Michigan State University
As the human population grows, conflicts with wildlife are becoming more common and more intense. Many conservation models are built on the idea that threatened species, especially large carnivores, cannot successfully use the same habitat as humans. These theories claim that large protected areas are needed to ensure the survival of these species, so parks have been fenced and humans have been resettled.
However, in a new study in PNAS this week, scientists from Michigan State University raise the possibility that this conservation model may not be the only one that works. Since 2010, these researchers have been tracking the behaviors of both tigers and humans in and around Chitwan National Park in Nepal. Their findings suggest that humans and tigers can coexist at very fine geographical scales, thanks to small changes in the tigers’ behavior.
To determine the behavioral patterns of each species, the researchers employed almost 80 camera traps both inside and outside the protected area. These motion-sensitive cameras documented each time a human or a tiger was in the immediate vicinity; this allowed the researchers to examine coexistence at a very fine spatial scale. In this area, human activities include tourism, research, military activity, and the collection of firewood by locals.
Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments
DIGITAL JUICE
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank's!