Latest technologies to support wildlife conservation

BANGALORE/CHENNAI: India's wildlife and forest management officials are finding a new way of dealing with endangered fauna - by using simple but effective technology tools such as radio sensor tagging that helps in tracking the movement and breeding of these animals. A pitched battle is being waged by conservationists, the government and non-government organisations to save India's national animal, the magnificent tiger, from extinction and technology is at the centre of the efforts being made. Simple technology is being used extensively to estimate, track and protect the remaining 1,706 tigers across the country.

To the surprise and dismay of many, the 2006 tiger census said there were only 1,411 tigers left in the country. The 2010 census found the numbers going up to 1706 but habitats were shrinking rapidly. The technology aided census has been useful in coming up with a fairly realistic number that drives home the gravity of the problem, which was hitherto little known. Until the 'project tiger' efforts of 2006, tiger habitats in India were relatively unknown. With the use of remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS), the government was able to identify potential tiger habitats. In the same project, with the use of camera traps, reliable population estimation of this elusive species was made. "These are landmark developments in integrating technology with mainstream conservation," said PR Sinha, director, Wild Life Institute of India.

During the survey, officials used radio telemetry, satellite tracking, geographical information systems and global positioning systems to count tigers. In the first phase of the Rs 9.1-crore tiger census, field data was collected by trained people. In the second phase, tiger habitats were analysed using satellite data while in the third, hi-tech cameras were installed at strategic points to count tigers. "This was a massive exercise we undertook in which technology played a major role," says Sinha. Nearly six lakh square kilometres of forest was assessed in 17 states using remote sensing data.

The Wild Life Institute of India is also helping authorities to prosecute offenders by churning out forensic data. "We do DNA analysis and other forensic studies to help law enforcement nail poachers," he added.

SIMPLE TOOLS

Radio telemetry is a simple technology used extensively by wildlifers. The technology -- which uses radio waves emitted from a transmitter attached to an animal to track and monitor them -- was developed in the United States in the 1960s. "Radio tagging has been a real break through in tracking cats, nocturnal animals, or to track long distance migrations like that of turtles or whales," says Ullas Karanth , tiger expert and conservation zoologist.

Using telemetry, it was found that the Oilve Ridley sea turtle travels all the way to Sri Lanka from the Orissa coast where they have mass nests. It was also used to identify migratory pathways of Siberian Cranes, trans-boundary movement of tiger, snow leopard and elephant, and homing-instincts of relocated mammals from as far as 400km away.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/latest-technologies-to-support-wildlife-conservation/articleshow/8655719.cms