Here's an interesting article on new techniques being adopted for census of wildlife. I would love to know more from you about the success rate of the new techniques and whether they are being adopted widely.
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The annual animal census at Sanjay Gandhi National Park this year - set to begin from January 27 - promises to be more scientific and intensive as it will use a new technique called the line transect method, developed by the Wildlife Institute of India and National Tiger Conservation Authority.
In this method, behavioural patterns will be ascertained with the use of GPS (global positioning system) to establish the latitude and longitude of an animal’s habitat. For the first time, things like the amount of human interference in the forest will also be taken into account.
“It is wrong to call it a census, because it is more of a density estimation, and ascertaining if the animals are there or not. The national park is vast and it is not possible to exactly count the animals present there. We can only get an approximate figure.
“The data will be collected and sent to the Wildlife Institute of India. This method was earlier used in 2005, but it was at a rudimentary stage then,” said Suresh Thorat, chief conservator of forests.
Earlier, the census involved old techniques like water hole method, pug-mark tracking, identifying excreta and looking for leopard scratch-marks on tree trunks.
Every year, the census is carried out in May-June when water-holes dry up, forcing animals to congregate at man-made ponds and lakes. “Every animal has to come to a waterhole to drink, once in 24 hours. But there were times when animals did not visit the place if they sensed human presence.
As a result, the readings were inaccurate,” said R M Saraf, assistant conservator of forests.
Consequently, the authorities are not involving volunteers this time for the six-day census at SGNP. “All those looking forward to picnics on machaans will be disappointed. We will only train a few people to carry out data collection,” added Thorat.
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_india-s-tiger-count-to-take-a-beating_1332212
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I do not know how the GPS would be used to study behavioral pattern of the animals!!! Line transect is not a new method to estimate density!!! The cesnus being mentioned in the story is basically sign survey of predators and prey. It is a first phase work of all India Tiger Monitoring exercise, going to take place second time across the country.
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