HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, Sept 10: Bovine animal Mithun has been spotted in Assam for the first time, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Tuesday.
Mithun, which has the scientific name Bos Frontalis, is the state animal of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland and is also found in the hills of Manipur and Mizoram.
Related Posts:
“Assam adds another faunal friend to its biodiversity. In another beautiful addition to our animal kingdom diversity, we have recorded the presence of Mithun (Bos Frontalis) in the hilly areas of Dima Hasao,” Sarma posted on X.
The bovid species, native to the Himalayan foothills in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland and finds mention in the Mahabharata, has now a new home in Assam, Sarma said.
“Kudos to our @assamforest Dept for its excellent work in protection, preservation and management of our treasured forests,” he added.
Recently, veterinary experts spotted Mithun in three remote areas — Laisong, Langting, and Thaijuwari – in central Assam’s Dima Hasao district.
These areas are inhabited by the Zeme Nagas and more than 200 Mithuns were recorded in the three remote pockets, a district Animal Husbandry and Veterinary official said.
Farmers rearing the bovine animals for generations need support as the animal is vulnerable to foot-and-mouth and other diseases domesticated bovines suffer from, the official added.
The presence of Mithun in Assam marks a new chapter in the state’s agricultural diversity and offers opportunities for local farmers, who can now have access to interventions specific to the Mithun, he added.
Mithuns are prized for their meat, milk, load carrying capacity and play a crucial role in the socio-economic and cultural lives of many tribal communities in the Northeast.
The highest concentration of mithuns in the world is spread over North Eastern (NE) region of India with Arunachal Pradesh having the highest mithun population. It is also found in parts of Southeast Asia viz. Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan.
The mithuns are distributed in the altitude range of 300-3000m above msl. They prefer a cool climate and avoid bright sunlight. For this reason they retire to the deepest part of the forest during noon hours in search of water, especially salty water from streams where they quench their thirst.
Mithun is a valued animal in the life of the tribal people of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. It is believed to be the symbolic representative of peace and communal harmony. For the same reason, the ‘Soulung’ festival is observed annually by the Adi tribes of Arunachal Pradesh to commensurate the birth and arrival of mithun on this earth. The animal is sacrificed during such festivals at which time its meat is eaten . Mithun is an indication of social status in which the richness of a person in the society is counted in terms of the number of mithuns that he possesses. In Nagaland, mithun is sacrificed at the ‘Feast of Merit’ which are a series of gradual feasts carried out over a period of several years.
They are of enormous economic and social importance in the life of the people of the region. This animal can be exploited and developed as very good meat animals besides improvement of their milk production potentiality. Higher butter fat percentage (8-10%) of milk provides avenues for production of value added milk products to fetch high price. Good quality leather can also be processed from mithun hid, a study from ICAR-National Research Centre on Mithun stated.
