Forest department plans population study of grizzled giant squirrel in Pakkamalai and Gangavaram hills

Population study planned for Grizzled Giant Squirrel in Villupuram Forest Division to aid conservation strategy and sanctuary declaration.

The Villupuram Forest Division has planned to conduct a population study of the grizzled giant squirrel found in good numbers in the Pakkamalai and Gangavaram hills, an area rich in biodiversity near Gingee in the district. 

Official sources said the study would help the department draw up a conservation strategy by gathering the baseline data of the squirrel, an endangered species listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and also provide a fillip to the long-pending demand for notifying the hills as a wildlife sanctuary. 

According to District Forest Officer K. Karthikeyani, “The main objective of the population study would be to draw up on conservation measures. Since the habitat of the squirrels has already been identified, the population study has been planned with the help of subject experts and volunteers to better understand their ecosystem and help us work on the conservation strategy.”

The grizzled giant squirrel is usually known to nest in the Western Ghats in Southern India ranging from Chinnar Wildlife sanctuary in Kerala to Anamalai Tiger Reserve and Palani hills in Tamil Nadu. Owing to habitat loss and poaching, the species has been categorised as near threatened by the Red List and listed under Schedule II of CITES.

The demand for notifying the hills a wildlife sanctuary was first mooted in 2019. The area was first notified as a Reserve Forest in 1897 and since then it has given protection to the flora and fauna found here.

Pakkamalai and Gangavaram have a rich biodiversity and are geographically-important areas in the eastern ghats. The forests have a good population of grizzled giant squirrel, grey langur, Pangolin, and the critically-endangered golden gecko, listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

“A rich assemblage of tropical birds including cave nests of yellow-throated bulbul, Nagarjuna Sagar racer snake, Leschenaus snake eye lizard, and Gooty tarantula have also been recorded here. More than 3,000 individuals of amphibians and reptiles from 15 families and 56 species have been recorded from the Gingee hills,” according to an official in the Forest Department.