to go and hunt down their tracks in a nearby small shallow pond which was wet and easy to access. As we walked through the edges, a carnivore scat was encountered, which i believe should be of jackal (unsure), I didn't have the feeling of it to be of a felid because its morphology was quite different than my pet cat's feces (which I am much familiar with). As we went by, we spotted small felid pugmarks, it was a joyful moment. We went ahead, and again spotted even more fresh tracks in a pretty wet area of the pond. In this second encounter, you could also tell the path the cat walked through, it clearly looked as if the cat was climbing up the slope into the edge from the shallow area, the claw marks were intact in the tracks. I took photographs and GPS through my mobile device. As soon as we returned to the festival area, I showed it to Yadav (Ghimirey) dai, he confirmed it to be most likely of fishing cat based on habitat and size of the track. This made my day having tracked a fishing cat track. We attended the festival program and enjoyed our rest of the day in the festival area, I volunteered by putting owl stamp to children and adults too. The festival ended well with messages of owl conservation and awareness among the local communities with many other fun-filled local cultural and entertainment activities.

The next day, we were bound to return early morning. We woke up and got ready by 5.30am when we finally started to move towards bus stop. We had some really good friends who helped us in reaching bus stop at time (by waking up early themselves) by dropping us through bike. I and Nagendra dai started walking and almost covered half way to the bus stop when Kaushal (Yadav) dai took us in his bike (double-load). He was riding very slowly, and suddenly we noticed something move, there the guys started to shout out with joyous voices, then Kaushal bro called "fishing cat". It was a blessing moment of our journey I would say. As we were leaving the place, a fishing cat showed it to us, we were able to see it as it ran through the farm-field and into a bush nearby where it disappeared.

As we reached the bus stop, we excitingly informed it to Yadav dai, who was already there. This joyous moment wouldn't have been possible if Yadav dai had not insisted me to come to the festival. My huge thanks to him, and rest of all Friends of Nature team for organizing such a wonderful festival. This sighting was my second live sighting of a wild cat in the wild.

CITED ARTICLE:
Sagar Dahal et al, SMCRF (2014). Status of Fishing cat in Jagadishpur Reservoir and Ghodaghodi Lake and assessment of threat.

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PHOTOS:

Fig 1: habitat area (shallow pond), where we tracked for signs

Fig 2: pugmark spot 1

Fig 3: pugmark spot 2

Fig 4: pugmarks (claw-marks intact), claws would protract as the cat insist on climbing through slope

Fig 5: slope at edge of the pond, arrows showing tracks with claw-marks

Fig 6: carnivore scat in edge of the pond

Fig 7: Jagadishpur Reservoir

Fig 8: Map showing locations of pugmarks and live sighting of fishing cat (Google Earth Pro image)

Fig 9: Owl face painting was one of the attractions in the festival

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High Mountain Leopards

Leopards of the mountains

There has been a recent spark on records of common leopards (hereafter referred "leopards") and snow leopards at a same camera trap station, which is circling the social and mainstream medias of conservation concern groups and researchers. It all started after bbc published the news which reports leopards and snow leopards captured at same location in Qinghai of China. The concern was obviously about snow leopards having to share their habitat with much stronger and larger leopards. According to them, this would mean the already endangered snow leopards will have to now compete with their larger cousins for space and food, which can probably result in displacement of snow leopard activity from those regions where leopards are roaming. This news came up in the wake of current ongoing snow leopard conference being held in Kathmandu, Nepal. However, the news is not so much of a new thing in the field. The leopards have been recorded at up to altitude of 5200 m above seal level (asl) in the past. They have been camera-trapped by Snow Leopard Conservancy (SLC) Nepal in snow leopard habitat in Annapurna region. WWF-Nepal has recorded them in Kanchenjunga region. Non-invasive genetic studies (unpublished) have proved their sympatry in the Himalayas. The recent news have reported similar cases in Manang region. And who knows since how long have they been co-occurring together and its just been into the notice of greater world as the monitoring of much endangered snow leopards are rigorously taking place, whereas leopards have never been accessed in such detail and with much effort. Had leopards' monitoring been given similar priority, their global and local distribution range would have been much different than what it is actually known now, and the phrases such as "leopards are moving higher up" would have never been invented.

