Showing posts with label Mammals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mammals. Show all posts

Friday, January 20, 2023

Golden Jackal/Black-backed Jackal/නරියා/හිවලා[Nariya/Hiwala] (Canis aureus)

 Golden jackal or as sometimes Sri Lankan population is known as Black-backed Jackal (C.a. lanka is no longer considered as a sub species but synonym of the C.a. naria also occurs in the South India.) is a mammal inhabiting grasslands, scrubs, marshy areas and such habitats throughout the island, while becoming rare in the higher hills and much common in the dry lowlands. Though usually they are encountered as pairs Golden jackal often hunts in small packs. It is an omnivorous animal and eat anything that it can kill such as birds, lizards, small mammals, beetles etc. Golden jackal is also a scavenger of dead animals and eat fruits and berries too. In forested areas with less human presence it can be seen any time of day or night. But it become a nocturnal animal when wandering close to human habitations.


Thursday, December 1, 2022

මුගටියා (Herpestes smithii)


 පහත රට වියලි සහ තෙත් යන කලාප දෙකේම වනාන්තර සහ වනාන්තර ආශ්‍රිත ප්‍රදේශ වල සුලභ මුගටි විශේෂයකි. අඩි 3500 සිට 4000 ට වඩා උස කඳුකරයේ දුර්ලභය. දිවා රාත්‍රී දෙකේම ආහාර සොයමින් සැරිසරන මුත් බහුලව උදෑසන සහ හවස් යාමයේ ක්‍රියාශීලී වේ. වල්ගය උඩ අතට නමාගෙන් ඇවිදින හැසිරීමක් දක්වන බැවින් මෙම මුගටි විශේෂය මෙරට හමුවන අනිත් මුගටි විශේෂ අතරින් විශේෂ දෙකකින්ම පැහැදිලිව දුරකදී පවා වෙන් කර හඳුනාගත හැක. පක්ෂීන්, මීයන් වැනි කුඩා ක්ෂීරපායීන් මෙන්ම ගැරඩියන්, තලගොයි පැටවුන් වැනි උරගයන්ද, එසේම ගොලුබෙල්ලන් සහ කම්බිලි පණුවන් වැනි කුඩා අපෘෂ්ඨවංශී සතුන්ද  ගොදුරු කරගන්නා මෙම මුගටියා අවස්ථාව ලදහොත් වෙනත් සතුන්ගේ මළකුණු කොටස් පවා පවා අහාරයට ගනී. බොහෝවිට තනිව හැසිරෙන මුත් ගැහැණු සහ පිරිමි ජෝඩු ලෙසින්ද ගොදුරු සොයමින් හැසිරෙන ආකාරය දැකිය හැක. බහුලවම හෞමික හැසිරීමක් දක්වන මුත් ගස් නැගීමේද මනා හැකියාවක් ඇති බව නිරීක්ෂණය කර ඇත. 

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Sunday, May 29, 2022

හඳුන් දිවියා (Prionailurus viverrinius)

 හඳුන් දිවියා යනු හොඳින් වැඩුන පිරිමි සතෙකු හීලෑ බල්ලෙකුගේ ප්‍රමාණයට සමාන වන තරමක් විශාල වල් බළලෙකි. සැඟවී සිටීමට යම් තරමක කැලෑවක් මායිම්ව පිහිටි වගුරු බිම්, කඩොලාන, පන් ගාල්, වැව්, ඇල දොල, ගංගා මෙන්ම ඇතැම් විට කුඹුරු ආදී ජලාශ්‍රිත පරිසර වලද දිවි ගෙවන හඳුන් දිවියා දිවයිනේ උතුරු ප්‍රදේශයේ හැර අනෙක් සෑම ප්‍රදේශයකම පාහේ සුදුසු පරිසර පද්ධති වල හමුවේ. ඇතැම් විට ආහාර සුලභව හමුවන සහ වාසය කිරීමට සුදුසු ආරක්ෂිත ස්ථාන සහිත නාගරික සහ අර්ධ නාගරික ප්‍රදේශ වලද හඳුන් දිවියන් හමුවේ. වීශේෂයෙන් කොළඹ ආශ්‍රිත වගුරු බිම් බොහෝමයක සැලකිය යුතු මට්ටමේ හඳුන් දිවි ගහණයක් වාර්තා වී ඇත. සාමාන්‍යයෙන් නිශාචර සත්වයකු වුවත් මිනිසාගෙන් තර්ජන අඩු ප්‍රදේශ වල දිවා කාලයේදි වුවද හඳුන් දිවියන් සැරිසරන ආකාරය නිරීක්ෂණය කර ඇත. ප්‍රධාන වශයෙන් මත්ස්‍යයන් ගොදුරු කරගන්නා මුත් හඳුන් දිවියා සර්පයන්, කකුළුවන්, ගොළුබෙල්ලන්, මීයන්, ගෙම්බන්, උරුලෑවන්, ඌරන්ගේ සහ මුවන්ගේ පැටවුන්, බල්ලන් , බළලුන් මෙන්ම ජලාශ්‍රිත පක්ෂීන් ආදී කුඩා සහ මධ්‍යම ප්‍රමාණයේ  බොහෝ සතුන් දඩයම් කරන බවට වාර්තා ඇත. වසරේ මුල් මාස වල අභිජනනයේ යෙදෙන හඳුන් දිවියන් වරකට පැටවුන් දෙකක් හෝ තුනක් බිහි කරයි. බොහෝ විට තනිව වාසය කරන හඳුන් දිවියන් ගොදුරු සොයා යෑම සහ වාසය කිරීම උදෙසා ඔවුන් සඳහාම යම් කිසි ප්‍රදේශයක් වෙන් කර ගනී.

