Malaysia: Elephant herd helps researchers identify new sanctuaries

Ruben Sario The Star 22 Oct 12;

KOTA KINABALU: A herd of elephants is helping researchers identify areas that need to be set aside as wildlife forest corridors in Sabah's lower Kinabatangan region.

Since 2008, researchers from the Sabah Wildlife Department, Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) and non-governmental organisation HUTAN, have tracked nine elephants eight cows and a bull using satellite collars.

Data from the satellite collars on four of the nine elephants is providing crucial information on suitable and available elephant habitats in the region, department director Datuk Dr Laurentius Ambu said.

“One of the four elephants has already provided two years of data made up of 24 positions per day which will allow us to prioritise areas where landscape connectivity along the Kinabatangan river has to be rebuilt,” he added.

Of the four elephants providing data, three are female. On Oct 19, researchers replaced the satellite collar on the fourth, a male elephant named Gading.

DGFC director Dr Benoit Goosens said Gading was collared in July 2008 and October 2011, but the device fell from its belt in May 2012.

The researchers also collared one of the three females named Puteri by Nurzhafarina Othman, a Malaysian PhD student at Cardiff University conducting research on the social behaviour of the Bornean elephant.

Nurzhafarina said the satellite collars allowed researchers to track the herd and study how the elephants adapted their social behaviour in the degraded and fragmented landscape of the Kinabatangan floodplain.

“I am also able to understand how social units work, how females are associating within and between family units,” said Nurzhafarina, who had been following the herd of elephants for more than two years.

The collaring exercise was funded by the Asian Elephant Conservation Fund under the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, the Elephant Family charity, Houston Zoo and Columbus Zoo.

Four members of the London-based Elephant Family also took part in the collaring exercise.

Wildlife veterinarian Dr Diana Ramirez from the department's Wildlife Rescue Unit, who led the tagging operation, said the exercise was a team effort.

“Tracking, sedating and collaring an elephant is not an easy task. We are concerned about the health of the elephant and the safety of the members of the team,” she said.

Helpful info from collared elephants
Roy Goh New Straits Times 22 Oct 12;

SATELLITE TRACKING: Data enable Sabah officials prevent human-wildlife conflicts

KOTA KINABALU: THE survival of Borneo pygmy elephants in Sabah is brighter with data collected from pachyderms fitted with satellite collars.

Since 2008, nine elephants had been fitted with such collars in the Kinabatangan area, allowing wildlife officials to gather crucial information.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Datuk Dr Laurentius Ambu said of the nine elephants, the satellite collars of four were still emitting their location points, providing data on their habitats and movements.

"A female has already provided two years' of data and 24 positions per day.

"This data will allow my department to pinpoint crucial areas in order to establish connectivity along Sungai Kinabatangan."

Senior veterinarian of the department, Dr Sen Nathan, said with the data, they could take preemptive steps to avoid human-wildlife conflicts and re-route the elephants' path to avoid plantations or villages.

Last Friday, two elephants were fitted with satellite collars -- a male named Gading and a female named Puteri -- near Danau Pitas at the Lower Kinabatangan Sanctuary.

The exercise was part of a joint project between the department, a non-governmental organisation called HUTAN and the Danau Girang Field Centre.

The project was funded by the Asian Elephant Conservation Fund from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Mohamed Zayed Species Conservation Fund, a London-based charity organisation called Elephant Family, Houston Zoo and Columbus Zoo.

Danau Girang director Dr Benoit Goosens said the male elephant was being collared for the third time. It had been collared in 2008 and last year.

The department's Wildlife Rescue Unit veterinarian Dr Diana Ramirez led the latest exercise.

"Sedating and collaring an elephant is not an easy task. We have to take care of the health of the elephant and safety of the team members.

"Experience is important and my unit has more than 15 trained workers to assist in such projects."