Dear all,
We wanted to share an interesting article we came across some time ago. It is about human-wildlife conflicts in Botswana, and mainly focusses on farmlands perceived to be ‘overrun by large numbers of cheetahs’. Researchers of Cheetah Conservation Botswana (CCB) used relatively simple technology to get a better understanding of the problem and to find a workable solution for farmers.
Farmers killing cheetahs on their farmland claimed that the area was ‘flooded’ by big cats and that the only way to protect their livestock was to kill the perceived vast numbers of cheetahs. Camera traps provided a very different view on the situation: it turned out that only a few (if not single) individuals claimed territory on people’s farm, keeping other animals out. Each time a farmer shot an individual, another came in to claim the ‘vacant’ territory. By comparing the spot patterns of individual cats, it soon became clear that each farm had its own resident cheetah.
We can all agree on how useful technology can be to advance conservation and to tackle complicated issues. This example shows clearly that a combined effort by technologists and ecologists / biologists can lead to even better results. Technology can help to better understand animal behaviour, migration patterns, land-use, nutritional needs, etc. and identify solutions to the conflict. At least it can help people to better understand why things are happening and what the implications of their own behaviour are on that of the animals living in the same are. There another component comes in: social science – but we will cover that in another post :-).
We are very curious to hear more examples from your work. Please share your stories and examples of how your technological efforts helped to understand animal biology and behaviour, and how this helped reduce conflicts.
Best regards,
Nilanga & Femke