Friday, February 10, 2012

Insight into human-crocodile conflicts by satellite tagging

KINABATANGAN: A satellite tagging project has been started, to tag selected male crocodiles in 10 main rivers of Sabah, as part of an on-going project to gain insight into human-crocodile conflicts.

 So far, two Kinabatangan river crocodiles have been tagged by the Sabah Wildlife Department, through its Wildlife Rescue Unit and Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), the latest being a 3.6 metre saltwater crocodile named Lais, on January 27.     
 
DGFC director Dr Benoit Goossens said most human-crocodile conflicts involved large males of the species.
 
By tagging these animals, long term seasonal movements can be established, which would then help determine how lack of food may be forcing them to consider humans as a source of protein, he added.     
 
"We plan to focus on 10 main rivers in Sabah and fit satellite tags on the male crocodiles in each of these rivers.  
 
"We will also carry out surveys and collect samples to identify patterns of gene flow between the rivers and also to get an overall picture of fertility within the population," said Goossens who is also leader of the Kinabatangan Crocodile Programme, in a Press release issued today.   
 
The 10 rivers are Klias, Padas, Paitan, Sugud, Labuk, Kinabatangan, Segama, Kalumpang, Kalabakan and Serudon, with emphasis on two rivers with different degrees of human pressure -- the Kinabatangan and Paitan.    
 
Sabah Wildlife Department director Dr Laurentius Ambu attributed the recent successful tagging of the crocodile in the Kinabatangan river to both the Wildlife Rescue Unit and DGFC's hard work.   
 
Ambu said the Wildlife Rescue Unit, funded by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, Shangri-La's Rasa Ria Resort and Le Meridien Hotel, has been extremely active since its creation.    
 
DGFC Manager Mark Rampangajouw said a camera set up in the cage had allowed the project team to catch good shots of the crocodile as it took the bait and moved into the trap.    
 
The satellite tagging project is currently funded by the Chester Zoo in Chestershire, UK and DGFC. -- BERNAMA

Green Sabah says: Crocodiles would normally attack humans when they felt threatened or when the lack of food has driven them to see humans as a source of food. Due to the damages to their natural habitat, pollution of rivers, overfishing and such issues caused by human activities, the coexistence between wildlife and humans are disrupted. Hopefully by using satellite tagging, it can help identify ways to prevent them from attacking humans in the near future.

5 comments:

TuhauBam said...

I hope that an effective way

Anonymous said...

Ia adalah usaha yang baik untuk mengetahui corak kehidupan buaya dengan kawasan sekelilingnya.

Mohd Ishak said...

Disebabkan habitat semulajadi buaya semakin tercemar dan mereka merasai semakin terancam, barulah mereka akan menyerang manusia.

Mohd Ishak said...

Harap dengan pemasangan satelit ini, kita boleh lebih mengenali buaya dan memahami alasan sebalik penyerangan ke atas manusia.

nickko said...

the confrontations of various types between the human and crocodile populations are increasing. the influx of hundreds of new residents each day results in wildlife habitat loss. as crocodile are crowded out of their natural habitat, they become more likely to wander into residential and commercial districts in search of food and nesting space..

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