Human activities in Eastern Ghat forests overlapping with those of animals: Study

The study published in Biotropica journal in June revealed that a high amount of overlap took place between the activities of humans and wild animals, particularly herbivores species (animals adapted to eating plant-based food).

Aditya told The Indian Express, “The forests of the Eastern Ghats experience a high level of human activity, and we believe that this might have an influence on animal activity patterns in terms of the time of day when they are active. If yes, then this would have implications for wildlife in the area and particularly so for endangered species and mammals requiring large territories. This could mean that species might be responding by adjusting their temporal activity to avoid humans, and thereby experience a niche shift.”

The series of hills extend from Mahanadi in Odisha to Vaigai in Tamil Nadu.

“In the study, we assessed if human activity could be a predictor in shaping the circadian activity patterns (daily activities) of mammals. We presented the results from camera trap surveys of mammal circadian temporal activity patterns in Papikonda National Park in Andhra Pradesh and its buffer in the hill regions of northern Eastern Ghats. We observed a high overlap of activity patterns between humans and mammals, particularly with herbivorous species. Herbivores mammals particularly displayed high crepuscular activity (time shortly before sunrise and after sunset); carnivores, however, were also active during the day. This study provides the first insights on daily activities of mammals in a protected area and its buffer in India’s poorly known Eastern Ghats,” the researchers said.

“The northern parts of Eastern Ghats experience increasing human disturbance in wildlife habitat despite the forests having a relatively low overall population density. Hunting is also rampant in the region. There is a potential risk in the significant overlap in activity,” Aditya said.

The researchers were keen to explore the overlapping behaviour in the northern Eastern Ghats. The landscape was selected because of its large forest cover that exists outside the limits of protected areas, where human activity could be expected to be higher. “Within this landscape, we chose to study mammal occupancy and temporal activity inside the Papikonda National park, and its unprotected buffer outside,” Aditya said.

“Contrary to our expectations, we found that human activities had a great degree of overlap with mammals. Although this does not prove that human activity correlated temporally with wildlife or vice-versa, this does seem to suggest that at least some humans closely overlapped their activity in the forest with animals particularly herbivores,” he said, while pointing to the widespread hunting in the area which continues to be an important part of the tradition of the forest dwellers. “So this close overlap with herbivores is telling,” he said.

The report focuses on the northern parts of Eastern Ghats, which according to the researchers, have been largely neglected by ecologists, researchers and conservationists.