People, forest and tortoise: Perception and stated behavior of forest dependent communities on critically endangered elongated tortoise

• There is high exploitation and consumption of Elongated tortoise in Bara, Nepal. • Tharu community has low consumption preference due to earthy taste of meat. • Those who do not consume tortoise, exchange locally with the homemade liquors. • Elongated tortoise is occasionally kept as pet or used in ethno-medicinal practices. • Forest fires could have potential negative implications for the elongated tortoise. The elongated tortoise Indotestudo elongata (Blyth, 1854), is one of the most widespread tortoises of Indo-Malayan region yet is listed as critically endangered species in the IUCN Red List. In Nepal, elongated tortoises were widespread in lowland areas. However, tortoise and other wildlife populations declined exponentially in response to growing human population and associated interferences. The extent of the anthropogenic influences is expected to vary on a fine scale. Understanding this variation is crucial to design and implementation of conservation strategies, which are lacking at this time. This study was conducted with the aim of addressing information gaps about the behavior of the local people and how these behaviors may threaten the survival of Indotestudo elongata in Bara district, Central Nepal. As our focal species is a forest dependent tortoise, we conducted surveys using questionnaire in the vicinity of forest areas from three administrative units namely Kolhabi and Nijgadh municipalities and Jeetpur-Simara Sub-Metropolitan City. Among the survey participants, nearly two-thirds of them reported to have collected tortoise from forests and nearly equivalent number of participants reported consuming tortoises. This indicates that consumption, as food was the major reason for the collection. In the past, some of the remaining tortoise carapaces, were sold by the local inhabitants for nominal price. Respondents more recently, reported no incidence of trading tortoise or their carapaces, so many of them have discarded the carapaces as they do not have utility value. However, locals continue to collect the tortoise for non-commercial use when they encounter the species. Exploitation and consumption of tortoises was significantly associated with respondents’ ethnicity viz. local ethnic communities being more involved. Successful interventions may entail local involvement in activities that include reduction of forest dependency and awareness, to protect tortoises in their natural habitat.