Counting Squirrels in Indian Forests

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Although the ecology of squirrels has been extensively studied, most past work is characterized by the failure to account for detection and heavy reliance on indices rather than directly measuring abundance. This has involved acoustic and visual surveys, sign surveys (tracks, middens and dreys) and capture-recapture sampling (trapping rates) methods are adopted to estimate squirrel abundance. Such field studies assume the detection probability of the species to be equal in all sites, leading to incorrect estimates of true abundance.

Authors … Read More

What do Carnivores Eat?

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As umbrella species, the tiger and its co-predators, the leopard and dhole play a fundamental role in shaping prey communities in the forest. Understanding the food habits and dietary seperation of these three large carnivores is vital for conservation of prey species and overall ecosystem functioning.

Authors Anish P. Andheria, K. Ullas Karanth and N. Samba Kumar conducted a study of diets of three sympatric large carnivores, the tiger (Panthera tigris), the leopard (Panthera pardus) and … Read More

Chalazodes Bubble Nest Frog

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The Chalazodes Bubble Nest frog (Roaorchestes chalazodes) is one of India’s critically endangered frog. The species, originally described by Günther in 1876 based on a single specimen that is now located in the British Museum of Natural History, was lost to science for about 136 years. It was thought to be extinct until recently, when it was rediscovered in the remote forests of Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu by Dr. Ganesan R, Seshadri.K.S and Dr. Biju S.D. … Read More

Q: What are the advantages and hazards of radio-collaring wild animals, particularly elephants?

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Answer from Shekar Dattatri of Conservation India:

Radio-collaring of animals is a tried and tested method of studying free-ranging wild animals that has been in practice for several decades. It is primarily used for tracking the movement and activity patterns of the tagged animal, with the signals being sent to a handheld device or to a computer via a satellite. It is often the only method that is available for studying the movement and activity patterns of a secretive species … Read More