The Don Oso Program

Monitoring Andean bears using camera traps

Background

Scientists commonly use remote cameras to study cryptic carnivores; this method confers the advantage of being minimally intrusive while returning high quality data on species that are difficult to observe in the wild. Camera traps are frequently used to detect the presence of a given species, estimate animal abundance, and record animal behavior.

Beginning in 2008, we adapted camera trapping techniques from around the world to study the elusive Andean bear in the montane forests of southern Sangay National Park, Ecuador. Our first year of fieldwork established that individual identification of Andean bears in our research area was possible from camera trap photos of facial patterning unique to each bear. Our second year sought recapture of known individuals across a slightly larger area and to refine trapping methods for greater success in individual identification. This past year we have expanded the study substantially and we aim to detect individual bears far from their original photo-capture site as well as understand bear use of different landscapes on public and private properties.

Equipment

We use two different brands of camera traps: one with digital cameras inside casing and the other a single integrated photographic unit.

Methods

We adapted camera-trapping techniques used to study cryptic carnivores around the world. During our first field season in 2008, researcher Becky Zug of the Carnivore Coexistence Lab (CCL) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison installed one camera per station and used commercial lure to attract Andean bears to the trap sites and position them in front of the cameras to capture their unique facial patterning. In 2009, Taylor Jones, also of CCL, installed two cameras per station to improve the probability of individual identification and continued to use commercial lure. These same methods have been used during our third field season in 2010/2011.

We have consistently selected camera trap sites based on the presence of existing bear sign in the immediate area: food remains, claw marks, scat and/or footprints. Additionally, all sites are located along well-used wildlife trails inside montane forest.

Results

From 2008 through 2011, we logged over 5,000 camera nights at twenty sites above 8200 feet (2500 m) in southern Sangay National Park, Ecuador and captured dozens of photos of at least 25 individual Andean bears. Cameras photo-captured a suite of additional large and small mammals including: the little red brocket deer (Mazama rufina) and oncilla, Leopardus tigrinus (both classified as vulnerable to extinction in Ecuador), as well as the puma (Felis concolor), mountain coati (Nasuella olivacea), margay (Leopardus wiedii), mountain paca (Cuniculus taczanowskii), Andean fox (Lycalopex culpaeus), Andean white-eared opossum (Didelphis pernigra), White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus ustus), and tayra (Eira barbara). Many of these sightings expand upward known ranges in Ecuador and in the case of the tayra expand known global ranges.

Available reports and studies related to this project

Achig, L. 2009. "Análisis del hábitat del oso andino (Tremarctos ornatus) en el bosque siempreverde montano y perspectiva comunitaria del conflicto humano-oso, Parque Nacional Sangay, Ecuador". Master's Thesis. Universidad Nacional De Costa Rica, Instituto Internacional en Conservación y Manejo de Vida Silvestre. Heredia, Costa Rica. In Spanish.

Jones, T. R., Zug, B., Treves, A. 2010. "Credible Conservation: Using Biodiversity Monitoring to Support Incentive Programs that Protect Endangered Wildlife". Land Tenure Center Tenure Brief 13. [Also available in Spanish as ¨Conservación Creíble: Usar el monitoreo de biodiversidad para apoyar los programas de incentivos que protegen la vida silvestre en peligro¨.]

Jones, T. 2010. "Detection probability and individual identification of the Andean Bear (Tremarctos ornatus) using camera trapping methods". Master's thesis. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Madison, Wisconsin.

Márquez Alvarado, R. 2011. Proyecto Don Oso visita mi escuela. Cartilla sobre la Biología y Ecología del Oso de Anteojos para niñas y niños de cuarto, quinto, sexto y séptimo de básica. Fundación Cordillera Tropical. 1era. Edición. 132pp. Cuenca. Ecuador.

Schloegel, C., T. Jones, B. Zug, L. Achig, and A. Treves. 2011. Don Oso Program Develops Participatory Monitoring Protocol for Andean Bears in Southern Sangay National Park, Ecuador. International Bear News, 20(2):23-25.

Treves, A., Schloegel, C. 2010. "Monitoring and enforcing Payment for Ecosystem Services Programs: Lessons Learned". Land Tenure Center Tenure Brief 14. [Also available in Spanish as "Monitoreo e implementación de Programas de Pagos por Servicios de Ecosistemas: Lecciones Aprendidas".]

Treves, A., R.B. Wallace, and S. White. 2009. "Participatory planning of interventions to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts". Conservation Biology, 23(6):1577-1587.

Treves, A., Jones, S.M. 2009. "Market Financing for Biodiversity Conservation and Strategic Tradeoffs for Wildlife-Friendly Eco-Labels". Land Tenure Center Tenure Brief 10. Nine pages.

Treves, A., Jones, S.M. 2009. "Financiamento de mercado para la conservación de biodiversidad y ventajas y desventajas estratégicas de las eco-etiquetas amigables con la vida silvestre." 10 pages, in Spanish.

Treves, A. 2007. "Balancing the Needs of People and Wildlife: When Wildlife Damage Crops and Prey on Livestock". Land Tenure Center Tenure Brief 7. 10 pages.

Treves, A. 2007. "Mantenimiento del Equilibrio entre la Fauna y las Necesidades de la Gente: Cuando la Fauna Perjudica los Cultivos y se Alimenta del Ganado." 11 pages, in Spanish.

Zug, B. 2009. "Individual Identification and Habitat Use of Andean Bears on Private Lands in the Ecuadorian Andes". Master's thesis. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Madison, Wisconsin.

Zug, B., L. Achig, C. Schloegel, and A. Treves. 2011. "Community engagement, para-biologists training and Andean bear conservation in and around southern Sangay National Park, Ecuador" [abstract]. In: Program and Abstracts of the 20th International Conference on Bear Research and Management; July 17-23; Ottawa, Canada.

Press

Peek, J. (2011, August 17). Caught on tape: Researchers track, help protect elusive bear in Ecuador. The Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Retrieved August 23, 2011, from http://nelson.wisc.edu/news/news-details.php?e=1320