Roadkill animals on national highways of Karnataka, India

Abstract

Highways passing through national reserves/wildlife sanctuaries have adverse impact upon wild animals. The present survey was conducted to estimate the roadkills on the National Highways NH212 and NH67 passing through Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Karnataka, India during summer and pre-monsoon season at various vegetational levels. The roadkills were monitored thrice a month in each habitat between January, 2007 and June, 2007 and a total of 423 roadkills belonging to 29 species were recorded. Reptiles were the most affected taxa (37.59%) followed by amphibians (29.55%), mammals (19.39%) and birds (13.48%). The variability in season indicated higher roadkills in pre-monsoon (55.6%) compared to those in summer season (44.6%). According to vegetation, the overall roadkill was 50% in mixed deciduous forest and 22.40% in the teak forest and bamboo. Conservation and management implications are essential to prevent the local extinct of faunal and floral.