IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Frank, L. | |
| Trapping methods (Appendix I) Lion conservation research Workshop 1: Survey Techniques | |
| 2001 Conference Proceeding | |
Most ecological and behavioral research requires that individual lions be individually recognizable. Some animals are readily distinguished by natural markings, such as scars, distinctive color patterns, or ear damage. In populations that are habituated to vehicles, it is possible to photograph and score whisker spot patterns (Pennycuick & Rudnai, 1970), which are individually specific. However, in most research projects, animals must be captured for marking, radio collaring and biomedical sampling. In virtually all cases, this will involve chemical immobilization to allow handling. Various drug delivery systems are in widespread use and will not be described here in detail. Characteristics of the most widely used drug combinations are summarized. Before an animal can be immobilized, however, it must be brought into close proximity for darting. In highly habituated populations, this might be as straight forward as driving to within a few yards of the target animal. However, capture of weary individuals in non-habituated or persecuted populations can be quite difficult, representing a major investment in time, effort and equipment before ecological research can progress. Even the best darting systems are notoriously unreliable; few things are more frustrating than spending days getting within range of a wary lion, and then missing because of a slight misestimate of the distance, having the dart fail to inject or explode upon impact. In this section, we describe three methods of capture, two of which obviate the problems of dart failures and one of which is new. |
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