Xenophrys apatani
03-07-2024
11:27 AM
1 min read
Overview:
Recently, a team of researchers from the Zoological Survey of India recorded the forest-dwelling frog from the Talle Wildlife Sanctuary and named it as Xenophrys apatani.
About Xenophrys apatani:
- It has been named after the dominant Apatani community in recognition of their ingenuity in the conservation of wild flora and fauna.
- Distribution: It is distributed along the Eastern Himalayan and the Indo-Burma biodiversity hot spots of the country.
Key facts about Apatani community
- The Apatani are a tribal group of people living in the Ziro valley in Arunachal Pradesh.
- Language: They speak a local language called Tani and worship the sun and the moon.
- Festivals: They have major festivals like Dree, Myoko, Yapung and Murung.
- Dree is celebrated with prayers for a bumper harvest and prosperity of all humankind and Myoka celebrates friendship similar to modern friendship day.
- They have been practising integrated rice-fish farming in their mountain terraces of Arunachal Pradesh since the 1960s.
- They principally use three rice varieties: Emeo, Pyape and Mypia.
Key Facts about Tale Valley Wildlife Sanctuary
- It is located near the beautiful Apatani cultural landscape in the Lower Subansiri District of Arunachal Pradesh.
- Rivers like Pange, Sipu, Karing, and Subansiri flow through this sanctuary.
- Flora: It has a stunning spectrum of subtropical and alpine forests like silver fir trees, ferns, orchids, bamboo, and rhododendron.
- Fauna: Clouded leopard, Himalayan squirrel, Himalayan Black Bear etc.
Q1: What is a Biodiversity Heritage Site?
Biodiversity Heritage Site are areas that are unique, ecologically fragile ecosystems having rich biodiversity comprising of any one or more of the components such as; species richness, high endemism, presence of rare, endemic and threatened species etc.