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1 January 2010 Current status of brown bears in the Manasalu Conservation Area, Nepal
Achyut Aryal, S. Sathyakumar, Charles C. Schwartz
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Abstract

Although brown bears (Ursus arctos) are rare in the Himalayan region, populations have been documented in alpine habitats of Pakistan and India. Brown bears were once known to exist in both Nepal and Bhutan, but current information on their numbers and distributions was lacking. We document the presence of brown bears in the Manasalu Conservation Area (MCA) in Nepal using field surveys and interviews with local people. We were able to confirm the existence of a remnant population based on finding bear scat and locations where bears excavated for Himalayan marmots (Marmota himalayana). Based on interviews with local people, it appeared that the presence of brown bears in the area is relatively recent and likely a result of immigration of bears from the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Interviews with local herders also indicated that livestock losses from brown bear predation amounted to approximately 318,000 Nepali rupees (US $4,240) from February 2006 through July 2008.

Achyut Aryal, S. Sathyakumar, and Charles C. Schwartz "Current status of brown bears in the Manasalu Conservation Area, Nepal," Ursus 21(1), 109-114, (1 January 2010). https://doi.org/10.2192/09GR029.1
Received: 3 November 2009; Accepted: 27 January 2010; Published: 1 January 2010
KEYWORDS
brown bear
distribution
livestock depredation
Nepal
Ursus arctos
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