Abstract: “Status, habitat utilization, threats and Conservation of musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster Hodgson 1839) in Langtang National Park, Central Nepal” was carried out in Musk Deer Conservation Area of LNP.
The study was conducted spending more than 516 hours (16th February 2005 to 4th October 2005). The study applied the indirect method identifying 5 different blocks in the habitat for the status and habitat utilization of musk deer in LNP. It mainly deals with types of fecal deposits, distribution of those deposits in different topography and forests. The study also deals with other related evidences found in the study area.
Questionnaire survey provides the additional information regarding its threats and conservation. Forty-five different fecal deposits were found and 3 musk deer were sighted. Block B was found to be the appropriate habitat for musk deer. 68.8 percent of fecal deposits were recorded in Block B. Different types of fecal deposits found in Block B were very fresh and fresh (22.5%), old (38.7%) and very old (16.3%).
Thirty-three species of plants were recorded from the quadrates plotted in the study area. Among them Betula utilis was found the most dominant species . High percentage of fresh droppings were also recorded in Betula forest and maximum old deposits were recorded in mixed forest.
Animal trail was found preferred by musk deer. Forty percent of observed droppings were found on animal trail. Similarly, 8.88 percent of Relic sites were found in animal trail. High number of bedding sites were recorded in Betula and mixed
forest.
Questionnaire survey revealed that musk deer in Langtang National Park is in declining state. Seventy percent of the respondents agree about the poaching activity of musk deer in their area. Apart from this, tourists, local people and livestock are the major threats to musk deer in Langtang. High degree of habitat deterioration, livestock grazing, illegal hunting and predator such as Snow Leopard are the major threats in that area. Therefore, these issues have to be addressed for a long term survival of the endangered musk deer species in Langtang National Park.

Abstract: The multiple-use Chang Tang and Seling Lake Nature Reserves were created in 1993 to protect the unique assemblage of large fauna inhabiting the high-altitude steppe grasslands of northern Tibet, including the Tibetan antelope, Tibetan wild ass, Tibetan brown bear, Tibetan Gazelle, wild yak, and snow leopard. Prior to creation of the reserve, many of these species were heavily hunted for meat and sale of parts. Since creation of the reserve, however, killing of wildlife by subsistence hunters and commercial poachers has declined while in the past five years a new problem has emerged, that of human-wildlife conflict. With human, livestock, and wildlife populations in the reserves all increasing, and animals apparently emboldened by reserve-wide hunting bans, all forms of human-wildlife conflict have surged rapidly since 2001. This conflict takes on four primary forms in the Chang Tang region: 1)killing of domestic livestock in corrals and on open pastures by Tibetan brown bears, snow leopards, and other predators, 2) Tibetan brown bears badly damaging herders’ cabins and tents in search of food, 3) loss of important grass resources to large herds of widely migrating wild ungulates, particularly the Tibetan wild ass, possibly leading to winter starvation of livestock, 4) driving off of domestic female yaks by wild yak bulls in search of harems.
In April of 2006, the authors conducted a wildlife conflict survey of 300 herding households in Nagchu Prefecture’s Shenzha, Tsonyi, and Nyima Counties. Results showed that the 87 percent of households had experienced some form of wildlife conflict since 1990. The Tibetan brown bear was the largest source of wildlife conflict, affecting 49 percent of surveyed households, followed by grazing competition conflict which affected 36 percent of surveyed households, and snow leopard conflict which affected 24 percent of surveyed households. Type and frequency of wildlife conflict problems cut across all three surveyed socio-economic factors, residence type, size of living group, and economic status/herd size, and was primarily a function of location. A break down of incidences of human-wildlife conflict into three 5 to 6-year time periods between January 1990 and April 2006 revealed dramatic increases in conflict occurring since 2001. When compared to the 1990-1995 period, the incidence of conflict today ranged from 2.6 times higher for fox conflict to 5.5 times higher for conflict with snow leopards, while there was a 4.6 fold increase in the occurrence of bear conflict. From second-hand accounts and wildlife remains confiscated from herders, it is now believed that retaliatory killing of wildlife rivals commercial poaching as the greatest threat to the continued existence of the Chang Tang region's large fauna. Human-wildlife conflict reduction strategies and wildlife conservation education programs must be devised and implemented in order to halt the retaliatory killing of wildlife by nomadic herders in the Chang Tang.
Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China: WWF China-Lhasa Field Office

Abstract: Modern felid species descend from relatively recent (<11 million years ago) divergence and
speciation events that produced successful predatory carnivores worldwide but that have
confounded taxonomic classifications. A highly resolved molecular phylogeny with divergence dates
for all living cat species, derived from autosomal, X-linked, Y-linked, and mitochondrial gene
segments (22,789 base pairs) and 16 fossil calibrations define eight principal lineages produced
through at least 10 intercontinental migrations facilitated by sea-level fluctuations. A ghost lineage
analysis indicates that available felid fossils underestimate (i.e., unrepresented basal branch
length) first occurrence by an average of 76%, revealing a low representation of felid lineages
in paleontological remains. The phylogenetic performance of distinct gene classes showed that
Y-chromosome segments are appreciably more informative than mitochondrial DNA, X-linked,
or autosomal genes in resolving the rapid Felidae species radiation.