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Human-Wildlife Coexistence / Feed

Human-wildlife coexistence is a significant challenge that only grows as habitats shrink and other issues like climate change alter the natural world. Technologies like biologging gear have become essential for proactively reducing human-wildlife conflict before it escalates, and tech projects that seek to understand population ranges and behaviour can help people learn to live with wildlife as part of our own environments. If you're interested in using technology to enhance human-wildlife coexistence, this group is the place for you!

discussion

WildLabs success! E-shepherd predator deterrent trials in USA

Dave Cortright

25 January 2016 8:04pm

@Chavoux , I mention E-shepherd to a colleague recently who is connected with several predator organizations in the USA (including the government's Department...

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Rachel Kramer

11 February 2016 8:14pm

Thanks, @Suzanne.Stone ! It would be wonderful if the community could track your progress in this thread. Also looking forward to reading your Journal of Mammology paper.

- Rachel

Chavoux Luyt

26 April 2016 2:12pm

@Rachel , the last time I checked (2015), it was about R1200-00 per collar. In South Africa that can be approximated as the price of one sheep. To my mind, that only makes it viable and affordable if the predation (or theft?) levels are very high (more than 10% losses/year?). 

I have to add two additional observations:

  1. Sheep breeds differ in the extend to which they flock together in a single herd (e.g. African indigenous breeds graze together in larger herds than the most popular breeds in South Africa (Merino or Dorper). In these breeds it might be possible to have less collars per sheep.
  2. My greatest fear is that it will work wel for a year or two. Jackals (and I assume coyotes as well) are extremely intelligent. And methods which worked at first (e.g. bell collars) soon became useless. With jackals we also have the issue that many of the jackals on farms are now starting to hunt in packs instead of the typical territorial pairs (with helpers). So a commonly solitary hunter (the pairs would often hunt separately) is now turning into a pack hunter. However, I do think that it might remain fairly effective against solitary cats. I would be interested in the results of the tests in America, but I think it should be for at least a 3 year period (I know funding etc. might be an issue). 
Rachel Kramer

3 November 2016 5:09pm

@Suzanne.Stone have you had any success with your trials in Idaho?

 

 

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discussion

Camera Trap based Alarm Systems

Ratufa_Indica

22 March 2016 9:14am

Hi, I am looking at using camera-trap based alarm systems for managing Human Elephant Conflict in a specific area in India. Has anybody worked on developing something along...

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James Watkins

12 April 2016 10:19am

This might be a silly question, but why do you need a camera trap for either purpose - unless you want a record of specific individuals?

If the aim is to provide an alarm to scare off elephants then a system that uses a simple motion sensor wired to an alarm would do the same thing at a much lower cost without the risk of damage or theft that all camera traps suffer from.

If the aim is to alert locals then the Indian Nature Conservation Foundations Elephant Early Warning System is worth exploring http://ncf-india.org/projects/in-the-elephant-hills 

Nilanga Jayasinghe

21 April 2016 9:01pm

Hi James,

Thanks for sharing information on NCF's early warning system. NCF's tool is great and works well for the context in Valparai where it's being used. We work closely with them as well. As you are aware, the context for each conflict situation is different. These are open plantation areas where elephants can be seen if present in any patch, while in other areas, it's harder to tell when they come out of forested protected areas and into adjacent habitation in order to warn people. And for a number of the landscapes where we work, that particular approach may not be as effective, we are trying to test other forms of early detection. Do let us know if you learn of any results from camera-trapping early warning systems as well using a tool that could potentially serve multiple purposes. Many thanks.

Nilanga

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article

Internet Cats Just Got Bigger

WILDLABS Admin

26 October 2016 12:00am

The internet has a long love affair with cat pictures, but these aren’t your mom’s internet cats. Now internet cats are getting even bigger and wilder. In this article, Dr. Lisa Feldkamp talks about the work Panthera is...

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article

Camera traps reveal mysteries of nature

Roland Kays

18 July 2016 12:00am

Sharing personal 'best of' animal pictures is a favorite pastime of many camera trappers. A prolific camera trapper himself, Roland Kays has pulled together more than 600 images collected by 152 researchers from 54...

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article

Can Drones Live up to the Hype?

Paul Glover-Kapfer

8 July 2016 12:00am

Drones are being explored for a spectrum of applications in conservation that include mapping, biodiversity inventories, antipoaching patrols, wildlife tracking and fire monitoring. However, questions remain about...

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article

TEAM Network and Wildlife Insights

Eric Fegraus

28 April 2016 12:00am

Operating the largest tropical forest camera trap network globally, TEAM Network has accumulated over 2.6 million images. How can large datasets coupled with new techniques for data management and analysis provide...

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discussion

Migration monitoring app

John Probert

25 April 2016 1:36pm

Hello all, Another thought I had regarding human-wildlife conflict. Since wildlife migrations occur around similar times, every year, what about an app to make people aware of...

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discussion

Deterring bears while backpacking

John Probert

5 April 2016 3:15pm

I like to go hiking and in many places of the US you often run into bears. It is common practice to attach a bell to your bag so that a bear can hear you coming and stay out of...

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Nilanga Jayasinghe

19 April 2016 3:32pm

Ho John,

That's a great idea and thanks for sharing, but as you said, limitations on battery and speaker capacity abound. Might anyone else have any thoughts on how we could use apps to prevent HWC? There are apps that provide the ability to track wildlife through satellite collars for monitoring purposes. Is anyone aware of whether this type of app is being used also for HWC prevention using geo-fencing through collars or other means? Thanks.

Nilanga

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