NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR INDIAN TIGER CENSUS

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Latest technologies for tiger census 2006

 

Suchetana Haldar

 

Kolkata, December 28: The forthcoming tiger census in 2006 will have

the latest in technologies. Apart from the use of the GPS (Global

Positioning System) to monitor and map the movements of the survey

teams, the 2006 census will also use a software developed by the

Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata for the laboratory

analysis of the raw field data. The project, a UNDP scheme, was

allocated funds to the tune of Rs 9 lakh.

 

The census will be an elaborate process with the entire country being

divided into six zones, namely, the northern zone, central zone, north

eastern zone, Eastern Ghats, Western Ghats and the Sunderbans.

 

 

 

The Sunderbans Reserve Forest comprising the Sunderbans tiger reserve

and a part of the 24 parganas (South) forest division, spans an

expanse of 4,200 square kilometres.

 

The modus operandi in the Sunderbans Reserve Forest will be quite

different from that in the other forest zones. This is mainly due to

the mangrove forests in the area, which makes it a difficult terrain

for the survey teams.

 

The area earmarked for the survey has been divided into 50 census

units and five to eight teams will scan the entire region as part of

the wild animals encounter survey. " The teams, each consisting of

three to four members will be essentially looking for various tiger

signs like pug marks, roars, scat (tiger excreta), scratch marks on

tree trunks and even an actual sighting of the tiger will be noted

down, " said Atanu Raha, chief conservator, forest.

 

All traces of the various encounter signs that the teams come across

in their census units will be put down on sign survey forms.

 

This is the first phase of the census and is held over a four-day

period from January 5 to January 8. The next phase, from January 9 to

January 10, is devoted to " ungulate survey " where field data collected

from the survey area will help establish a predator-prey relationship.

 

In this phase, the teams, travelling along the river, stop after every

half hour to assess the situation on the ground. " They will take note

of the quality of the vegetation that grows in that area. Our teams

will also look for any signs of human disturbances like 'chopping and

lopping' in the area, " said Raha.

 

The encounter signs of the herbivores like wild boars and spotted

deers will be carefully taken into account. Forest officials said that

the number of herbivores in a given area will help to predict whether

the area is at all suitable as a tiger habitat.

 

" We then tally the figures with our estimates of the tiger population

in that particular area. A high number of prey will mean that the area

is a good habitat for tigers and if the tiger count in that particular

area is found to be low, then it signals a discrepancy in our count, "

explained Raha.

 

After field data is compiled, we demarcate the entire span of survey

area into high encounter, low encounter and moderate encounter zones.

Twenty per cent of total number of units in each zone are randomly

selected, for a second round of intensive field-work.

 

The plaster casts of left hind pug marks of tigers are collected from

these selected areas which are later taken for laboratory analysis by

the Wildlife Institute of India. This will confirm whether the pug

marks belong to separate tigers or not, quite like the finger print

analysis in crime departments. It is after this that the authorities

will be able to come with a probable range for the tiger count by

applying the sample result to the entire area.