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Thursday, May 26, 2022

Fishing Cat/හඳුන් දිවියා (Prionailurus viverrinius)





Fishing cat is a large wild cat (Full-grown male is the size of a domestic dog) inhabiting aquatic habitats bordered by suitable forest cover such as marshlands, mangroves, reedbeds and also tanks, streams, paddy fields and river banks with remnant forest patches. It is widely distributed throughout the country except northern parts of the island. Sometimes it even occurs in urban and suburban areas where food and shelter are readily available. Even the remaining wetlands of Colombo's  outskirts host a good number of fishing cats. It is generally a nocturnal animal though it is not uncommon of fishing cat sightings during the day in undisturbed areas. It feeds largely on fish. But it would hunt any small to medium-sized animal that it can overpower such as snakes, crabs, snails, frogs, rats, civets, young wild boar, dogs, cats and even water birds. Its mating season is in early months of the year and two to three kittens are born. It is usually a solitary animal holding its own territory. 

සිංහලෙන් කියවන්න >>
    

Thursday, December 30, 2021

පුංචි ලේනා (Funambulus obscurus)

පුංචි ලේනා පහත රට තෙත් කලාපයේ සිට  ඉහල කඳුකරය දක්වාම වනාන්තර වල පමණක් හමුවේ. එහෙත් ඇතැම් විට වනාන්තර ආශ්‍රිත හොඳින් ගහකොල සහිත ගෙවතු වලද හමුවන අවස්ථා ඇත.  මෙරට හමුවන ලේනුන් අතරින් ප්‍රමාණයෙන් කුඩාම ලේනා හෙයින් පුංචි ලේනා ලෙසින් හඳුන්වන මෙම ලේන් විශේෂයේ මෙරට සිටින වෙනත් ලේන් විශේෂ වල මෙන් නොව ශරීර ප්‍රමාණයට සාපේක්ෂව වලිගය කුඩාය. කෘමින්, කෘමි සතුන්ගේ පිළවුන් මෙන්ම මල් සහ පළතුරු ද පුංචි ලේනා ආහාරයට ගනී. කුරුල්ලන්ගේ ආහාර සෙවීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය අතරතුරදී ඔවුන්ගෙන් ගිලිහී පලා යන කෘමින් සහ කෘමි පිළවුන් ආහාර කරගැනීමේ අරමුණෙන් විවිධ කුරුල්ලන් එකතු වී එකම මාර්ගයක දිනපතා ගමන් කරන කුරුළු රංචු සමග බිම් මට්ටමේ සිට බොහෝවිට මෙම ලේනා ගමන් කරයි. නිතරම පාහේ ජෝඩු වශයෙන් හමුවන පුංචි ලේනා වරින් වර කුරුල්ලෙකුගේ වැනි ශබ්දයක් නගමින් ඔවුනොවුන් අතර සබඳතාවය පවත්වා ගන්නා ආකාරය දැකිය හැක. පුංචි ලේනා මෙරටට ආවේනිකය.

