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Pug Impression Pad
A pug impression pad (PIP) is made by preparing a layer of fine soil about 2 cm thick on forest paths so that animals will leave good footprint impressions. PIPs are widely used in India for the census of tigers.Choudhury, S. R. (1970) The Tiger Tracer. Cheetal, 13(1), October, 1970. The first all-India tiger census in 1972 used this technique. Use PIPs are located and sized so that animals using the path will walk over it and leave their spoor without being disturbed. A glass plate, about , called a "tiger tracer" is then used to trace the outline of the pugmark that was left on the PIP. This tracing is then transferred to a protocol where over twenty pieces of information about the PIP, including the habitat, the pugmark, the direction of movement, etc., are recorded. Plaster casts may also be made from the tracks. During 2002, in 71 tiger census units of Simlipal Tiger Reserve, 8946 PIPs were laid over 1773 km of tracking routes, from which 764 pugmark tracings were co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tiger
The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on ungulates, such as deer and wild boar. It is territorial and generally a solitary but social predator, requiring large contiguous areas of habitat to support its requirements for prey and rearing of its offspring. Tiger cubs stay with their mother for about two years and then become independent, leaving their mother's home range to establish their own. The tiger was first scientifically described in 1758. It once ranged widely from the Eastern Anatolia Region in the west to the Amur River basin in the east, and in the south from the foothills of the Himalayas to Bali in the Sunda Islands. Since the early 20th century, tiger populations have lost at least 93% of their historic range and have been extirpated from Western and Central Asia, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spoor (animal)
Spoor is a trace or a set of footprints by which the progress of someone or something may be followed. Spoor may include tracks, scents, or broken foliage. Spoor is useful for discovering or surveying what types of animals live in an area, or in animal tracking. The word originated c. 1823, from Cape Dutch ''spoor'', from Middle Dutch ''spor'', which is cognate with Old English ''spor'' "footprint, track, trace" and modern English language ''spurn'' (as in ankle). It is cognate also with spur, the metal tool on the heels of riding boots. By analogy, in politics, "to look carefully on the spoor in the trails" means to investigate what is actually going on in a sensitive situation. See also * Fewmets * Footprint * Trace (deconstruction) * Trace fossil A trace fossil, also known as an ichnofossil (; from el, ἴχνος ''ikhnos'' "trace, track"), is a fossil record of biological activity but not the preserved remains of the plant or animal itself. Trace fossils contras ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pugmark
Pugmark is the term used to refer to the footprint of most animals (especially megafauna). "Pug" means foot in Hindi (Sanskrit पद् "pad"; Greek πούς "poús"). Every individual animal species has a distinct pugmark and as such this is used for identification. Wildlife conservationists are known to catalogue pugmarks in the areas where they operate. Pugmarks are also used for tracking rogue animals which may be a danger to mankind or even to themselves because of injuries etc. It is possible to make an accurate identification of species, sex, age and physical condition of an animal by those trained in the field. Field data collection In India, ‘Pugmark Tracking’ involves collection of pugmark tracings and plaster casts from the field and analysis of these separately for individual male, female, and cub of tiger and leopard, and their diagnostic track dimensions and spatial distribution. In order to obtain good pug impressions, PIPs (pug impression pads) are laid along ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protocol (natural Sciences)
In natural and social science research, a protocol is most commonly a predefined procedural method in the design and implementation of an experiment. Protocols are written whenever it is desirable to standardize a laboratory method to ensure successful replication of results by others in the same laboratory or by other laboratories. Additionally, and by extension, protocols have the advantage of facilitating the assessment of experimental results through peer review. In addition to detailed procedures, equipment, and instruments, protocols will also contain study objectives, reasoning for experimental design, reasoning for chosen sample sizes, safety precautions, and how results were calculated and reported, including statistical analysis and any rules for predefining and documenting excluded data to avoid bias. Similarly, a protocol may refer to the procedural methods of health organizations, commercial laboratories, manufacturing plants, etc. to ensure their activities (e.g., bl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plaster Cast
