2015 Vol. 21 No. 2 PP 203-208
OCCUPANCY AND HABITAT USE OF SLOTH BEAR (MELURSUS URSINUS) IN
MUKUNDARA HILLS TIGER RESERVE, RAJASTHAN, INDIA
F. SULTANA1, S. KHAN2 AND GULAB NABI3
1Department of Zoology,
J.D.B. Govt. PG Girls College, KOTA, INDIA
2Department of Wildlife Science,
University of Kota, KOTA, INDIA
3Rajasthan Technical University,
KOTA, INDIA
drfatimachha2009@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Project was undertaken to study sloth bear occupancy and habitat use in MHTR. Direct encounter and sign
survey along trail roads were used for presence absence survey. Habitat type and activity were measured whenever
bear were sighted. Vegetation count was also carried out during the survey for measuring the habitat suitability for sloth
bears in MHTR. All locations of scats, tracks or other bear signs were plotted on QGIS map using a Garmin GPS.
Bears occupied mainly the dense forest adjoining the villages, six dens of sloth bear were identified; occurrence
of sloth bear den in the study area reflected the favorable habitat for bears. Sloth bears were encountered 54 times
during the survey. Data collected from the 132 sample plots indicated that the available habitat was mixed forest (53%),
scrub land (15.1%), open land (15.1%) land near water (11.3%) and whereas crop represented nil available habitat
type. Occurrence of bear sign was high in mixed forest, followed by land near water bodies, open land, scrub;
agricultural fields received the nil use.
Key words :Therapeutic plants, Weeds.