摘要：Assessment and evaluation of road impact on wildlife is important for its conservation, planning and management.
Various protected areas of India have been broken into many fragments due to the rapid expansion of road
infrastructure. A serious threat to mammalian fauna in and around Rajaji Tiger Reserve (RTR) was observed in
recent years, resulting from the drastic expansion of the transportation infrastructure network. We assessed mammalian
fauna mortality on National Highway 72 which exists across Rajaji Tiger Reserve. The study was conducted
from January to June 2016. A total of 16 road kills of wild animals by motor-vehicle collision were reported
which includes Felis chaus, Viverricula indica, Semnopithecus entellus,etc. During the onset of summer,
vehicular density tends to increase due to influx of tourists which causes disturbance in movement of animal
across their traditional migratory corridors. Further, this repeated disturbance may have caused a shift in local
density of fauna. This unique habitat holds one of the healthy populations of elephants and leopard in North India.
The outcome of this study will advance our understanding of the considerations that must be taken into account
during wildlife habitat management and conservation.
关键词：Rajaji tiger reserve; motor;vehicle collision; Uttarakhand; Mammalian fauna; Linear infrastructure
