Existence of Insular Terrestrial Mammals of the Gulf of Kachchh, Gujarat, India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36808/if/2017/v143i10/119362Keywords:
Gulf of Kachchh, Insular System, Mammals.Abstract
The Gulf of Kachchh (GoK) has occurrence of species belonging to Cetacea and Sirenia along with terrestrial mammals of the mainland but information on these species are scanty. The islands of the southern GoK geographically comprise of mainland attached intertidal areas, aerial and submerged islands, pinnacles, islets, knolls and reefs. In the present study, a total of seven species of mammals were recorded from 11 islands of the GoK. Among recorded species Golden Jackal was found to be the most common (i.e., 71.4%) followed by Indian Hare (i.e., 14.3%). Among the 11 islands, maximum species (n=4) were recorded from Bet Dwarka. Existence of such species on island is determined by three assumptions: i) proximity to suitable habitat and occurrence of unsuitable habitat as a barrier and ii) human-facilitated dispersal. In addition to islands mammals of the GoK, a total of 24 species of mammals belonging to 7 orders and 16 families were recorded from the entire GoK which is almost 23.1% of total wild mammalian species of Gujarat .References
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