Mount Paona (18327)
India, Asia

Site overview

KBA status: confirmed

Year of last assessment: 2004

National site name: Mount Paona

Central coordinates: Latitude: 25.5000, Longitude: 93.6500

System: terrestrial

Elevation (m): 1400 to 2062

Area of KBA (km²): 36.06638

KBA classification: Global/Regional TBD

Legacy site: Yes

Site details

Site description: Mount Paona is in the Barail Range, a part of the Eastern Himalayas Endemic Bird Area (EBA) in Paren district in southwestern Nagaland. The highest peak in this montane IBA is 2,062 m above msl. The hilltop and adjacent areas have good tree cover. The nearest town is Peren, district headquarter.

Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance because it meets one or more previously established criteria and thresholds for identifying sites of biodiversity importance (including Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, and Key Biodiversity Areas)

Additional biodiversity: AVIFAUNA: This IBA is known for its population of Blyth’s Tragopan Tragopan blythii (Choudhury 2001). The other globally threatened species recorded is the Rufous-necked Hornbill Aceros nipalensis, though it is very rare. Four more hornbill species occur here, including the Near Threatened Great Pied Buceros bicornis and Brown Anorrhinus tickelli. All hornbills are rare because of hunting for meat and feathers. The latter is in great demand for use in ceremonial headdresses. Galliformes such as the Kaleej Pheasant Lophura leucomelanos, Red Junglefowl Gallus gallus, Mountain Bamboo Partridge Bambusicola fytchii, Rufous-throated Hill Partridge Arborophila rufogularis and Common Hill Partridge Arborophila torqueola occur widely. OTHER KEY FAUNA: The Slow Loris Nycticebus coucang, Hoolock Gibbon Hylobates hoolock, Stump-tailed Macaque Macaca arctoides, Barking Deer Muntiacus muntjak, Serow Nemorhaedus sumatraensis, Leopard Panthera pardus and Asiatic Black Bear Ursus thibetanus are some noteworthy mammals (A. U. Choudhury pers. comm. 2003).

Habitats

Land use: agriculture | forestry

IUCN Habitat	Coverage %	Habitat detail
Forest	100

Threats

Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: MAIN THREATS: Felling of trees; Jhum cultivation on the slopes; Poaching. Jhum cultivation, felling of trees and poaching, including trapping of galliformes are the main conservation issues. However, Blyth’s Tragopan, the state bird of Nagaland, is not killed deliberately in most cases.

Threat level 1	Threat level 2	Threat level 3	Timing
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops	Shifting agriculture	Ongoing
Biological resource use	Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Intentional use (species being assessed is the target)	Ongoing
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting	Unintentional effects: subsistence/small scale (species being assessed is not the target) [harvest]	Ongoing

Additional information