Malaysia: Eye in the sky on crocodiles

Satellite tagging of crocs to help reduce number of attacks
Avila Geraldine New Straits Times 7 Feb 12;

OVER the past 10 years, there have been 25 fatal crocodile attacks in the east coast of Sabah, including three last year in the Kinabatangan river.

This has led Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) to initiate a satellite tagging project aimed at tackling human-crocodile conflict.

DGFC director and leader of the Kinabatangan Crocodile Programme Dr Benoit Goosens said it was believed that a lack of food could have forced these reptiles to attack humans.

The project, funded by DGFC and Chester Zoo, now focuses on 10 main rivers in Sabah -- Klias, Padas, Paitan, Sugud, Labuk, Kinabatangan, Segama, Kalumpang, Kalabakan and Serudong.

"These are the rivers that have been identified as rivers inhabited by crocodiles.

"We emphasise on Kinabatangan and Paitan because of different degrees of human pressure," said Goosens.

Last week, a DGFC team with the help of Sabah Wildlife Department, successfully installed a satellite tag on a 3.6m saltwater crocodile in Kinabatangan.

It was the second successful satellite tagging of a male crocodile in the area to monitor the reptile's movements.

The male reptile was nicknamed Lais, which means small fish in Bahasa Sungai and is the name of the tributary near where it was caught.

The project was important to establish the crocodiles' long-term seasonal movements to study their biology and ecology.

Goosens said there were many oil palm plantations near the river in the east coast and less forest, as well as prey, such as wild boars and proboscis monkeys.

"We have more people from plantations fishing on the river and this is more likely to attract crocodiles that lack food.

"We also have places where there are lots of vegetation and we think that it is unlikely that there will be a lot of attacks there.

"This is something we want to study. It is a hypothesis and we think it could be the factor. We would also like to find out whether these crocodiles are spending more time near the plantations," he said, adding that most human-crocodile conflicts involved large males.

With satellite tagging, it is possible to track the crocodile's position and determine how a lack of food may be forcing the reptiles to encroach habitable areas and attack humans.

In view of this, the DGFC team planned to tag 20 male crocodiles within the next three years in Sabah.

The team will conduct surveys and collect genetic samples to identify patterns of gene flow between Sabah rivers.

Semen from the captured males would also be studied to get an overall picture of fertility in the population.

"The satellite will send about six positions a day. So we are able to look at the movement and know where they go, and at the same time, have a better idea of its dispersal.

"It is going to be interesting to see if it is dispersing from the larger crocodiles in their area as we are also planning to tag some females to learn about their nesting sites," added Goosens.

The project was also aimed at studying the health and genetic differentiation of the crocodile population in Sabah.

It was also aimed at raising awareness among plantation workers and villagers about crocodile attacks.

Goosens said the first tagging was carried out in June last year but they only managed to track the crocodile for eight weeks.

"There was a technical problem with the tag and we hope this second tagging exercise will go well," he said, adding that the satellite tag would normally last for a year.