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Thursday, April 29, 2021

පොදු ගේ මීයා/Black Rat/Common House Rat (Rattus rattus)

 A very common large rat distributed throughout the island as five sub species. It inhabits areas near human habitation because of the availability of food from household wastes. But it is not uncommon in jungles and open country. It is an omnivorous and mainly feeds on grains and vegetable matters, but also eat meats, dried fish, etc. as well as eggs rob from nests of birds when available. Common House Rat is one of the most prolific mammal and normally a female which commences to breed when she is about 5 to 6 months of age, produces 4 to 5 families each year, each family numbering 3 or 4 young ones, but some time as many as 8. The nest is a collection of grass, straw, fibers, pieces of rags or paper or any other suitable materials gathered together and secreted in some convenient spot such as beneath a rock, log or the root of a tree or if in a building, in or behind a box or in some dark corner in the roof. It is a good climber as well as a swimmer. Common House Rat is usually a solitary mammal except during the breeding season, though sometime several of them can be seen in garbage dumps and such other places where its foods are abundant. It is normally active during the night though sometime can be observed even during the day time if it is undisturbed. 


Monday, January 4, 2021

බොර මුගටියා [Bora Mugatiya]/Indian Brown Mongoose (Herpestes fuscus)

 Indian Brown Mongoose is a mammal inhabiting forest patches, well wooded home gardens, tea estates, and similar habitats throughout the western third of the island from northwest arid zone to higher hills. It is seldom to be found in heavy forests. However it can be also seen in urban and suburban home gardens, even within the heart of Colombo. It is usually seen as a solitary animal though mating pairs or mother-pups families occasionally encountered. Indian Brown Mongoose is a omnivorous and mainly preys on rodents, frogs, snakes, lizards, spiders, birds their eggs and young, worms, grubs, etc. It also eats berries and even flowers. Depending on the habitat, it is active both during the day and night but usually forages in the early mornings and late afternoons. Indian Brown Mongoose breeds mostly during the first few months of the year. Female Indian Brown Mongoose give birth to  three or four pups in a chamber dug into an anthill or an earthen bank usually by the mother. Three sub species of Indian Brown Mongoose are accepted as H.f. phillipsi from Central Province, H.f. rubidior from the Western Province and H.f. siccatus from the Northern Province mainly base on size and color.   

Monday, March 30, 2020

ගෝනා (Cervus unicolor)

මෙරටදී හමුවන මුව පවුලේ විශාලතම සාමාජිකයා වන ගෝනා දිවයින පුරා තරමක විශාලත්වයෙන් යුතු වනාන්තර හෝ තෘණ භූමි ඉතිරි වී ඇති ප්‍රදේශ වල හමුවේ. එහෙත් නීතිවිරෝධී දඩයම් කිරීම් හේතුවෙන් අද වන විට ආරක්ෂිත වනෝද්‍යාන වලට පමණක් සීමා වූ සත්වයෙක් බවට පත් වී ඇත. විශාල ප්‍රමාණයේ රංචු වශයෙන් අද වන විට ගෝනුන් හමුවන්නේ මහඑලිය හෙවත් හෝර්ටන්තැන්න වනෝද්‍යානයෙන් පමණි.
මිනිසා හැරුන විට ගෝනාට සිටින ප්‍රධානතම ස්වභාවික සතුරා කොටියාය, එහෙත් කිඹුලන්, පිඹුරන් සහ නරියන් ගෝන පැටව් ඇතැම් අවස්තා වලදී ගොදුරු කරගනී. ප්‍රධාන වශයෙන් රාත්‍රී කාලයේ හැසිරෙනගෝනුන් විවිධ තෘණ වර්ග, මෙන්ම ගස් වල කොළ වර්ග සහ රිකිලිද ආහාරයට ගනී  (නමුත් හොර්ටන්තැන්න වනෝද්‍යානයේදී උදැසන සහ හවස් කාලයේ ක්‍රියාකාරි වන ගෝන රංචු දැකිය හැක)

හොර්ටන්තැන්න වනෝද්‍යානයේ ගෝනුන් පිළිබඳව වූ විඩියෝව නැරඹීමට >>
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Saturday, March 16, 2019

අළු මුගටියා[Alu Mugatiya]/Indian Grey Mongoose (Herpestes edwardsii)

