According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, nearly one in four rabbits, hares and pikas that belong to the order known as lagomorphs, are now in the endangered list. And Nepal is home to one such species known as the hispid hare or Assam rabbit.
Hispid hare, though feared to be extinct in 1964, is still limited to the southern Himalayas from India’s Uttar Pradesh to southern Nepal, the northern region of West Bengal to Assam, and into Bangladesh and possibly in Bhutan. In Nepal, researches have shown hispid hare’s existence in Bardia National Park and Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve.
Its number doesn’t look promising though.
According to a research by Achyut Aryal from the Biodiversity Research and Training Forum, Pokhara, and Hemanta Kumar Yadav from National Trust for Nature Conservation, the worldwide population of hispid hare is estimated to be around 300.
“In Shuklaphanta, the population estimate of hispid hare is around 200 only,” Aryal told The Week.
The 2010 research titled “First Camera Trap Sighting of Critically Endangered Hispid Hare in Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve” in farwestern Nepal searched for the hispid hare pellets through the grassland patches on the basis of which the potential habitats of hispid hare were determined. The hare was distributed in a 38 km square grassland area of the reserve.
Another research has also shown hispid hare’s presence in Bardia National Park, that too, only in the Babai Valley, which lies inside the park.
Pramod Tandan, who did the Bardia research between June 2008 and June 2009, said this is the first project on hispid hare in Bardiya and that the research has been able to “confirm the presence of the species in Bardia National Park.”
But researchers expressed that more studies should be done and the concerned authorities should focus on the threats that are resulting into depletion of this species.
Aryal, who is currently doing his doctorate in conservation biology, said that one of the main threats for hispid hare is the fire in the grassland in Shuklaphanta. He said the time of setting fire for grassland management is the same as hispid hare’s breeding season. But a conservation officer at Shuklaphanta, who said he would only speak anonymously, said that every year the grassland management is done before their breeding season in February/March.
Tandan also points that other threats to the species is the “invasion of grassland by woody invasive plant species, uncontrolled park burning, poor park management, flooding and isolated population.”
Though researchers claim that flooding is one of the potential threat to hispid hares, Prahlad Yonzon, a biologist and a team leader for the management plan of Shuklaphanta, argues that flooding actually helps in the management of the grasslands.
“It’s called flood plain dynamics,” he said wherein the annual flood water from the Mahakali River helps in the maintenance of the grassland. He further said that it’s not only the species that should be studied but also their habitat, as in this case, the grassland, because they’re all a part of the larger ecosystem.
“But no one has information and synthesis of knowledge on this,” he said.
While studies on small scale are underscoring this endangerment of the species, Aryal said the government along with bigger organizations like the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) should gear up.
“Tigers and rhinos have illegal market value, so it’s easier for them to raise funds,” he said. “But they should focus on small mammals too.”
But Sabita Malla, research officer at WWF Nepal, said the organization believes in capacitating the smaller NGOs and is supporting smaller NGOs and individual researchers through WWF Nepal’s small grants program and Critical Ecosystems and Partnership Fund to come forward and work for the species of special concern and lesser known species. Tandan’s research on the hispid hare was done through WWF Nepal’s Critical Ecosystems and Partnership Fund.
“We look from the perspectives of landscape-level conservation and obviously the mega faunas which require landscape-level conservation are given greater priorities,” Malla said.
But Andrew Smith, chair of IUCN/Species Survival Commission Lagomorph Specialist Group and professor at Arizona State University, wrote in an e-mail to The Week that organizations like WWF and local NGOs should work on biodiversity and not just on charismatic megafauna like tigers and rhinos.
“The habitat that is necessary to preserve the Assam rabbit would help stabilize local ecosystems and act as an umbrella to preserving many species, thus local biodiversity,” he said.
Analyzing on a micro level, the hispid hare is on the decline, it has been enlisted as endangered species and if prompt actions are not taken, the species might become history. But on a macro level, there could be higher concerns. Given their place in the food chain, their decline might also affect predator species. And in the Nepali context too, the depletion of hispid hare and the burning of the grasslands could certainly invite ecological disturbances.
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