18 September 2025
Manas National Park in Assam, India, lies at the foothills of the Himalayas. Its grasslands are home to a variety of unique wildlife, including the world’s smallest pig, the pygmy hog.
Durrell has been working in Manas since 1995, when the Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme (PHCP) was established. With the support of The Fondation Segré Conservation Action Fund through IUCN's Save Our Species, we have been restoring grasslands in the eastern region of Manas National Park through community-led conservation. Our goal is to help pygmy hog populations thrive.
Manas National Park is home to two subpopulations of the Endangered pygmy hog, one located in the Panbari region of the park and the other in the Rupahi region. Panbari supports the last remaining wild population, while Rupahi supports a newer population reintroduced by the PHCP since 2020.
Pygmy hogs live in tall grassland and depend on this habitat for survival, food, nests, and shelter from predators. Unfortunately, the grassland is disappearing, largely due to invasive plants and the spread of woodland. Restoring these grasslands is key to the survival of the pygmy hog and will benefit other native species, including the Critically Endangered Bengal florican, Indian one-horned rhinoceros, Bengal tiger, hog deer, and hispid hare.
A key part of restoring the habitat is the removal of the invasive plant species, which have taken over much of the native grassland. Since last September, 300 hectares of grassland in Rupahi and 300 hectares in Panbari have been surveyed to map the abundance and distribution of invasive plants, informing where intervention was needed.
In collaboration with local community members and the Forest Department, the team began removing invasive plants. Since September, 67 hectares of grassland in Panbari and 52 hectares in Rupahi have been cleared of invasive plant species, with the uprooted biomass being carefully disposed of to prevent further spread from seed dispersal.
It’s not just invasive plants that need to be removed, either. Some problematic native tree species are encroaching on and driving the succession of the habitat from grassland to woodland, so it’s important that these are controlled. Since last September, more than 10,000 saplings have been uprooted across Rupahi and Panbari to help restore the grasslands. Another important element of grassland restoration is replanting native grasses, and we’ve planted 5,672 clumps of grass over 0.54 hectares across Panbari and Rupahi this year.
In Assam, we work with eco-development committees (EDCs), which comprise community members from villages on the fringe of Manas National Park. EDCs are designed to empower local people in community conservation efforts and provide resources for development that offer alternatives to the exploitation of natural resources in the national park.
Since September 2024, we have engaged 82 members from six EDCs and 74 frontline park staff in grassland restoration and training programmes in Panbari and Rupahi, totalling over 2,500 person-days. This includes grassland management and practical training such as plant identification, removal techniques, and biosecurity protocols.
Around 90% of community members participating belong to the indigenous Bodo community. Their engagement is integral to successful conservation in the region, with training building upon and reinforcing their traditional ecological knowledge.
This is the first time habitat management has been conducted in Panbari, where a new field station has now been established, providing a much-needed base for the field team. Restoring the grasslands in this region will provide crucial support to the last remaining wild population of pygmy hogs, which also acts as a critical genetic source for the captive breeding programme. The restoration in Rupahi aims to connect it with another grassland block where reintroductions have also taken place, providing an important habitat corridor for the reintroduced populations.
Since 2020, 63 pygmy hogs born in Durrell’s breeding centre have been released into Manas National Park, and further releases are planned to bolster the population. Currently, a group of pygmy hogs are in pre-release enclosures being prepared for release into Manas, marking the sixth pygmy hog release into the park. Whilst in pre-release facilities, the hogs live in semi-wild conditions and are encouraged to forage naturally, giving them the best chance of adaptation to the wild upon release.
Surveying the released hogs in Rupahi and the remaining wild hogs in Panbari is important for monitoring the populations. Some of the released pygmy hogs are fitted with radio transmitters, allowing their movements to be tracked. The team also monitors them by searching for signs of pygmy hog presence in the grasslands, such as nests and tracks. In March, annual sign surveys identified 17 nests in Panbari, suggesting a decline in the population, with estimates currently ranging between 50 and 80 individuals, reinforcing how important it is for us to continue habitat restoration in this region.
The long-term impact of this work is the scaling up of community-led restoration of the grasslands. This aims to ensure the wild and reintroduced pygmy hog populations can thrive in the grasslands of Assam.
The Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme (PHCP) is a collaboration between Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, IUCN/SSC Wild Pig Specialist Group, Assam Forest Department, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, [Ecosystems-India], with Aaranyak as delivery partner.