It is not a new thing of the present to have two large cats co-existing in the same habitat. Lions and leopards coexist in Africa and Gujarat of India, while similarly, tigers and leopards coexist together in most of present tiger ranges throughout south and south-east Asia. Much recently, tigers are being recorded at higher altitude in Bhutanese Himalayas, where snow leopards occur. And historically, even lions and tigers were known to co-occur together, and this can continue if we drill even more towards prehistoric times when multiple prehistoric super-large sized cats evolved and prowled on this earth together. Cats are very good at maintaining their contacts, they only do it when they want to. Having (larger) leopards in what is known to be snow leopard territory should not be much of a threat to (smaller) snow leopards as this is what nature is bringing upon. There are already lot of human-related threats (poaching, hunting, encroachment etc) against these cats for us to take care of than what the nature is naturally playing.

On the other hand, conservationists should never sound or be biased when it comes to conservation until and unless the threat was really something like "introduced" or "invasive" species cases. If a larger carnivore really threatens the existence of smaller carnivores, what about the lynxes (a small cat, but relatively large in size) that co-share habitat with (larger) snow leopards. Why was it not a threat when much much larger tigers were known to be breeding in snow leopard habitat in Bhutan? I think we should not spend time thinking about this can happen or that can happen, it is all upon nature to decide what has to happen or how it has to happen, rather what we should be thinking about is how can we better protect their ecosystem and let them be just what and how they were and are.

As far as hybridization is concerned, it should not also be much of a concern, because if it does occur, then it occurs, that is also a part of evolution. Hybridization among small cats species is a known scenario, small wild cats of Leopardus genus of the neotropics have been verified to hybridize by genetic studies. In the domestic cat lineage Felis, the hybridization is known and currently occurring events in nature among feral (domestic) cats and wild cats across Europe. In fact, the evolution of cats have itself been shaped by hybridization in the ancient past is what a recent phylogenomic study have proved as.

Hence, if leopards are getting recorded (for first time) in snow leopard habitat, then we should be rather proud that not just one but two big cats prowl this terrain, and hence start acting for their habitat protection and better conservation.

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Phantom of mighty Hills

HILLS STALKER

My hometown Kathmandu (valley) is surrounded all around by massive structures of gigantic hills with varying degree of dense jungles within them. Being an avid hiker, I regularly go hiking into these hills over weekends. One such beast prowls the terrain that has got reputation of a fearsome phantom of these mighty hills. My quest to follow trail of the phantom has led me into understanding so much about the magnificence of these beasts. And more I follow them, the more I get the feeling of getting closer to them which excites me so much but it just remains very short-lived. The phantom always succeeds in what it does best, disappearing into the midst of clouds through the densest and hardest terrain of the globe. The beast is so enigmatic and elusive that you seldom even get to feel their shadow. But my commit to track down these evanescence has led me train my sixth sense that is now able to grab their signatures in one of least thought areas. These areas where you would have never expected them to have been there. Yes these beast prowls the vicinity of the urban region, yet their presence are never ever felt or detected and it is the product of that millions of years of evolution that they are so good at doing. We need not fear the presence of the spiritual beast, rather the time has come for us to live alongside the phantom for CO-EXISTENCE is not impossible and is always better than conflict. Leopards were and are in the spirit of these majestic hills, but whether they will be in coming future is all upon us. They are dying, and yet are given least attention (click to know more). They need us.

My quest began on early 2015 after I returned from Finland finishing my masters, but started to detect these signatures only by late 2015 (the elusiveness!!!). Here are some of the trails of Leopards Panthera pardus of Kathmandu valley:

PUGMARKS:

CLAW MARKS:

 

SCATS OF LEOPARD:

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Chandragiri Range Landscape

Chandragiri Range Landscape

Chandragiri Range on south-west of Kathmandu valley as seen from the valley

INTRODUCTION

The Chandragiri range landscape is a dense mountain range forest, very rich in biodiversity, lying within the greater Mahabharata range. The diverse flora and fauna of this huge landscape has not been fully accessed yet. Very few studies have been conducted in some parts of this forest area.

