Kakinada: Unexplored Islands in river Godavari have become habitats for vulnerable and endangered animals with many like the Indian jackal, the black buck, mongoose, snakes, jungle cats and monitor lizards finding refuge there.
Two researchers found four Indian Smooth-Coated Otters in Islands of the river Godavari near Rajavaram upstream from Dowleswaram. The Indian Smooth-Coated Otters are wetland ambassadors and people call it “Neeti Pilli” in the local language.
According to researchers, the spotting of the Indian Smooth-Coated Otters are new in Godavari Islands as the otters have been recorded only in the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary till now. The otters depend mostly on fish and they prefer soft sandy soils for resting and grooming.
“The Godavari Islands area is being neglected and no research work has been done so far on the biodiversity of these Islands. The distributional ranges have never been reported from this place and Indian Smooth-Coated Otters were reported from the Godavari mangroves,” said Mannepuri Srikanth, a researcher and Secretary of Guardians of Earth Foundation, who works for the conservation of wildlife in East Godavari.
He along with another researcher, Mr Santhosh Edupuganti, explored upst-ream areas of Godavari near Dowleswaram barrage. During their field survey, they found plenty of otter tracks. They followed the tracks and found otter grooming areas and spraints (both old and fresh) and observed three sprainting areas on a small sand split.
Based on this observation they asked local people and fishermen about otter movements in the area.
"We set up a hideout on one of the sand bars. We waited for 12 hours in that hideout. At around 6 pm, we heard splashes in the water and after a couple of minutes a pod of four smooth coated otters in the place where there is no previous known distribution and photographic evidence of smooth-coated otters,” said Mr Srikanth.
He said that according to their observation and local information on otter movement, the Godavari islands hold a very good population of smooth-coated otters and rich fauna. He stressed the need for conserving the area for biodiversity.
