Context:
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.
Relevance:
GS III: Environment and Ecology
Xenophrys apatani
- Naming: Named after the Apatani community due to their effective conservation efforts.
- Distribution: Found in the Eastern Himalayan and Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspots in India.
Apatani Community
- Location: Reside in the Ziro valley, Arunachal Pradesh.
- Language: Speak Tani as their local language; they worship the sun and moon.
- Festivals: Celebrate various festivals including Dree (harvest festival) and Myoko (friendship festival).
- Dree: Celebrated for bumper harvests and prosperity.
- Myoko: Similar to modern Friendship Day, celebrating friendship.
- Farming: Practice integrated rice-fish farming since the 1960s in mountain terraces.
- Rice Varieties: Cultivate Emeo, Pyape, and Mypia varieties of rice.
Tale Valley Wildlife Sanctuary
- Location: Situated in the Lower Subansiri District, Arunachal Pradesh, near the Apatani cultural landscape.
- Rivers: Includes rivers such as Pange, Sipu, Karing, and Subansiri.
- Flora: Rich variety of subtropical and alpine forests with species like silver fir trees, ferns, orchids, bamboo, and rhododendron.
- Fauna: Home to diverse wildlife including the clouded leopard, Himalayan squirrel, and Himalayan black bear.
-Source: The Hindu
