Hindu Kush mountains range: Study finds first photographic capture of Asiatic bears

PESHAWAR: A scientific study in Swat valley has helped in capturing of photographs of Asiatic bear for the first time in Hindu Kush mountains range besides finding new information about eating habits, hibernation period and threats to the black beast.

The study titled “Patterns of spatial distribution, diel activity and human-bear conflict of Ursus thibetanus in the Hindu Kush mountains, Pakistan”, is conducted by Faizan Ahmad, an M Phil scholar of Haripur University.

Renowned zoologists and scholars including Muhammad Ali Nawaz of Snow Leopard Foundation (SLF), Dr Muhammad Kabir of Haripur University and others supervised the research work.

“We investigated distribution, activity pattern and human-bear conflict of the Asiatic black bear in the Hindu Kush, a major mountain system in Pakistan and our study was conducted from October 2020 to December 2020 in the Bahrain Valley of Swat District,” informed Faizan Ahmad while talking with APP.

Sharing research findings, Faizan said we firstly carried out a preliminary sign survey for the bear’s presence and then installed infrared sensor camera traps in the potential suitable habitat for the bear, 23 locations for 152 trap nights, to monitor its activity.

The Asiatic black bear was photographed in 12 camera stations with 60 different capture events.

We obtained a trap success percent of 64.8% between 2,100m-2,400m above the sea level while the total trap success calculated for the whole camera trapping survey of the bears was 39.5%.

Faizan said this is the first time that photographic evidence of Asiatic bear has been made in Hindu Kush mountains.

Currently, he continued, the bear has disappeared from most of its historical range in Pakistan including Ayubia National Park, Astor, Chitral, Gilgit, Diamer, and Skardu.

In this study, we investigated the distribution, activity pattern and human-bear conflict in this uncharted region to provide important information on the conservation and population status of the bear.

To understand interactions between humans and bear, interview-based questionnaire surveys were conducted and by using a simple random sampling method by interviewing about 10% household from all the villages, he added.

We recorded a total of 91 different signs such as tracks, scats, digging and uprooting of plants, food remains, scrapes, scratches/marking on trees, resting sites and trails, he told APP.

Approximately 81.3% of the signs were registered as fresh, around one month old, such as pug marks on fresh snow or claw marks on Diospyros lotus trees recently damaged or fresh scats, while 18.7% was considered as old (1-12 months old).

The trails made by the bears were mainly found in the Quercus forest near feeding sites or water points.

The astonishing finding of research study was that the bears were found active until the end of December walking at the lower altitudes of the Quercus forests, Faizan shared and added that this is the time of hibernation of Asiatic bear.

Apart from mature female and male bears, their cubs were also found not hibernating in subzero temperatures until the end of December, he went on.

We also did not find bear signs in the deep snow at the highest altitude in late autumn and winter.

Faizan stressed for new scientific studies on change in behavior of Asiatic bear especially about its hibernation period.

The reasons should be found out why bears are active in subzero temperature either due to decrease in snow fall or change in food habits etc, he suggested.

About Human-Bear conflict, the researcher informed that around 107 people were interviewed and it was found that bears attacks on goats and sheep were higher than other animals.

The interviewers also reported seven bear attacks on humans (shepherds or hunters) in different seasons in the study area.

“Local community perceived bear as an important threat to livestock and agriculture,” Faizan apprised.

“Our study provided new information on the occurrence of the bear in the Hindu Kush mountains system in Pakistan and provided crucial data for its conservation and management,” he claims.