VISHWAMITRI RIVER, VADOADRA CROCODILE COUNT-2019 WITH AN AIM OF WILDLIFE CONSERVATION.
- Day time ground survey method: The urban stretch of river (22°19 N 73°13 E; Dena village to Talsat village) will be arbitrarily divided into 7 zones. Lalbaug and other water bodies with crocodile population will form the 8th zone. After familiarizing the participants with the habitat during the training session, the count will be initiated from at 0930 h to 1300 h and the daytime basking crocodiles will be manually counted as per Vyas et al (2013).
- Nocturnal spot light survey: Not to be used due to river access difficulties.
- Body size estimates: Crocodile size classes based on total length (TL) classified as TL < 1 m as juveniles, between 1.1 and 2 m as sub-adults, and > 2 m as adults. Use of 8×40 binoculars will be done to execute this task.
- Citizens based count: Public volunteers shall be used for counting crocodiles, a team of 10 volunteers and a team leader will be assigned a stretch of river and data will be collected through methodologies as well with information from the locals.
- Statistical analysis: Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize crocodile population, encounter rates and abundance (number/km of river) will be calculated as per Vyas et al (2013).
How did you count?
We used an approach called “Citizen Science” to count crocodiles in Vishwamitri River. Citizen science is an exciting, multifaceted way to bring people from all walks of life together for research and conservation.
