probably 20 or 30 people. This gave us good coverage of the island."
"We asked them about sightings of the Sumatran striped rabbit and report the results in our paper." Overall, the conservation biologist adds, "The biggest news is that we only received recent sighting information from these two parks. For the first time, we can pinpoint that these two areas may be the only ones remaining where this species occurs. We can't say they don't occur elsewhere, but we are saying it's important to preserve those areas in order to save the species."
Habitats critical to many forms of wildlife in the parks face constant pressure from nearby coffee and palm oil plantations and from those who want logging roads built, she adds. Roads would not only destroy habitat but would allow humans, including poachers, access into relatively wild and remote places. In Sumatra between 2000 and 2009, more than 7.6 million acres (3.1 million hectares) of forest were lost to such encroachment, McCarthy says.
Much of her work was done at fairly high altitudes, in dense rainforest and rugged terrain, along volcanic ridges up to 3,900 feet (1,200 meters) high, where human encroachment is low, McCarthy says. The area has a relatively high density of wildlife, including tigers, so the investigators never travel alone and always have a park ranger with them. After walking miles to visit their cameras and snares, they roll out their sleeping bags in local villages as guests of families with no electricity, running water or modern plumbing.
McCarthy says, "It's such a beautiful place. I hope we are able to increase conservation initiatives. At this point we really need to increase the involvement of local people in order to save these areas. There is some appreciation of the value of wildlife, especially for the tiger. But the root of the problem, the loss of habitat, hasn't really slowed down. We feel our presence and the fact that our research supports a park r
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| Contact: Janet Lathrop jlathrop@admin.umass.edu 413-545-0444 University of Massachusetts at Amherst Source:Eurekalert |
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