This landscape forms the Chandragiri range that covers south-west ridge of Kathmandu valley from Thankot (west) up to Bagmati river basin (south-east) stretching distance over 12 km. The formations expand beyond the valley ridge into westward up to Bajrabarahi VDC. This huge landscape has the elevation profile ranging from around 1400 to over 2500 m asl (above sea level) comprising of some popular hills Chandragiri, Bhasmasur and Champadevi. The base of the range facing the valley bear outskirt settlement villages like Thankot, Matatirtha, Macchegaun and Chalnakhel. While on the other side of the hills, there are villages Chitlang, Fakhel and Pharping. The western crest of this range also forms the border between Kathmandu and Makwanpur districts. Chitlang village falls in Makwanpur, the oldest en route to Kathmandu from southern Nepal used to pass through this village before any highways were constructed.

RELIGIOUS, CULTURAL AND TOURISTIC IMPORTANCE

The hills in this range entails religiously significant places of Buddhism and Hinduism importance such as shrines, temples and stupas inviting visitors sparsely throughout the year. The place also forms a popular hiking area for mainly internal tourists. On the first day of Nepali New Year (1st Baishak), all the hills around the valley are visited by people mainly as religious beliefs and for recreational purposes. The Champadevi hill (Hindu Goddess shrine) and Chandragiri hill (Bhaleshwor temple) are also among the main charms during this day for the inhabitants around the valley. A recently started cable car service in the Chandragiri hill (Sep 2016) has been attracting many people from the valley. The cable car line connects Thankot Godam to Bhaleshwor temple (Lord Shiva) in duration of just about 8 minutes. The same travel would take 3-4 hours for hikers and 1.5 hours for vehicles. There is an established hiking route expanding across the ridge line of this range from Pharping to Chandragiri hill via Champadevi and Bhasmasur hills. At the eastern edge, there lies Hattiban Resort which is a recreational resort/hotel near Kathmandu that attracts both internal and external tourists. Other religious sites that lie on different edges of this landscape are Matatirtha, Macchenarayan and Sheshnarayan temples.

BIODIVERSITY

The hills around the Kathmandu valley have similar type of vegetation while differing in the landscape a bit at different places. The Chandragiri hill is one of the steepest hills with dense forests from the bottom of the ranges, and slowly opening up the canopy into shrub-covered meadow-like terrains towards higher altitudes. Mostly, the hilltops and southern slopes are covered with Oak and Blue-pine forests. The northern slopes facing the valley are mainly dominated by broadleaved sub-tropical forests of mostly Schima and Castanopsis along with some Chir pines. This dense vegetation and steep slope might be quite challenging to travellers. While the local people depend on the forest resources for their livelihood, their activities in the forest can be rarely observed. This dense habitat supports a wide range of wild flora and fauna. A biodiversity survey by a conservation-driven organization done at seven adjoining community forests around Thankot Godam area of this forest region have recorded 137 species of birds, 13 species of mammals, 9 species of herpeto-fauna and 53 species of butterfly (SMCRF 2015). They have documented three globally, five nationally threatened and two protected mammal species of Nepal. The Critically Endangered Chinese Pangolin was camera-trapped along with their burrows observed throughout the hills. Among the small carnivores camera-trapped were Yellow-throated Marten (Martes flavigula), Large Indian Civet (Viverra zibetha), Masked Palm Civet (Paguma larvata) and Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis). The forests also serve as perfect habitat for variety of rodent species, bats, macaques, barking deer and wild boars providing ample choices of wild prey for the small as well as large predators such as Leopards (Panthera pardus). Similarly, an ornithological survey around forests of Chitlang village by Nepal Bird Watching Club recorded 160 species of birds (NBWC 1992). There are very few sources of natural spring water on this landscape, mostly on the southern slopes. You can come across small streams along Pharping highway. There is a river in Chitlang flowing from Chadragiri hill and finally draining into Indrasarowar lake. And, there are some natural ponds in religious places Sheshnarayan, Macchenarayan and Matatirtha. To entomologists, this place could serve as a haven for studying invertebrates. The whole forest comes alive with ear-wrenching crackling sounds of cicadas. A variety of grasshoppers can be observed throughout the walking trails in the deep jungle. Other invertebrates like different types of spiders, beetles, millipedes, butterflies, caterpillars, dragonflies were regularly observed during my hiking trips, and not to mention the blood-sucking raining leeches during monsoon.

