Threatened Rodent Species of Arunachal Pradesh

The rodents are important animals in food chain and play an important role in the ecosystem. They also serve as prey for many important and endangered carnivorous and make up almost 40% of the mammalian species. They are essential part in the regeneration of forests. In Arunachal Pradesh, there are three types of forest i.e. tropical, subtropical and alpine experienced with different climate. Such type of environment is favourable for multiplication of rats, squirrels and porcupines, even though, their population is decreasing day by day due to indiscriminate hunting. Most of the squirrels and porcupines are hunted for meat, furs, skin, teeth and quills. Field surveys were conducted in different districts of Arunachal Pradesh for the present review. The presence of squirrels and porcupines were observed by direct sighting with the help of binocular or by hearing calls. Information was also collected through interaction of local people and forest staffs. The major threats for rodents are consequences due to hunting for meat, shifting agriculture (Jhum), deforestation, human settlements and infrastructure development in forest areas. Many of the rodents have come under endangered species and some gone extinct in recent years. Keeping this view, the present review has been made to document the diversity of rodents in Arunachal Pradesh and to review their habitat and conservation. The article reports 10 threatened rodent species under 9 genera belonging to 3 families.

The present study has been carried out in East Siang, West Siang, Upper Siang, Lower Subansiri, Lower Dibang valley and Lohit districts of Arunachal Pradesh.

At present 10 threatened wild rodent species existing in the study area.

The major threats for wild rodents are hunting for meat, habitat loss and deforestation.