Sign In
Learn bits
Ecology & Environment
Mahesh

28/10/22 12:48 PM IST

Khangkhui Cave In Manipur

In News 
  • The forest officials denied the planned extermination of the colony of bats from a Manipur cave system as stated by the zoological study.
Khangkhui Cave 
  • The Khangkhui Cave is a natural limestone cave locally called as Khangkhui Mangsor.
  • Khangkhui Mangsor caves consists of four major caves.
  • The cave was used as a shelter by the local people during World War II, after the Japanese forces advanced to Manipur and the adjoining Nagaland.
  • The folklore of the Tangkhul community, believed the cave was the abode of a protective deity.
  • The cave housed large populations of bats belonging to the Rhinolophidae and Hipposideridae families.
  • Researchers recorded Blyth’s horseshoe bat in the Khangkhui cave which was one of 12 new species added to Manipur’s mammals.
  • Archaeologists have discovered many important artefacts, dating back to the Palaeolithic culture from this cave.
Horseshoe bat
  • Horseshoe bats, (genus Rhinolophus), are any of more than 100 species of large-eared insect-eating bats.
  • The researchers recorded Blyth’s horseshoe bat in the Khangkhui cave during two extensive field surveys covering nine districts of Manipur in 2019 and 2021.
  • This bat was one of 12 new species added to Manipur’s mammalian fauna.
  • IUCN Status: Over a third of bat species are considered threatened or data deficient.
Importance of Bats
  • Bats play an essential role in pest control, and pollinating plants.
  • In the tropics and subtropics, bats act as very efficient seed dispersers and are responsible for much of the regeneration of forests following deforestation.

More Related Current Affairs View All

22 Aug

Uttarakhand State Authority for Minority Education (USAME) Bill, 2025

'The Uttarakhand Assembly on Wednesday passed the Minority Education Bill, 2025, extending minority status benefits to institutions run by the Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Christian, and

Read More

22 Aug

India needs a national space law urgently

'A nation with a strong base in science and technology is a nation with a strong backbone” — these words of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam ring truer than before as India celebrate

Read More

22 Aug

Organ transplantation

'The National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) recently issued a direction stating that women patients and relatives of deceased donors will receive priority in org

Read More

India’s First Ai-Driven Magazine Generator

Generate Your Custom Current Affairs Magazine using our AI in just 3 steps