Leopards in News

The forests surrounding the valley are prime habitat for leopards, yet there has not been much study dedicated to them here. These large cats are being encountered in different outskirts as well as sub-urbs of the city more often in recent times, they are usually thought to have come for dogs that are frequently available in the city. Some areas nearby the Chandragiri range forests where there have been cases of leopard conflicts or sightings are Chalnakhel, Chovar, Kirtipur, Matatirtha all of which lie on bases of the landscape. In January 2016, a large male leopard was captured by zoo officials from a house in Kirtipur. The big cat injured one man but no any fatalities occurred. Later in September 2016, a leopard straying into Matatirtha had to be killed by locals while they were trying their best to chase it into the direction of the forest. Just a month later, a female with four cubs came in same area, the locals succeeded in chasing them into the forest this time. Based on perrs comm with eye witnesses, they’ve sighted leopards on the Pharphing highway, one near Chovar and other near Chhaimale. These cats seem to be doing quite well in such disturbed habitat, however the future of these leopards will hugely rely on our willingness to co-exist with them.

ADVENTURE

Being an avid hiker and having deep connection with hills surrounding the Kathmandu valley, my quest to explore the wilderness has taken me about 8 times until today at this forest area. During my first hike to the Chandragiri hill, the beauty and the mighty hilly forests of this area emotionally attained my heart that made me return to this forests over and over again. The mesmerizing sounds of the forest wind and the lovely songs of variety of exotic birds make you feel like you’re into a very heavenly place. There are lot of walking trails throughout the forest, each one challenging at its own level. Exploring any wilderness on foot lets you observe any wildlife or indirect signs of wildlife directly. As you start reaching higher altitude, you would most likely come across groups of monkeys, and if very lucky, you will hear calls of barking deer. Along the main road trail from Thankot Godam in early mornings, the foot-prints of animals are observed as later in the day, local vehicle services to Chitlang village would have overridden most of the nocturnal signs. The narrow trails through the dense vegetation of the forest are the most adventurous ones, and can be really challenging during monsoon. These trails are also paths taken by wildlife mostly as you can come across scats of carnivores most often here as compared to the vehicle roads. Once you’ve reached the top, you can travel along the ridges of this hilly range throughout. The view of the mighty landscape can make you feel very minute. During clear weather, the Himalayas at north will smile at you all the way making you forget all physical misery of the steep hike. It is guaranteed that the trek into this mountain forest will be one of the most memorable trips for anyone.

During one of the hikes, I with my brother, Sulav, happen to take a shortcut trail which only appeared to look like one until we realized it was actually a landslide-inflicted cliff. We had reached a point where we didn’t have choice of returning as the cliff had already gotten very steep and we continued ascending. This was the day we will never forget as lot of things happened during this adventure. We were actually doing a natural rock-climbing without any gears. Every hand-holds, foot-holds we take was like an added life support to our unsuspecting journey. As we climbed, we could see people and vehicles on the main road very far on the edge of another hill, we shouted for help, but nobody could hear or even see us we supposed. Finally when we started hearing sounds of vehicles on road, there was a vertical rock which we had to climb in order to get to the road trail. Sulav got stucked at first but with his strong struggle to get away with the hurdle and not fall off the cliff, he managed to pass that most difficult hurdle, while I couldn’t gather courage to try that ascend. I was looking for any other options, while Sulav was constantly trying to get help from any passers-by. He finally found a way and guided me to it, but to reach there, it was very challenging. So challenging that I lost my confidence and even dropped my backpack with binoculars, digital camera and other items. Thankfully, I didn’t drop myself down the over-hundred foot drop. We also managed to find my backpack by climbing again from below, but lost the camera as it got thrown away during the fall, and the binoculars damaged. I always feel the mightiness of the mountains during the travels, but this was the day I really sensed it first-hand. These mountains are really the monumental structures of nature and the wildlife in those mountains are the living example of how supernatural they are. These vital gifts of nature should be always protected and conserved for the future of the mountains and for the future of people that depend on these mountains.

REFERENCES

1992 Nepal Bird Watching Club (NBWC). Ornithological survey of Chitlang forest.
2015 Small Mammals Conservation Research Foundation (SMCRF). Biodiversity of Chandragiri Hill, Kathmandu, Nepal.

PHOTO FEATURE