February

2015
Limpopo

New survey skills for interns and additional data for partners

Objective

Improve the long term Internship product

Increased involvement in citizen science initiatives

Summary

This is the second of a number of new initiatives aimed at improving the long term internship pro-
gram. The focus is on increasing the volunteers skill levels, allowing them to further contribute to
biological surveying. By increasing their knowledge of animal tracks they are able to conduct spoor
transects as a method of indirect surveying and this in turn enables us to contribute more data to
various studies, both our own and external. In February the interns were introduced to tracks, re-
ceived lectures and training in track identification and then undertook two tracking surveys.

Principles of tracking on a themed bush walk

Report

Assessing relative track size

Two of the hub objectives that were set in 2014 were to concentrate more on conservation initia-
tives by building relationships with national conservation organisations, including those that offer
citizen science projects; Secondly to improve the quality of the long term internship program by
providing additional training over and above what the regular volunteers do.

In February we introduced the second phase of work aimed at contributing to both of these goals.
CyberTracker works to utilise traditional tracking skills towards more modern outcomes, including
scientific research. A number of the research staff have been assessed under the Cybertracker sys-
tem for track and sign identification, verifying the accuracy of any recordings then made from tracks.
Conducting tracking surveys on the reserve is a good way to record nocturnal and rarely seen ani-
mals, as well as to relate prevalence and location of tracks to the known populations of focus ani-
mals and herbivores on the reserve. A number of 200m transect locations were determined, spread
across the south of the reserve, on roadways of a suitable substrate for easy track identification.

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The tracking month started with two introductory lectures on tracking and identification of mammal
tracks, followed by a bushwalk looking specifically at tracks. This was then followed by a week of
research drives dedicated to learning to ID tracks in addition to our regular research activities. Week
three and four then involved dedicated tracking drives where the interns and a rifle qualified staff
member undertook each of the predetermined transects. Over the two survey sessions 22 different
species were identified from their tracks. At the end of their three months on base the interns will sit
a tracking test to assess how many species of mammal they have learnt to identify from their tracks
during their internship.

The addition of track identification and spoor transects to the internship program has been a great
success. Interns felt, and demonstrated, that they had significantly developed their track ID skills.
Getting any volunteers interested in tracks enables them to identify, or at least bring to a staff
members attention, important tracks while on regular surveys, enhancing our ability to locate focus
animals promptly and our awareness of animal activity. They can now also visualize the presence
and behaviour of animals they may never otherwise see. The additional data contributes to our ex-
isting focus animal dataset, rare game and prey species monitoring and this in turn improves our
reporting to reserve management. The training, surveying and then testing gives the interns a clear
indication of their improvement and evaluates their progress, with an obvious end-goal.

The internship will be further enhanced in the same vein over the coming month but next up is a
focus on tree identification. This will allow the interns to participate in vegetation surveys as part of
a university study based on Karongwe.

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