POACHERS could be caught out thanks to a Scots-led study on wild elephants, it is claimed.
Scientists from Stirling University worked with conservation programmes in Tanzania to measure the health of the country’s elephant population.
They used the “quick and cost-effective” method known as rapid demographic assessment (RDA) to count the herbivores, revealing serious pressures on groups in the south and west of the country.
The work marks the first time RDA has been used on a national scale and the approach has now been adopted by the Tanzanian government. It is hoped that other countries will follow suit to make conservation efforts more efficient and disrupt the illegal ivory trade.
Dr Rocio Pozo of Stirling’s Biological and Environmental Sciences department said: “This helps managers to prioritise protection resources to save elephants for future generations.
“We are delighted to hear that Tanzanian government scientists have adopted this methodology as a tool for assessing health of elephant populations.”
Colleague Josephine Smit added: “We hope elephant experts and government research institutes in other countries can apply the RDA method for monitoring populations. This approach will hopefully help to show signs of recovery of elephant populations in the coming years.”
The news comes one day after it emerged that one of the world’s leading investigators into the black market trade has been killed in Kenya. US citizen Esmond Bradley Martin, 75, was found in his home in Nairobi on Sunday. He had a stab wound to his neck and police believe the killing happened in a bungled robbery. Investigations continue and Martin was writing up research from a recent trip to Myanmar at the time of his death.
In Tanzania, the Stirling team assessed the sex, age and group structure of six key elephant populations.
Dr Jeremy Cusack said: “Populations in the north of Tanzania, such as the Serengeti and Tarangire, had healthy population structures. They benefit from adequate resources for protection and tourism.
“However, populations in Tanzania’s less-visited and under-resourced southern protected areas had altered age structures, with fewer calves and old individuals.
“There were also fewer adult males relative to the number of adult females, and a lower number of dependent individuals per adult female.
“We also found that poached populations had a much higher proportion of tuskless individuals, at more than six per cent. These characteristics are signatures of poaching for the ivory trade which has affected Tanzania’s western and southern elephant populations to a much greater extent than the northern populations.
“It will take many years and, in some cases, decades of security and stability to heal and return to a healthy and normally functioning population structure.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here