Guwahati, June 13 (IANS) Assam’s Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR) has unveiled the first‑ever scientific assessment report on the Greater Hog Badger, confirming that the globally vulnerable species, protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, is thriving across the national park’s diverse habitats, officials said on Saturday.

KNPTR Director Sonali Ghosh said the study was conducted by Kaziranga’s Tiger Cell in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Trust to estimate the density and habitat occupancy of the Greater Hog Badger (Arctonyx collaris), a nocturnal and burrowing mammal, within the Tiger Reserve.

The assessment was carried out by analysing camera‑trap images collected during previous All India Tiger Estimation exercises. The study report was officially released on June 12.

According to Ghosh, the assessment estimates the presence of at least 55 individual Greater Hog Badgers across an area of nearly 1,100 square kilometres, indicating a healthy and potentially viable population widely distributed throughout the Kaziranga landscape. The Greater Hog Badger is locally known as Mati Gahori in Assamese.

She said the outcome should be viewed as a preliminary estimate, and further studies were required to refine the findings using detection covariate data that were currently unavailable.

Welcoming the findings, Assam Environment and Forest Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah posted on social media: “Exciting news from @kaziranga_! The Greater Hog Badger is doing well.”

The Minister said the first scientific assessment using camera‑trap bycatch data had documented more than 60 Greater Hog Badgers in the park, underscoring the species’ strong presence in the protected landscape. He said the healthy occurrence of this elusive, nocturnal burrowing mammal across diverse habitats reflected the strength and resilience of Kaziranga’s ecosystems.

KNPTR Director Ghosh explained that there are currently three extant species of hog badgers globally — the Greater Hog Badger, the Northern Hog Badger and the Sumatran Hog Badger. Of these, the first two species are found in India, while the Greater Hog Badger is the largest among them.

She said hog badgers are distributed across parts of South Asia, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. Their geographical range extends from Bangladesh and northeastern India eastward through Myanmar, Thailand, Lao PDR and Vietnam, and southward into Cambodia and peninsular Thailand.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), although an exact global population estimate is not available, the overall population trend of the species is declining due to habitat degradation and intense poaching pressure. As a result, the Greater Hog Badger has been listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List.

The senior Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer said the Greater Hog Badger is an ecologically important mesocarnivore whose conservation has implications far beyond the survival of a single species. She said that as an omnivorous and highly fossorial mammal, the species contributes significantly to ecosystem functioning through soil disturbance, nutrient redistribution and the turnover of leaf litter during its foraging activities.

Ghosh noted that the animal’s digging behaviour helps improve soil aeration and may facilitate seed germination while creating microhabitats that support invertebrates and small vertebrates, thereby enhancing overall ecosystem health.

She further pointed out that the Greater Hog Badger is highly sensitive to hunting pressure and has experienced severe declines across much of its Southeast Asian range. Presently, India and Thailand are believed to harbour some of the healthiest remaining populations of the species.

“This elevates its conservation priority in South Asia, particularly in Assam and the broader Northeast Indian region,” Ghosh said.

The KNPTR Director added that Northeast India holds far greater international significance for the conservation of the Greater Hog Badger than is often apparent from a cursory examination of its global distribution map. She said the findings from Kaziranga help establish this importance and reinforce the park’s role as a critical refuge for the long‑term survival of this vulnerable species.

–IANS

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