A plaster cast is a copy made in plaster of another 3-dimensional form. The original from which the cast is taken may be a sculpture, building, a face, a pregnant belly, a fossil or other remains such as fresh or fossilised footprints – particularly in palaeontology (a track of dinosaur footprints made in this way can be seen outside the Oxford University Museum of Natural History). Sometimes a blank block of plaster itself was carved to produce mock-ups or first drafts of sculptures (usually relief sculptures) that would ultimately be sculpted in stone, by measuring exactly from the cast, for example by using a pointing machine. These are still described as plaster casts. Examples of these by John Flaxman may be found in the central rotunda of the library at University College London, and elsewhere in the University's collections. It may also describe a finished original sculpture made out of plaster, though these are rarer. Method Plaster is applied to the original to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simlipal Tiger Reserve
Simlipal is a tiger reserve in the Mayurbhanj district in the Indian state of Odisha covering . It is part of the Mayurbhanj Elephant Reserve, which includes three protected areas — Similipal Tiger Reserve, Hadgarh Wildlife Sanctuary with and Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary with . Simlipal National Park derives its name from the abundance of red silk cotton trees growing in the area. The park is home to Bengal tiger, Asian elephant, gaur, and chausingha. This protected area is part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves since 2009. Description Simlipal Tiger Reserve covers an area of , out of which forms the core area. The mean elevation is . It has the peaks of Khairiburu at and Meghasani at . The main waterfalls are the Barehipani Falls at high and the Joranda Falls . History Simlipal elephant reserve originated mainly as a hunting ground for the royalty. It was formally designated a tiger reserve in 1956 and under Project Tiger in May 1973. "Mugger Cro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camera Trap
A camera trap is a camera that is automatically triggered by a change in some activity in its vicinity, like presence of an animal or a human being. It is typically equipped with a motion sensor – usually a passive infrared (PIR) sensor or an active infrared (AIR) sensor using an infrared light beam. Camera trapping is a method for capturing wild animals on film when researchers are not present, and has been used in ecological research for decades. In addition to applications in hunting and wildlife viewing, research applications include studies of nest ecology, detection of rare species, estimation of population size and species richness, and research on habitat use and occupation of human-built structures. Camera traps, also known as trail cameras, are used to capture images of wildlife with as little human interference as possible. Since the introduction of commercial infrared-triggered cameras in the early 1990s, their use has increased. With advancements in the qua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nocturnal Animal
Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed senses of hearing, smell, and specially adapted eyesight. Some animals, such as cats and ferrets, have eyes that can adapt to both low-level and bright day levels of illumination (see metaturnal). Others, such as bushbabies and (some) bats, can function only at night. Many nocturnal creatures including tarsiers and some owls have large eyes in comparison with their body size to compensate for the lower light levels at night. More specifically, they have been found to have a larger cornea relative to their eye size than diurnal creatures to increase their : in the low-light conditions. Nocturnality helps wasps, such as ''Apoica flavissima'', avoid hunting in intense sunlight. Diurnal animals, including squirrels and songbirds, are active duri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dust Bathing
Dust bathing (also called sand bathing) is an animal behavior characterized by rolling or moving around in dust, dry earth or sand, with the likely purpose of removing parasites from fur, feathers or skin. Dust bathing is a maintenance behavior performed by a wide range of mammalian and avian species. For some animals, dust baths are necessary to maintain healthy feathers, skin, or fur, similar to bathing in water or wallowing in mud. In some mammals, dust bathing may be a way of transmitting chemical signals (or pheromones) to the ground which marks an individual's territory. Birds Birds cower close to the ground while taking a dust bath, vigorously wriggling their bodies and flapping their wings. This disperses loose substrate into the air. The birds spread one or both wings which allows the falling substrate to fall between the feathers and reach the skin. The dust bath is often followed by thorough shaking to further ruffle the feathers which may be accompanied with p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
