KINABATANGAN: In order to better understand the impact of habitat fragmentation on small carnivores at the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, two male Malaysian civets were recently trapped and later fitted with satellite collars to track their movements.
The first civet, weighing 5.5 kg was captured on the night of Oct 26 at Lot 5 of the wildlife sanctuary and was sedated the following morning by the Kinabatangan Small Carnivore Project (KSCP) team, while the second was trapped two days ago.
The initiative to collar the civet was done as a collaborative effort between the KSCP, Sabah Wildlife Department, Cardiff University and Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), with funding from the Sime Darby Foundation and Houston Zoo. This is the first time civets are being fitted with satellite collars in the area.
DGFC wildlife veterinarian Dr Sergio Guerrero Sanchez said morphometric measurements such as body length and height at shoulder were recorded, apart from collecting blood, saliva, faecal and hair samples of the first civet that has been named Tenang by the research team.
“The project hopes these samples will help determine the health of the small carnivore guild within the landscape of the wildlife sanctuary. The team worked extremely well and the procedure was safe, efficient and minimally invasive,” Sanchez said.
DGFC Director Dr Benoit Goossens said despite heavy habitat degradation within the Kinabatangan, a diverse small carnivore guild persists, which includes six species of civets, three species of small feline and two confirmed species of otters.
“Our project therefore strives to understand the influences of habitat fragmentation on the spatial ecology and ecotoxicology of small carnivores residing within the wildlife sanctuary,” Goossens said in a press statement here yesterday.
The collars are expected to collect hourly nocturnal data for the next five months, and information received from the effort is crucial in developing conservation plans. – Bernama