IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Maddox, T.M.; Gemita, E.; Wijamukti, S.; Selampassy, A. | |
| Pigs, palms, people and tigers - Annual report of the Jambi Tiger project | |
| 2003 Full Book | |
A key strategy for ensuring the survival of the Sumatran tiger is to work on their survival outside the protected area system. Non-protected areas represent a far larger area of land, do not exclude people and therefore reduce the potential for land use conflict, and can provide connectivity between the core protected areas. Potential for coexistence between tigers and commercial land use has been shown in an oil palm plantation, PT Asiatic Persada (AP), in Sumatra. A combination of the plantation's readiness to adopt a management system sympathetic to tiger conservation and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL)'s belief in the importance of engagement with industry for conservation has resulted in the formation of the Jambi Tiger Project, a unique partnership between a conservation NGO, the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI), a commercial agricultural company and the Indonesian government (through the KSDA - the local branch of the PHKA or Indonesian Department of Forestry) that aims to establish how tigers survive with oil palm and what can be done to ensure the situation persists in a sustainable manner. Between 2001-2 the plantation created a 15 man conservation team which, with advice from ZSL, demonstrated without doubt the existence of at least four adult and breeding tigers on site as well as a large variety of other species. In 2003 the project expanded, with ZSL receiving a research permit from LIPI, funding from the Save the Tiger Fund (STF) and 21st Century Tiger and permanent field staff. Onsite infrastructure was established and programmes for monitoring species presence, relative abundance and any immediate threats were expanded. A total of 20 hard working and enthusiastic staff are now in place dedicated to tiger conservation and research. The ZSL and Asiatic staff share the workload, assisting each other with the patrols and scientific survey efforts as necessary. Co-operation has been fostered with the Jambi branch of the KSDA and the adjacent logging concession PT Asialog (which is also used by the tigers), both of whom are keen to find a solution to conflict between industry and conservation. Research objectives for 2003 targeted understanding the relationship between tigers, their probable main prey (wild pigs, _Sus scrofa_) and the role of prey species as pests on the plantation. In addition, tiger research was expanded, gathering more detailed information on the number of tigers present and starting a study of their ranging patterns within the landscape. Species diversity results were primarily based on 5717 sightings from 3532 camera trap nights and 1180 track records. Results show more than 30 medium and large sized mammals using the oil palm dominated site, with other mammals of conservation interest including dhole (_Cuon alpinus)_, sun bear (_Helarctos malayanus), _Malayan tapir (_Tapirus indicus)_, clouded leopard (_Neofelis nebulosa) _and fishing cat (_Prionailurus viverrinus)_. Use of the oil palm habitat itself is limited and almost all species are restricted to the unplanted habitats bordering the oil palm crop or the Asialog forest concession. However, the degraded scrub habitats showed higher presence of many species than the apparently less degraded forest concession, including the Sumatran tiger. The prey studies were based on nearly 400km of night transects and 1051 trap nights from randomly placed camera traps. These confirmed wild pigs (_Sus scrofa_) to be the dominant ungulate and likely tiger prey present, with abundance far outweighing any other species, although at least 19 potential tiger prey species exist on site. Line transects estimated density within the oil palm and scrub habitats to be around 2.5 pigs/km2 and agreed with camera trapping studies that densities in the forest were negligible in comparison. These densities are comparable to other pig studies but much lower than the only other oil palm study where predators were absent. Pigs were also one of the few species to show equal abundance inside the oil palm crop compared to outside in the scrub. However, studies of abundance were not as complete as hoped with the failure of capture mark recapture studies following unsuccessful trapping attempts. Line transects are thought to be underestimating true densities and further work estimating absolute density is also required for calibrating camera trap results. Consequently, these estimates are only considered to be preliminary results. As a result of problems capturing pigs, other aspects of the prey study were also delayed and planned assessments of pig impact on the plantation were only initiated towards the end of the year. Research on the tigers however was more successful. Individual recognition of camera trap photos show that a minimum of nine and possibly even sixteen tigers have used the plantation concession and bordering areas within the last two years, suggesting densities comparable to some protected areas. At least four of the tigers are breeding residents living within the plantation concession. Furthermore, one tiger was successfully captured and radio collared, the first ever in Sumatra. Despite some complications receiving the signal in certain habitats, the collared individual is now being tracked on a regular basis as he ranges over the eastern portion of the concession and the current estimate of his range is about 50km2. This report concludes with project's aims for 2004. |
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