Quarterly News

Panda Quarterly is published quarterly by the Communications unit of WWF- Bhutan Programme Office, P.O.Box 210, Thimpu, Bhutan.
contact pnorbu@wwfbhutan.org.bt for more information.


Selected stories from the Spring 2001 issue:

* ThrumshingLa NP records four new bird species
* Survey team discovers tiger pug mark
* Bhutan Integrated Biodiversity Information System


ThrumshingLa National Park records four
new bird species

Black Necked Cranes © RSPN


Park staff at ThrumshingLa National Park recorded four new bird species in the park. The four new species - Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea), Golden Eagle (Aguila chrysaetos) and the Black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis) brings the total bird record of the park to 341, up from 337 species that was reported after an avifauna survey conducted in January 2000.

Park staff started monitoring the birds after spotting them first in the vicinity of the park headquarters in Ura, Bumthang.

The Mallard belonging to the duck family is found at about 1280 - 2600 meters. It is an uncommon winter visitor and passage migrant. The Ruddy Shelduck is found at 250 - 2745 meters and is a frequent winter visitor and passage migrant . The Black Necked Crane, a globally threatened species is also found in the Phobjikha Valley. This is the first recording of a Black Necked Crane in the history of Ura.

With over 700 bird species, Bhutan has been classified as a conservation hotspot by BirdLife International. A total of 14 species recorded in Bhutan have been identified as globally threatened by BirdLife International.

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Survey team discovers tiger pug mark

Biologicalcorridors survey team © WWF Bhutan

It was business as usual for the WWF/Nature Conservation Division (NCD) biological survey team until they discovered a large tiger pugmark. The team had been in the field for more than
three weeks studying animal tracks and markings and setting up camera traps.

The pugmark measured a total length of 13.5cm spanning a width of 17.5cm with a pad width of 10.6cm. Based on the size and width of the pugmark, the tiger is believed to be a male tiger about three meters in length weighing approximately 200-240 kgs.

Earlier that week Thinley Dorji from Tang Valley, Bumthang, had shown the team the wound his cow has sustained from a tiger attack. The pugmark splayed on dung was found west of Jaran, Aungar of Lhuntse - the same area Thinley Dorji took his cattle to graze.

Plaster cast of the tiger pug mark found in TNP©WWF Bhutan

Although tiger population in Bhutan has remained stable, elsewhere in the world, a tiger dies each day. Tiger population worldwide is estimated to be as few as 5000 individuals, a 95% reduction since the turn of the century.

The tiger population in Bhutan is somewhere between 115 - 150 individuals. With over 72% forest cover, tigers in Bhutan are not threatened by habitat loss unlike in other parts of the world.



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Bhutan Integrated Biodiversity Information System


Participants at the multi-stakeholder IBIS
workshop©WWF Bhutan

The National Biodiversity Center (NBC) with assistance from WWF Bhutan has

developed a project to establish a Bhutan Integrated Biodiversity Information System (IBIS).

The NBC was established as a result of the Royal Government of Bhutan’s commitment to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The Bhutan IBIS project will be implemented by NBC with assistance from several partners in various sectors.

WWF Bhutan will financially support the inception phase of the project. WWF in cooperation with NBC will be organizing a three day multi-stakeholder workshop in Paro to discuss stakeholders’ activities with respect to collection, documentation and management of biodiversity information. In attendance will be representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, National Environment Commission, Ministry of Trade and Industries and other relevant organizations.

Bhutan IBIS will build on existing sources of biodiversity data, gather, interpret and document information in a scientifically rigorous approach. The information system keeping in-line with current advances in information and communication technology will be web based.

More participants from the IBIS workshop©WWF Bhutan

The IBIS will serve as a kind of national biodiversity information “library”. The IBIS will include biodiversity information from within and outside protected areas; it will cover natural, forest, aquatic and agricultural biodiveristy including wild and utilized plants, animals and microorganisms.

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