Tracking Six-Week-Old Tiger Cubs

Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and their Russian colleagues from the Sikhote-Alin Reserve have fitted three six-week-old Siberian tiger cubs with tiny radio collars (below). They are the youngest wild tigers ever to be tracked by scientists. The collars--made of expandable elastic and designed to fall off the cubs as they grow--weigh just over five ounces and would fit well on a large housecat. Radiotracking has given scientists crucial insights into the lives of tigers in the Russian Far East and has led to methods to improve the survival and reproduction of the largest of the cat species.

"Through radio-telemetry, we've learned a great deal about the needs of Siberian tigers, animals so elusive that few field scientists have seen them in their natural habitat," says WCS biologist John Goodrich (left), who heads the Siberian Tiger Project. "Now we can finally get some idea of what causes the deaths of tiger cubs, which suffer a mortality rate of nearly 50 percent in their first year. If we can somehow improve their chances, we can make a big difference in helping the population grow."

The radio transmitters emit a "mortality" signal if the unit remains stationary for more than one hour. Finding an animal quickly is crucial in determining cause of death.

The scientists located the den by tracking the radio-collared three-year-old mother tigress named Galia. They waited until Galia's radio signal indicated that she had left her den site before searching for the cubs, which they found among the rocks on the slope of a hill. The cubs weighed from 6.5 to nine pounds and remained calm while the scientists took measurements and collected hair and blood samples for genetic and disease analysis.

These little cubs represent the third generation of radiocollared tigers for the project, which has been monitoring tigers in the Russian Far East for the past decade. Galia was captured and collared in autumn 2002. The cubs' grandmother, Lidia, was radio-collared in October 1999. The collars were provided by WCS researcher Toni Ruth, who has used such collars for years in tracking mountain lion kittens in the Greater Yellowstone area.


Posted by: Kelly    Source