ONGOLE: The Forest Department has taken up the study of the biodiversity of wildlife in the famous Nallamala forest. A survey and documentation of biodiversity in the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) has been taken up by biodiversity scientist Sheik Mohammad Hayat, wildlife photographer M Munna and biologist M Ramesh Babu. During their survey and documentation, it has been found that the Nallamala forest is a habitat for several rare wild animals as well as birds.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden Y Madhusudan Reddy and Chief Conservator of Forest and Field Director Y Srinivasa Reddy have extended their support to the study team in the conduct of survey and documentation of biodiversity. Divisional Forest Officers of Markapuram, Atmakur and Srisailam have also been assisting the study team.
A lesser adjutant, which was sighted at Uppalapadu bird sanctuary in 2008, has been spotted in Gundla Brahmeswaram area of the NSTR. The team has also captured photos of knob-billed duck, monitor lizard, spot-bellied eagle owl, Chris hawk eagle and chowsingha deer or four-horned antelope, and paradise flycatcher species during documentation.
“We found the spot bellied eagle owl in the Nallamala forest a few months ago. For the first time, the bird species is sighted in Andhra Pradesh. We also found a knob-billed duck in the Nallamala, which is very unique bird species. We also found monitor lizard, Indian courser bird, black buck and some rare animal and bird species,” Hayat and Munna told TNIE.
The knob-billed duck or African comb duck is a species generally found in tropical wetlands in Sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar and the Indian subcontinent from northern India to Laos and extreme southern China. The bird species migrate to the Nallamala forest every year by travelling a distance of around 10,000 km in June and return to their native habitat by the end of November.
Chowsingha is also a rare deer species, which is found in the Nallamala forest. The four-horned antelope (Tetracerus quadricornis) is mostly found in India and Nepal. It is a unique mammal feeding on flowers of Bombax ceiba (Indian silk cotton tree) and the animal species is described as vulnerable.
The Indian courser (Cursorius coromandelicus) is essentially a ground bird with dry open land as its habitat. The presence of the bird species in the Nallamala forest highlights its rich biodiversity of wildlife, they explained.