Tahi adalah seunik cap jari. Secara umum tahi adalah berbeza mengikut spesie. Namun tahi binatang yang sama juga adalah berbeza-beza, seunik cap jari, seunik DNA.
Dung count leads to
surprise Malaysian elephant
find
~ Julie Goh
Fri Jan 16, 2009
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters Life)
An internationally recognised technique of counting dung has led to the discovery of the largest-known population of endangered Asian elephants living in Southeast Asia, researchers said Friday.
By counting dung piles, the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Malaysia's Department of Wildlife and National Parks found 631 elephants living in the Taman Negara National Park, a 4,343-square kilometre protected area in the centre of Peninsular Malaysia.
"The number (of elephants) is larger than initially thought. It was a pleasant surprise," said Melvin Gumal, director of Wildlife Conservation Society's conservation programmes in Malaysia.
Asian elephants are endangered due to habitat loss and poaching. Some 30,000 to 50,000 are believed to be living in 13 Asian countries, according to WCS.
Gumal said the dung piles were counted between 2006 and 2007.
"People were unsure of how many elephants lived in the park before our survey, although there were good reasons to think that the population was substantial," he said.
Counting elephant dung piles to estimate population size is a scientifically proven technique that produces accurate figures.
There were no previous scientific population surveys for elephants in the park, WCS said. [full here: Dung count leads to surprise Malaysian elephant find Reuters India ]
beritadarigunung