Grey Mongoose is a common mammal found throughout the island up to about 2100 m elevations. It is much common in the grasslands and lightly wooded places of the dry lowlands, northwards from the north central province. It ia also common in Sigiriya and several other forested areas of Mathale district though very rare in the southern part of the country. It is a more diurnal in its habits and active mostly early in the morning or late afternoon. Grey Mongoose usually encounters as solitary individuals or as pairs.  It preys on small mammals, birds, lizards, frogs, snails, small snakes, grubs, insects etc. But also feeds on fruits, berries and roots of certain plants to a lesser extent and sometimes even eats carrion. There is not defined breeding season for this animal in Sri Lanka and mating occurs whenever the female comes into season. Female Grey Mongoose give birth to two to four pups in a chamber dug into an anthill or an earthen bank and shelter them in it for few months. Pups may remain with the mother for about 6 months. 

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

හීන් ඌරු මීයා[Heen Uru Meeya]/Lesser Bandicoot Rat/Mole Rat (Bandicota bengalensis)

Common rat distributed throughout the island, especially in the rice-growing areas. It make burrows in the paddy field embankments and village gardens to live and stores up large quantities of stolen grains. The nearly circular store chambers are located not far from the breeding or living chamber and hollowed out in the middle or to one side of the main tunnel. Usually there are two store chambers and sometime as many as three or four of them are not uncommon. Each burrow appear to be made and inhabited by one adult or by a female and her pups. Lesser Bandicoot is one of the most prolific rat and female produce a family of 10-12 young at each birth and has several families during each year. Females of Lesser Bandicots start producing young at about 5 months old and they live for over 1.5 years. It is a nocturnal animal rarely seen in the day time. It also feed on herbs, grass roots, tubers like sweet potatoes, rubber and other seeds, etc. 

Thursday, April 13, 2017

උගුඩුවා/කලවැද්දා[Uguduwa/Kalawadda]/Common Palm Civet/Toddy Cat/Palm Cat (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus)

Common animal distributed throughout the island, inhabiting rocky outcrops and/or trees in the country side and roofs of houses in urban areas. It is a purely nocturnal mammal and spends the day time curled up, asleep in its day time hideout usually a ceiling of a house in cities where rocky areas or tall trees are not readily available. It is mainly an arboreal animal and  feeds fruits and berries such as papaw, passion fruits, pineapple, kithul (Caryota urens) etc. But Common Palm Civet also eats rats, mice, frogs, birds, spiders, cockroaches as well as domestic chickens. It has a habit of depositing its droppings which often contain large quantities of undigested kithul and other hard-shelled seeds, on the top of large rocks and fallen tree trunks. It breeds throughout the year though more young are seen in the latter part of the year before the North-East monsoon. The young are brought forth in a hole in a tree, dry nook under overhanging rocks or often in a dry corner of a ceiling. Usually litter size is 3 or 4 in Sri Lanka. Except when a mother is accompanied by her broods it is usually seen singly.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

මූකලන් ලේනා[Mookalan Lena ]Sri lanka flame-striped jungle squirrel(Funambulus layardi)

An uncommon endemic squirrel occurs in dense rain forest habitats from lowlands to about 1200m altitude in the south-western wet zone including Knuckles range. It is active during the day time and spends most of its time in the canopy though sometimes encounters near ground level. It use to follow mixed-species bird flocks and feeds mainly on fruits, nuts, lichens, young shoots as well as small insects and grubs. Flame-striped jungle squirrel lives as pairs and breeds during May to July.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Rufous Horse-shoe Bat (Rhinolophus rouxii)

Rufous Horseshoe Bat is a common bat occurs from forested parts of the low country to the lower hills (500 m a.s.l) while becoming scarce above 1300 m a.s.l. It roosts day time in caves, old buildings, barns and dark culverts as large colonies of same species or sometime with other species of bats such as Schneider’s leaf-nosed bat (Hipposideros speoris)Long-eared false vampire bat(Megaderma spasma) and Bi-colored leaf-nosed bat (Hipposideros ater). But roosting single individuals or small parties are also not uncommon in such places. It emerges late in the evening from the roosting site and catch small flying insects (Moths, Beetles etc.) by flying about 3-4 feet above the ground below trees or sometime darting at the prey from a perched position in a low bushes. This bat occurs in two color forms,  brown and orange, while later color phase bats are much common during the winter months of the northern hemisphere (Yapa A. & Ratnavira G., 2013). 

