Sri Lanka’s wild life conservation authorities and a biodiversity organization, with funding from private business will count and estimate a sloth bear population in a national park in the North West of the island.
Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Chamber of Commerce said under its Sri Lanka Business and Biodiversity Platform, CIC Holdings a private firm will fund the research.
It will be carried out by Sri Lanka‘s Department of Wildlife Conservation and Biodiversity Education and Research (BEAR), a conservation organization.
The study will evaluate the population density and composition of bears.
“With the use of camera traps and bear footprint data, individual bears will be identified and analysis carried out to determine their habitat needs,” the Ceylon Chamber said in a statement.
“The information generated through this study could be applied island-wide in subsequent conservation efforts.”
Sloth bears were threatened by habitat destruction and also from targeted killing, due to peoples’ perception of it as a threat. However anecdotal evidence suggested that there was a healthy population within the park.
The chamber said in a statement that the sloth bear sighting have declined in recent years and the animal is listed as endangered (EN) in the National Red List 2012 of Sri Lanka by the International Conservation Union.
Source : http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/news/sri-lanka-to-count-sloth-bears/128650328
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