Argentina: Wildlife Tracked Via Satellite
12/23/99
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: ENVIRONMENT-ARGENTINA: Wildlife Tracked Via Satellite
Source: InterPress Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 23, 1999
Byline: Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES, Dec 23 (IPS) - Five 'yaguaretM-^B' (jaguars) - the
largest South American feline, which inhabit Argentina's northwest -
are to be fitted with 3,000-dollar collars by people fighting for
the big cats' survival.
The costly collars are not made of diamonds or precious metals,
but are leather strips holding a transmitter that sends satellite
signals used to track each movement of the prized animals. They
also carry a battery lasting nearly two years.
The project is an initiative of the Argentinean office of the
Greenpeace environmental group, the National University of Jujuy
(the northwestern province bordering Bolivia), and a non-
governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated exclusively to studying
these jaguars, the YaguaretM-^B Association.
Their goal is not only to prevent the depredation of these
felines, which are hunted by landowners because they kill cattle
for food.
''The idea is to save the jungle, which is the habitat the
jaguars and so many other animals need,'' Greenpeace's Emiliano
Ezcurra told IPS.
The jaguars, known for their round spots, are considered the
largest felines of South America. A large yaguaretM-^B can measure
two metres from the head to the tip of the tail.
Earlier this century, they could be found throughout the region,
but now only two jaguar families survive in Argentina, one in the
mountain jungles of Yungas and the other in Misiones province, in
the northeast, bordering Bolivia and Paraguay.
The most numerous group, of some 200 animals, is found in a strip
of the Yungas jungle, which has the second greatest biodiversity
in Argentina, after the Misionera Jungle.
Yungas - meaning ''abundance'' in the local native language -
borders southern Bolivia and four other northeastern Argentina
provinces, and contains a nature corridor 80 km wide and 200 km
long.
Greenpeace had already carried out an intensive campaign there to
prevent a pipeline crossing the region from entering the nature
area, where 350 indigenous Kolla families also live, farming the
land amid their centuries-old cemeteries.
The environmental group believes the mega-project, in addition to
indiscriminate logging and the search for oil, have led to the
destruction of 90 percent of the jungle territory in the last few
decades.
In addition to the South American jaguar, the region is home to
species of toucans, monkeys, ocelots and pumas. The variety of
birds in the area is so great that 60 percent of the species
flying over Argentinean territory are found there. A great
diversity of insect species is found in the area also.
The tracking project - which will cost 50,000 dollars, financed
by Greenpeace Argentina members - began its practical phase this
month with the arrival of experts in the nature corridor, where
they will select sites for setting traps to catch the jaguars.
The traps are cages that will hold bait - a piece of beef - but
not at first.
The cages will be placed so that they become part of the jungle
environment. Then, in January, the biologists will open the doors
to the baited cages, and await the jaguars.
By February, they hope to have five of the big cats moving
through the jungle fitted with the transmitter collars.
With the satellite, and using a transmitted sound that projects
on a map, the trackers will know when the animal moves, when it is
eating or sleeping, when it approaches its prey, or when it
reproduces.
The experts see the jaguar as an ''umbrella'' species because
preserving it means protecting other animals that make up the food
chain: monkeys, 'corzuelas' (small crows), mountain turkeys,
tapirs and pumas, among others.
''When the jaguars enter the cages, we will give them a sedative
so that they sleep for 45 minutes,'' explained Ezcurra, ''and in
that time we will put on the collars, take blood samples, paw
prints, as well as their measurements and photos.''
Finally, the five ''chosen'' animals will recover their freedom,
unaware of the fact that, for two years, they will be tracked via
satellite. (END/IPS/tra-so/mv/dg/ld/99)