Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve has unveiled the first scientific assessment report of the Greater Hog Badger (Arctonyx collaris), a nocturnal small burrowing mammal locally called Mati Gahori (Assamese), confirming that the globally Vulnerable species, protected under Schedule I of India’s Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, thriving in the park’s diverse habitat. The report was released on 12th June, 2026. The study was conducted by Kaziranga’s Tiger Cell in collaboration with Wildlife Conservation Trust and Ms. Tiasa Adhya of The Fishing Cat Project with the objective of estimating the density and habitat occupancy of greater hog badgers within the Tiger Reserve by assessing the camera-trap images available from past All India Tiger Estimation data.
At least 55 individual Hog badgers are estimated in approximately 1100 Km2 area, which indicates a healthy and potentially viable population widely distributed throughout the landscape. However, this outcome is a preliminary estimate and further work is needed to improve it, using detection covariate data not available to us at present.
Taking to social media Honble Minister Environment and Forests, Assam Shri Jayanta Malla Baruah posted
Exciting news from @kaziranga_ ! The Great Hog Badger is doing well…
The first scientific assessment using camera-trap bycatch data has recorded over 60 Greater Hog Badgers (মাটি গাহৰি) in the park. The healthy presence of this elusive, nocturnal burrower across diverse habitats reflects the strength of Kaziranga’s ecosystems. Every species, big or small, plays a vital role in maintaining ecological balance and biodiversity.

Kaziranga #Conservation #Wildlife #JayantaMallabaruah.

Globally there are three extant species of hog badgers, the greater hog badger A. collaris, northern hog badger A. albogularis and Sumatran hog badger A. hoevenii, of which the first two occur in India. Among these the greater hog badgers are the largest in size. Hog badgers are distributed across parts of South, Central and Southeast Asia. Its range extends from Bangladesh and northeastern India eastwards through Myanmar, Thailand, Lao PDR and Vietnam, south to Cambodia and peninsular Thailand. According to IUCN, an exact global population count is not available, the population trend is decreasing due to habitat loss and intense poaching pressure for which the species is listed as Vulnerable.
The Greater Hog Badger is an ecologically important mesocarnivore whose conservation in Kaziranga National Park has implications beyond the persistence of a single species. As an omnivorous and highly fossorial mammal, the species contributes to ecosystem functioning through soil disturbance, nutrient redistribution, and the turnover of leaf litter during foraging activities. Such digging behaviour enhances soil aeration and may facilitate seed germination and microhabitat formation for invertebrates and small vertebrates.
Greater Hog Badger is quite sensitive to hunting and has massively declined in its South East Asian range with probably only India and Thailand having a healthy population at present. This makes it a (much) higher conservation priority in the South Asian parts, notably in Assam and NE India. This region is much more internationally significant than might be assumed from a casual look at a global range map and the finding from Kaziranga helps to prove this point.