Park ranger Onsa peers out from under his cap and raises an antenna, scanning for radio signals from deep in the thick forests of Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary.
behind those eyes: An adult tiger is captured and collared at Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Santuary as part of conservation efforts. PHOTO: COURTESY OF KNRWRS-DNP
At first, he finds nothing. But as Mr Onsa ventures deeper into the jungle, the antenna starts beeping wildly; it has tracked one of several wild tigers tagged by park officers as part of an effort to protect the fragile population.
The ranger smiles briefly before informing his boss, Khao Nang Ram wildlife research station chief Somphot Duangchantrasiri, of the find. The station is one of only seven in the country, and is the most important for research into wildlife conservation.
Mr Somphot looks down at the iPad he holds in his hand. Three small coloured dots are moving across the screen, representing tigers fitted with radio transmitter collars. “They are likely here now either hunting or resting after a successful hunt,’’ Mr Somphot says as he cross-checks the radio signals with satellite ones. His team has been tracking young tigers in the area for nearly a decade.
During the dry season, the country’s top tiger researchers like Mr Somphot lead small teams deep into the forests of Huai Kha Khaeng, the core protected area of the Western Forest Complex, Southeast Asia’s largest remaining intact forest.
“We have been following the tigers from generation to generation and our team — even Mr Onsa, who has followed them from the beginning — is a bit old now,” Mr Somphot jokes.
The research project includes the collation of valuable data on tiger populations and their habitats. But it has also shown that some of the animals are venturing across the border into Myanmar, raising fears for the future of conservation efforts.
Efforts are being made, however, to create a transnational conservation zone for the tiger population along the Tenasserim range, which divides Myanmar and Thailand.
If successful, the new zone would form the world’s third-largest tiger conservation area, at an estimated 45,000km².
THE CASE FOR CONSERVATION
In the mid 1990s, prominent big-cat researchers, led by husband-and-wife duo Saksit and Achara Simcharoen, were not directly looking into tiger populations. Instead, they began working on other species, such as leopards, in Huai Kha Khaeng.
living waters : Huai Kha Khaeng stream, the main bloodline of Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, provides a crucial water source for wildlife especially when entering a dry season.
But after Mr Saksit took a position as chief of Khao Nang Ram Wildlife Research Station, he expanded his research to larger species. About 20 camera traps were installed across a 200km radius around the station to capture images of tigers.
The programme was designed to support not only the conservation of tigers, but also of their prey and the habitat at large.
“It would be simplistic to think, well, we must conserve tigers because they are becoming extinct,” Mr Saksit told Spectrum after the recent Thailand Wildlife Seminar, where he presented the latest findings on wild tiger populations.
“We need to think that by conserving tigers, we are actually protecting the whole ecosystem, which is a biogenetic bank benefiting all, including human beings. Tigers are not just independent species, but they are also on top of a food chain. By conserving them, we are maintaining the ecological balance.”
Dr Saksit’s research ramped up in 2004 when the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) got on board. As head of the WCS Thailand programme, Anak Pattanavibool suggested tigers be used as one of four flagship species, or living landscape species, to help guide conservation interventions for better protection of the forest ecosystem. Since then, tigers have been studied closely, not just to ensure the survival of the species, but to evaluate and support the conservation work of wildlife rangers.
Along with some 20 researchers and wildlife rangers, Dr Saksit installed camera traps in 200 locations covering almost all of Huai Kha Khaeng. In the years that followed, they expanded their work to cover parts of Thung Yai Naresuan West and Thung Yai Naresuan East wildlife sanctuaries.
About 120 tigers have since been documented using the camera traps, and every year about 10 new tigers are recorded in Huai Kha Khaeng alone.
A few years ago, the researchers at Khao Nang Ram, in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, expanded their camera trapping work to the adjacent national parks of Mae Wong and Khlong Lan. They were surprised to learn that tigers were moving between the three wildlife sanctuaries, finding evidence that individual cats had been breeding and hunting in all of the parks.
Besides camera trapping, the researchers have been trying to learn more detail about the species’ ecology. To do this, they have been attempting to track individual tigers. More than 20 cats have been captured and fitted with an electronic collar which sends out radio and satellite signals, allowing researchers to track their movements.
The decade-long study has shown how tigers’ territorial behaviour is linked to the abundance of prey in the area. Male tigers generally roamed over areas of about 300km², while female tigers cover only about 90km².
In each area, one male tiger may live with three or four females, though eventually another male will move in to push the older one out. The most recent findings from the tracking of six young tigers in also shows that young tigers will live with their mothers until eventually needing to branch out and establish their own territories.
For Mr Somphot, this finding is particularly important in guiding future conservation efforts, as it suggests the survival of the species is also linked to the health of the entire ecosystem. He says the research team is now focusing on the movements of these young tigers and would seek to better understand the crucial factors for their survival, namely their living conditions and water and food sources.
A few years ago, the researchers also tried to study the entire Western Forest Complex using a method known as “occupancy research”. The whole 18,000km² forest complex was divided into grids of about 250km² — the approximate size of an adult tiger’s territorial domain. Dozens of wildlife rangers were then assigned to cover each grid on foot, looking for any trace of tigers, food sources and potential threats.
After trekking more than 4,000km, the researchers found that Huai Kha Khaeng still acts as a core tiger habitat and breeding ground, underlining its importance as a pool for the reintroduction of tigers into other areas. They also found tigers roaming close to the border with Myanmar, suggesting bilateral efforts were needed to ensure conservation efforts are successful.
GROWING SMARTER
Current Huai Kha Khaeng chief Somphoch Maneerat is a former long-serving chief of Thung Yai East wildlife sanctuary, and is well aware of the threats endangering fragile tiger populations.