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

පුංචි ලේනා[Punchi Leana]Dusky striped jungle squirrel (Funambulus obscurus)


The smallest squirrel in Sri Lanka with relatively short tail compared with the other squirrels. It is distributed in wet zone forests from lowlands to higher hills. It is strictly forest dweller though sometime visits adjoining well wooded home gardens. Dusky striped jungle squirrel feeds on insects, grubs, flowers, fruits and often follows mix-species feeding flocks of birds, closer to the ground in search of disturbed insects and grubs by the birds. They are often encountered as pairs and keep contacts with each others with bird-like contact call. 

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Sunday, January 26, 2014

First physical observation of Petinomys fuscocapillus (jerdon, 1847) with photographic evidence from Sinharaja World Heritage Site

 Small flying squirrel or Heen Hambawa (හීන් හම්බාවා) in Sinhalese is one of the rarest nocturnal mammals of heavy forests of the lower foothills to higher altitudes (Yapa A. & Ratnavira G., 2013). As per Phillips W.W.A. its range limited to the hills at medium altitudes with extremely local distribution (Phillips W.W.A., 1981). Further he has given a list of places from where it had been recorded up to then (Table 1). Other than Sri Lanka it is found only in Western Ghats of India and there also it was re-discovered in a coconut grove in Kerala state in 1989 after one hundred years and it was thought to be extinct in India till then (Yapa A. & Ratnavira G., 2013 & Nanayakkara et.al., 2012 quoting Kurup, 1989).  In 2007 Jayasekara et.al. recorded it from Sinharaja forest with a black & White picture captured by a camera trap placed on a fruiting tree to assess fruit consumption by birds and mammals of a tropical rain forest (Jayasekara et.al., 2007).  Most recent observation of it is from Laggala-Illukkubura road of Knuckles range made by Nanayakkara et.al on 26th January 2013. They have observed and photographed a single specimen while it was feeding on tender part of the shoot and leaves of a climber at 2130 hr on a tree 9m above ground level in a well-developed semi-evergreen forest habitat .  They have not observed gliding of the animal (Nanayakkara et.al, 2013). Hitherto only color photographs available of this illusive mammal was from them and it was the first physical examination of this species from Sri Lanka after 78 years.  


Location
Altitude (ft)
1
Forests of Dimbula (in 1850s)
4500
2
Dickoya

3
Gammaduwa in the east Mathale hills
2500ft
4
Kitulgala
900
5
Wellawaya
600
6
Adam’s peak wilderness

Food:
It is believed that Small flying squirrel is feeds on wild fruits, berries, nuts, shoots and young leaves and possibly also sappy bark of certain trees (Phillips W.W.A., 1981)

Habits:
Small flying squirrel is purely nocturnal and arboreal and it spends day time in a hole of a tree trunk or branch of a large tree. It carries its tail curled over its back when stationery and feeding. Not much information available on its breeding and it is said that two young are born in a hole, lined with vegetable fibres, etc. in which their mother lives day hours.

Observation and discussion
On 14th January 2014 we were able to observe and photograph a Small flying squirrel at a place close to the Sinharaja forest reserve (Outside the protected area) from around 11.30 PM to 3.00AM of 15th January 2014 (It was not at the site continuously during the observation period but appeared there time to time). It was observed about 2m above the ground while feeding probably on young shoots and leaves of a mango tree (Mangifera indica). Short distance (less than 3m) gliding also noticed at least once during the observation period.  Most of the time except when moving from one place to another it kept its tail draped over its back. It was not much shy and not paid much attention toward camera flashes and torch lights. According to all available published data this might be the second instance of the physical observation of this rare mammal in recent history with photographic evidences and first instance of observing it in Sinharaja forest reserve area though existing of it there has been already proved with camera traps (Jayasekara et.al., 2007). Most important fact here is that this observation was made not inside the dense forest but small secondary forest area close to Kudawa conservation center office and this observation highlights the  important of conserving not only Sinharaja forest itself but also buffer zone forest areas surrounding the Sinharaja heritage site.


