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tigers by counting them on You Tube
Washington:
The Wildlife Conservation Society's India Program
(WCS - India) has released a unique training video on
You Tube that showcases the latest scientific methods
for estimating the numbers of wild tigers and their prey.
Wildlife filmmaker Shekar Dattatri, in collaboration with
Wildlife Conservation Society tiger scientist Dr K Ullas
Karanth, has produced the 5-part instructional video,
titled "Monitoring Tigers and Their Prey - The Right Way."
The video is based on the acclaimed manual Monitoring
Tigers and their Prey edited by Karanth and Dr. James
D. Nichols, and is aimed at wildlife researchers, park
managers, conservation volunteers, and students. According
to Karanth, the main aim of the training video is to demystify
the practice of field scientific techniques such as line
transect sampling and camera trapping, and enable all
interested persons to understand the correct field protocols
that should be followed for monitoring this endangered
big cat. "A robust scientific system will allow us to
accurately measure population trends of tigers and their
prey from year to year," said Karanth. "Such a system
of monitoring could help us prevent local extinctions,
like the one that took place in Sariska Tiger Reserve
in Rajasthan a few years ago," he added. Previously, the
Indian government had relied on a scientifically flawed
"pugmark" method, where tiger tracks were counted to estimate
numbers. The government has now discarded this method,
which was prone to producing over-inflated tiger numbers,
in favor of scientific techniques such as those outlined
in the video. "WCS believes in developing best practices
for big cat conservation and sharing its science widely
with the conservation community," Karanth said. "While
many people are now familiar with terms such as line-transect
sampling and camera trapping, they may not be aware of
the practice and principles underlying these methods.
We hope the video will help fill this gap," said Dr. Ravi
Chellam, India Country Director for the Wildlife Conservation
Society. "The video will also be useful to people studying
other big cats like jaguars, cheetahs, snow leopards and
leopards, because the methods of monitoring are essentially
the same," he added.
-Mar 15, 2009
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