Using ‘fingerprinting’, researchers map jaguars in the state of São Paulo

[ad_1]

This work contributes to the conservation of this species, which is threatened with extinction. Monitoring cameras help in mapping jaguars in the state of São Paulo Reproduction/TV Fronteira Researchers from Fundação Florestal (FF) and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) are mapping jaguars in the state of São Paulo. This work by specialists is important for the conservation of this species, which is threatened with extinction. Jaguar that died after being run over, this Sunday morning (23), had already been seen by the monitoring cameras of the Morro do Diabo State Park, in Teodoro Sampaio (SP). Researchers from Fundação Florestal (FF), in Teodoro Sampaio (SP), named this jaguar ‘Sarado’ Reproduction/TV Fronteira Researchers named this jaguar ‘Sarado’ (image above). It is an adult male that can weigh more than 100 kilos. Besides him, a partnership between the FF and ICMBio is mapping jaguars throughout the State of São Paulo. All jaguars that have already been identified in Pontal do Paranapanema, Continuo de Paranapiacaba, Serra do Mar and Vale da Ribeira participate in this mapping. Forest Foundation researcher Andrea Pires explains about mapping jaguars Reproduction/TV Fronteira FF researcher Andrea Pires, in an interview with TV Fronteira, explained that the work works as a ‘guide for the jaguars’. “Gathering information, knowledge, we thought ‘why not make a guide to jaguars for the State of São Paulo?’ even the population in general, when they go to the river to fish and see a jaguar swimming or a jaguar somewhere in the state. Mapping is done using jaguar rosettes Reproduction/TV Fronteira Mapping is done using rosettes, which are jaguar spots. They work as a kind of ‘fingerprint’ of these animals. Each one of them has its unique brand and, thus, they are baptized with the name and all your information is being stored. Chico, for example, is a male caught several times by camera traps in Oeste Paulista and has been accompanied by researchers since he was a puppy. “These traps capture these images, we bring them to the office, download them onto the computers and identify the jaguars, give them a name, baptize them with the population, do this action too. And we map each one of them, rosette by rosette, to have this large database of each animal, so we work on both sides, the tail, the face, the head, so we have this whole profile of the animal so that we can identify it from any angle it appears”, added the researcher. ‘Chico’ has been accompanied by monitoring traps since he was a puppy Reproduction/TV Fronteira Every 60 days the researchers move the monitoring cameras around inside the forest. These changes help professionals to understand how the animals occupy the area. In the Morro do Diabo State Park, jaguars can be observed at 40 different points within the forest. SEE ALSO: Critically endangered species, jaguar cub dies after being run over on a road that cuts through the Morro do Diabo State Park, in Teodoro Sampaio Chico, Juçara, Nadi, Nanã and Raoni are the names chosen to baptize jaguars in the Atlantic Forest of São Paulo Morro do Diabo State Park celebrates 80 years of history and conservation In broad daylight, jaguars are spotted after hunting capuchin monkeys in Morro do Diabo State Park; see VIDEO ‘Extremely endangered’, jaguar finds a protected environment in Morro do Diabo for the preservation of the species Morro do Diabo guards record images of jaguars during patrols on the Paranapanema River; see VIDEOS Camera traps monitor jaguars in the State of São Paulo Reproduction/TV Fronteira Biologist and biodiversity monitor, Fabrício Cecotti de Souza Maria, emphasizes the importance of monitoring the animals with camera traps. “You can find out if it passed here during a certain period, if it passed through this region in another period, so we can make a timeline and the occupation of these animals here in the park. It is very interesting when you analyze these images, the we end up taking some very cool images, behaviors that I think only through the camera would we be able to observe”, said the monitor. On the double cameras, we managed to catch the mother and adult son walking together, which is a bit rare”, added Fabrício. ‘Chico’ has been accompanied by monitoring traps since he was a puppy, when he was caught walking with his mother Reproduction/TV Fronteira Biologist Beatriz Beisiegel, from ICMBio, has been monitoring jaguars for years in the State of São Paulo and mainly in the Paranapiacaba Continuum. photographs and monitoring the animals through collars with GPS installed in them. “One of the objectives is to update the population estimate of the species here in the Paranapiacaba Continuum. In these 10 years there have been some positive events for jaguars and some negative ones. Among the positive facts is the increase in the population of one of their main prey, which are the white-lipped peccaries, and the creation and expansion of conservation units”, pointed out Beatriz. Monitoring cameras help in mapping jaguars in the State of São Paulo Reproduction/TV Fronteira The expert says that this makes it possible to infer the life histories of individuals and the conservation of the species. But, despite this work, there has been a noticeable decrease in jaguars in São Paulo. very easy access to weapons, a very big glamorization of the figure of the hunter, and hunting is a very important threat, and it is one of the worst threats for a population as small as ours. The loss of an adult animal, with two thirds of its reproductive life still ahead of it, in such a small population, is a fact that greatly increases the probability of extinction of this population, so it seems ‘wow, an adult animal died here, another adult animal dead there, what difference does it make for the species, right?’, but in a small population, this can increase to 100% the probability of extinction of this species here, in 100 years”, concluded the biologist. Monitoring cameras help in mapping of jaguars in the State of São Paulo Reproduction/TV Fronteira For the researchers, mapping is an important job to monitor the conservation of this feline, which is considered the largest in the Americas. “It’s a species that we call an umbrella , because by conserving the environment it is in, we conserve a whole chain of animal interactions below, because it is at the top of the trophic chain, so when I conserve an environment, I conserve it for everyone. This is why Morro do Diabo State Park has a population of jaguars, because it shows how much it is conserving such a threatened species”, concluded Andrea. Mapping is done using jaguar rosettes Reproduction/TV Fronteira Rosettes work as a kind of ‘fingerprint’ of the jaguars Reproduction/TV Fronteira VIDEOS: All about the Presidente Prudente region See more news at g1 Presidente Prudente e Região.

[ad_2]

Source link