Sunday, April 17, 2016

Rare Fauna of Great Nicobar

Due to its inaccessibility, Great Nicobar is not an oft visited destination. Besides government officials, researchers and scholars can get permission to visit it and must restrict themselves to the Campbell Bay area and the two roads, one that goes from east to west and the other goes along the eastern coast towards south to Indira point which is the southernmost point of India.

Reaching Andaman is easy because there are several flight connections to Port Blair, however for Nicobar Islands one has to take a helicopter service (Pawan Hans Helicopter service) or board a ship from Port Blair. The first option is the best since it gets you there faster but will cost you a lot more, and the 2nd option takes a very long time (30 hours) but it is a comfortable journey because the entire ship is air conditioned.

The Long-tailed or Crab-eating macaques are an interesting primate species found only in the Nicobar Islands. The endangered Nicobar treeshrew, which is around 15 cm with a tail longer that its body, is endemic to the island. And so is the Nicobar Common Birdwing. The Malayan Skink is one of the several lizard species found here.

I am posting pictures taken by Soma Jha during her recent visit to Great Nicobar.

I will post pictures of birds from Great Nicobar in my next post.


Long-tailed or crab-eating macaque, Nicobar
Nicobar treeshrew


Nicobar common birdwing


Malayan
Skink


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