30/05/03

India loses track of its big cats

India is believed to be the home to the largest number of royal Bengal tigers. Copyright: UN Photo

By: Pallava Bagla

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<h1>India loses track of its big cats</h1>
<h4>By: Pallava Bagla</h4>
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<p>The way the Indian government keeps tabs on the endangered Bengal tiger is so flawed to be nearly worthless for conservation purposes, according to new research.<BR><BR>The study, by US and Indian scientists, criticises India’s use of tiger footprints — which were thought to be unique — to track specific cats and calculate population size. The researchers say that in a recent controlled test, even experts were unable to distinguish the prints of individual tigers.<BR><BR>To better measure tiger trends, the scientists recommend that India adopts statistically sound sampling methods such as modern camera traps set in prime tiger habitat.<BR><BR><a href="/sci.cfm?redir=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/300/5624/1355a?ijkey=d0ZUb6MYLnrLc&keytype=ref&siteid=sci" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to <EM>Science</EM> news story</A><BR><BR>Reference: <EM>Science</EM> 300, 1355 (2003)</p>

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<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/india-loses-track-of-its-big-cats/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
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The way the Indian government keeps tabs on the endangered Bengal tiger is so flawed to be nearly worthless for conservation purposes, according to new research.

The study, by US and Indian scientists, criticises India’s use of tiger footprints — which were thought to be unique — to track specific cats and calculate population size. The researchers say that in a recent controlled test, even experts were unable to distinguish the prints of individual tigers.

To better measure tiger trends, the scientists recommend that India adopts statistically sound sampling methods such as modern camera traps set in prime tiger habitat.

Link to Science news story

Reference: Science 300, 1355 (2003)