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WildCRU

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

postheadericon We've got a result!


Gul surrounded by mossy forest on one of Crocker's ridgetops 

All our hard work hiking up and down Crocker Range's high ridges and river valleys has thankfully paid off.... We've got a result! I’m still tweaking the analysis, but overall we obtained 370 clouded leopard photos, representing 51 independent capture events of 8 different animals. Two of these animals appear to be cubs following their mother. Using the spatially explicit capture recapture approach I estimate that clouded leopard density in the southern portion of Crocker is around 1.4 individuals per 100km2 (0.8 - 2.2 ind/100km2 95% Confidence Intervals).

This was one of the toughest surveys to date and when we first started we weren't sure we'd pull it off. So a big thank you to the team - Gil, Gul, Jasz, Nur and Ijam for doing a sterling job. Thanks also to our volunteers - Sean Proctor, Kevin Hodge and Lyndsey Stanton, who all stood up remarkably well to the rigors of Crocker Range life! Lastly, a big thank you to all the organisations and individuals that have supported us, in particular,  Staff from Sabah Parks and the Sabah Wildlife Department, Karen Povey and the Clouded Leopard Project at Point Defiance Zoo,  Houston Zoo and The Kaplan family.