References


Kurup G.U., 1989 Rediscovery of small Travancore Flying Squirrel. Oryx 23: 2-3


Phillips W.W.A., 1980 Manual of the mammals of Sri Lanka Part 2: 175-177 

Weerakoon D. K. 2012. The Taxonomy and Conservation Status of Mammals in Sri Lanka. In: The National Red List 2012 of Sri Lanka; Conservation Status of the Fauna and Flora. Weerakoon, D.K. & S. Wijesundara Eds.,Ministry of Environment, Colombo, Sri Lanka 134-144pp

Yapa A. and Ratnavira G. 2013 The Mammals of Sri Lanka 212-213

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Flying Fox/Maa wawula (Pteropus giganteus)

Flying Fox or Maa Wawula in Sinhala is the largest bat in Sri Lanka with about 1.2m wingspan. It is distributed throughout the island excluding higher hills though it is a visitor to the higher hills during fruiting seasons. However  W.W.A Phillips noted that it appears to be absent, during the greater part of the year, from the Hambantota district (Phillips, 1980). Flying fox is a nocturnal mammal and has excellent night vision though it doesn't have echolocation like some other bats. During the day time it roosts communally in tall trees. Such a colony - usually located close to human habitations- may comprises hundreds or may be thousands of individuals. Flying fox exclusively feeds on soft pulp and juice of flowers and fruits (Excluding all citrus fruits) after solids are discarded having chewed the flesh. It covers immense distance in a night in foraging, ranging from 2 to 20kms. Often before feeding, it is said that they visit a river or lake to quench thirst, lapping up water as they glide over the surface (Phillips, 1980). Even though it is treated as a pest it also an invaluable pollinator of most fruit plants.

Friday, March 15, 2013

හික් මීයා/කුනු මීයා[Hik Meeya/Kunu Meeya]/Common Musk Shrew/House Shrew (Suncus murinus)


Common Musk Shrew is the most common, widespread and also largest of the ten species of shrews in Sri Lanka. It inhabits houses even in large cities throughout the island as well as some of the off-shore islets (Phillips W.W.A. 1980). During the day time it hides in crevices of walls, boxes, piles of goods and emerges in the evening. It is a nocturnal animal and it is said that because of its high metabolic rate shrew eat its own body weight of food in the course of a night. House Shrew is a carnivores animal and it preys on geckos, worms, scorpions  insects [ex: cockroaches], spiders and even small mammals - sometime bigger than its own size - like mice, frogs and snakes. It also eats grains such as rice and fruits when others foods are scarce. It is believed that House Shrew is not indigenous to the Sri Lanka and has been imported many years ago with goods from Indian port cities (Phillips W.W.A. 1980). House Shrew is an animal beneficial to the man since it preys upon most noxious animal live in houses and also driving away rodents.

Friday, December 7, 2012

වල් ඌරා[Wal Ura]/Indian Wild Boar/Wild Pig (Sus Scrofa)


Wild boar is distributed throughout the island wherever dry zone scrub lands or wet zone forests provides it with enough cover, from coastal lowlands to the higher hills. It occurs in herds sometime up to around 30 or more individuals in dry zone national parks while rather small herds or solitary animals occurs in wet zone forests. It is an omnivorous mammal and scavenge on carcasses of dead animals, kill and eat snakes, worms, eggs and young of ground-nesting birds and also feeds on fallen fruits and uprooted rhizomes etc. It causes lot of damages to the chena cultivation, paddy fields, home gardens and other plantations during its night time forays in search of food. Wild boar is a prolific animal and breeds at least twice annually and W.W.A. Phillips noted that it is always the last of the larger mammals to be ousted from a district where the forest is being opened up (Phillips W.W.A, 1984).  Generally the herds are composed of sows with their young of all ages and the older adult males live solitary or form small parties on their own and join the herds of females only to the mating. They feed usually early morning and late afternoon while lying up in a shade during heat hours of the day. It also feeds during night. Leopards, crocodiles and pythons can be considered as its enemies other than Man. Leopards mostly take young piglets whenever the opportunity occurs and there are instances of desperate fights between leopard and old boars sometimes end up with leopard being killed. 


Thursday, November 29, 2012

හාවා[Hawa]/Black-naped Hare/Indian Hare (Lepus nigricollis)



Black-naped Hare is well distributed in scrub and grasslands throughout the island. It is nocturnal in habit in most areas and during day time lies up in a well camouflaged sheltered patch in the undergrowth. But in the protected areas such as in national parks, it is active even during the day time, mostly in the morning hours. Black-naped Hare is an almost entirely herbivorous mammal and feeds on grasses, shoots, young leaves etc. It doesn't have definite breeding season and produces one or two young ‘leverets’ at any time of the year.