Mr Somphoch said forest conservation work largely depended on the effectiveness of protection, and patrols by park rangers are considered the most effective tool in his arsenal.
forest shutterbug: Ter, a research assistant, installs a camera for tigers in Huai Kha Khaeng. traces in the forest: A researcher finds Bantang remains after a tracked tiger fed on it.
However, in the past patrols were carried out erratically as rangers’ capacities and organisational structures were limited. But to cope with the situation, Mr Somphoch said the patrols must be carried out systematically with clear goals and measurements. Huai Kha Khaeng experimented with using wildlife as an indicator of the health of the forest, and this in turn has suggested suitable intervention measures either for suppressing threats or ensuring habitat survival.
“Tigers are at the top of the food chain, so conservation work does not mean taking care of tigers only. If tigers are to survive, other species of wildlife must also, and to know whether they are okay or even increasing in population, we need good monitoring systems, and that’s where the research comes in,” Mr Somphoch said.
The park has now implemented a “Smart” patrol system, under which forest rangers are geared up with the latest technology and systematic recording and planning systems. The system has also been expanded into adjacent sanctuaries, including Thung Yai.
Mr Somphoch said Thailand had set a goal of increasing the tiger population by 50% by 2022. To ensure that goal is met, he said it was necessary to monitor wildlife rangers’ performance.
“If the number of tigers we are protecting declines or disappears from places we have surveyed in the past, we will know there is probably something wrong with our patrols and we would be able to adjust our work,” Mr Somphoch said.
Besides the data fed to him by the camera traps, Mr Somphoch has also been receiving regular updates from researchers. As the ecological studies have revealed the extensive range of tiger movements, he and other park chiefs have been working together to ensure conservation is tackled across a complex-wide context, rather than limiting the focus to individual sanctuaries.
“Tigers show us clearly that they live without borders, so management across the entire forest complex is necessary for their survival. We [park chiefs] need to have the same perspective in looking at the tigers’ survival,” Mr Somphoch said.
To respond to tigers’ needs, wildlife rangers in the Western Forest Complex have been working together to improve the effectiveness of their patrols. By using the same recording and reporting standards, they can now link their work across the same network and easily exchange information on potential threats to tiger habitats.
The Smart patrol system now is considered the most effective means of intervention for tiger survival as well as that of other species in the forest complex.
BREAKING DOWN BORDERS
Anak Pattanavibool, from the WCS, has been one of the central figures in developing the Smart system. He said the key was to understand that wildlife habitats and forest management could not be limited to a defined boundary, as wild animals could not be fenced in by man-made borders.
Mr Anak said recent sets of findings from the tiger research clearly showed that as the tiger population in the core Western Forest Complex area had grown, their habitats were pushing outward, underlining the need for wider protection.
traces in the forest: A researcher finds Bantang remains after a tracked tiger fed on it.
Tenasserim range, which divides Thailand and Myanmar, is considered a potential conservation site. If successful, it would become the world’s third largest tiger conservation area. But it would need support from both countries to make it a reality.
Mr Anak said there had been talks among wildlife experts on possible transboundary collaboration between Thailand and Myanmar in order to protect tigers in the Tenasserim range more effectively. Occupancy surveys show there are tigers roaming the area near the border, making it likely that they populate the forests on both sides of the border.
Mr Anak suggested the best option would be the set up a new Tenasserim National Park next to the existing Kaeng Krachan National Park. If that was successful, it would create one large habitat for tigers in Tenasserim. However, he also stressed the need to establish wildlife corridors to help connect the existing parks.
“If successful, tigers as well as other big animals would have a better chance of survival,” Mr Anak said. “They evidently cross back and forth between the forests in the two countries, and from an international perspective, the whole Tenasserim offers a great opportunity for global tiger conservation as it would be one large forest intact, the world’s third largest.
“People may question why we need to protect tigers and tigers only, and I would say that perception is a misunderstanding. If we can protect tigers and they survive, that will mean the survival of several other species as well as the whole ecosystem. Tigers are protection-dependent species and their survival is really in our hands, in the way we manage our forests. So, in turn, their survival offers a guide to the best system of forest management.”
Deputy country director at WCS’s Myanmar programme office, Saw Htun, presented the tiger situation in his country at the recent Thailand Wildlife Seminar.
So far, he said, Myanmar has been working extensively on tiger conservation in Hukaung Valley in the North. But Saw Htun is optimistic about Tenasserim becoming a new potential tiger conservation area.
Locally, wildlife experts in Myanmar have exchanged knowledge with Thai experts and have agreed on the importance of Tenasserim as a conservation zone.
Saw Htun said one nature reserve, Thaninthayi, had been declared a protected area, while Myanmar was preparing to create protected or key biodiversity areas in Tenasserim.
Lenya National Park, Lenya National Park Extension, and Thaninthayi National Park have been proposed, while North Lenyar and Myinmoletkhat are already key biodiversity areas acting as wildlife corridors on the Myanmar side. If these proposals came to fruition, the zone would cover a combined area of nearly 20,000km².
The Myanmar government has been trying to negotiate with minority groups in the area, including the Karen National Union, while wildlife experts are looking to conduct an occupancy survey alongside Thai wildlife experts.
“Tenasserim is one of the last remaining lowland forests in the region. It’s really an important forest block for Thailand and Myanmar. If we can connect the forests together, it will be large enough to maintain the [tiger] population. If we excluded the current boundary, we can see one big forest block for wildlife including tigers,” Saw Htun said. “If we connect them together, the site will become globally significant.”
tracking signals: Onsa, a wildlife ranger at Huai Kha Khaeng, checks radio signals from previously captured tigers as part of the conservation efforts.
Neighbourhod Animals: Wild pigs come out to feed around Thap Salao stream in Huai Kha Khaeng in the evening.