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| December 31, 2009 | Kashmir black bears fitted with satellite-tracking collars | | Srinagar: Black bears in Kashmir have been fitted with satellite-tracking collars for the first time to study their behaviour and help conserve the endangered species.
This project is being run by the Wildlife Institute of India in Dachigam National
Park. This is the first time in India that black bears have been fitted with satellite
collars. Authorities have started this drive from Kashmir valley. Rashid Naqash,
Wildlife Warden, Central Division, said that the main aim of this project is to
study the behaviour of the bears. "Wildlife Institute of India is running a project
here and satellite- collaring is one of its inbuilt components. The main aim of
this project is to study ecology and the behaviour of wild bears scientifically,"
said Naqash. Once the bears are caught, their age, weight and sex are recorded
and the tracking system is fitted before they are released back into the wild.
A transmitter in the collar sends a signal to a satellite which relays the location
of the animal to ground stations. A team of wildlife experts from Wildlife Institute
of India has put collars on five black bears in collaboration with the Wildlife
Department of Jammu and Kashmir. Samina Amin, a researcher said: "Through
satellite
collaring we came to know how much the animals travel, how it uses its area and
if it leaves the area, then why it leaves the area, all this we want to observe
through this." After fixing the satellite collars, experts track the movement
on computers using the Google Earth software. Such collars can also help in
preventing
bear attacks in the region. Dachigam National Park is a fairly high-density area
for black bears. The density is two animals per square kilometer. | |
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