Anish Paul, Nitish Kumar, Aritra Kshettry
Ursus 2024 (35e12), 1-5, (22 July 2024) https://doi.org/10.2192/URSUS-D-23-00009
KEYWORDS: Asiatic black bear, camera-traps, duars, Gorumara National Park, human–bear conflict, India, tea estates, Ursus thibetanus
Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) are 1 of the 4 species of bears that occur in India. The extant range in India ranges from Jammu and Kashmir in the west to Arunachal Pradesh in the east. In this present study, we report the first photographic evidence of Asiatic black bear from Gorumara National Park and low-elevation (80–100 m above sea level) tea plantations and towns in the foothills of the Himalayas in West Bengal, India, during 2021 and 2022. There have been multiple reports of bear sightings from different tea estates and localities around the national park. These reports of bear presence in these low-lying habitats of northern West Bengal raise questions about their sudden exodus from the mountains to the plains and call for a detailed study both in their native and current habitat to understand their ecology and behavior and to gather knowledge about the drivers of these disturbances.