{"id":309624,"date":"2025-11-26T09:26:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T09:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/309624\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T09:26:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T09:26:12","slug":"gps-collars-reveal-strange-prey-for-some-of-thailands-last-tigers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/309624\/","title":{"rendered":"GPS collars reveal \u2018strange prey\u2019 for some of Thailand\u2019s last tigers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Deep in the evergreen jungle of Thailand\u2019s Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex (DPKY-FC), a spring-loaded trap is waiting to catch a tiger.\n <\/p>\n

\n No one knows exactly when the animal will return to mark its scent again \u2014 in a week or two, maybe longer \u2014 so the trap must be checked three times a day.\n <\/p>\n

\n Luckily for the big cat, this trap isn\u2019t set by poachers: it\u2019s the work of conservationists, trying to save the species.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of time and effort to trap a tiger,\u201d says Rattapan Pattanarangsan, a conservation program manager at the nonprofit Panthera Thailand. But with just 20 to 30 tigers roaming the 6,000-square-kilometer (2,317-square-mile) DPKY-FC, this effort is essential to protecting the \u201clast of the last\u201d of its Indochinese tigers, a population that was only discovered in the early 2000s.\n <\/p>\n

\n Thailand is a rare example of tiger recovery in Southeast Asia, but most of that has taken place in the country\u2019s Western Forest Complex, where tiger populations more than tripled<\/a> between 2007 and 2023.\n <\/p>\n

\n Meanwhile, DPKY-FC\u2019s tiger population has remained stagnant, despite ample room for expansion.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf the forest is in good condition, the population should increase,\u201d says Pattanarangsan, adding that some areas have had no tiger sightings for over a decade.\n <\/p>\n

\n To work out why the tiger population isn\u2019t growing, conservationists decided to tag three tigers with GPS collars earlier this year.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWith camera trapping, we have primary data \u2014 how many of them are here and there. But we want to have deeper data, to know the tiger ecology: how they disperse, how they live, how or what they eat,\u201d says Pattanarangsan.\n <\/p>\n

\n The collars, fitted in early 2025, are already revealing new insights into tiger behavior \u2014 and offering clues to help conservationists secure their future.\n <\/p>\n

\n While GPS collars have been used to track tigers before, such as in big cat relocations<\/a> and population counts<\/a>, the technology is new to DPKY-FC.\n <\/p>\n

\n The project, spearheaded by Thailand\u2019s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, and Panthera, collaborated with conservationists from the Western Forest Complex, Thailand\u2019s largest conservation area and home to the majority of the nation\u2019s tiger population, who have been catching and collaring tigers using nonharmful snare traps since 2005.\n <\/p>\n

\n Upon capture, the tiger is sedated by a veterinarian so the team can attach the collar and collect samples from the animal. All in all, it takes less than an hour, says Pattanarangsan.\n <\/p>\n

\"Pianporn<\/p>\n

\"Scientists<\/p>\n

\n The team at DPKY-FC chose three tigers to trial the collars on: an adult male, named Srikosa, and sub-adult sisters, Chantra and Pianporn.\n <\/p>\n

\n The lightweight collars have a battery life of up to two years, and record coordinates every hour, transmitted via satellite. But in dense jungle, transmission isn\u2019t always successful, so data is also stored in the collar\u2019s hard drive for download later. When the battery is nearly depleted, the collar detaches automatically and sends a final signal for retrieval.\n <\/p>\n

\n Using these location points, the team was able to track each tiger\u2019s home range, movement patterns and kill sites \u2014 which revealed the remains of \u201cstrange prey,\u201d says Pattanarangsan.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n Tigers typically hunt large animals such as cow-like banteng, gaur or sambar deer, which can reach up to 350 kilograms (772 pounds). But in DPKY-FC, the three tigers have been eating smaller mammals like wild pigs and muntjac deer, some weighing as little as 10 kilograms (22 pounds).\n <\/p>\n

\n This reinforces the findings of a study<\/a> published last year, which highlighted the limited number of large prey, says Pattanarangsan: \u201cThat (behavior) is very strange, and could reflect the scarcity of prey.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n One of the tigers, Chantra, whose name means moon \u2014 chosen because she was fitted with her collar on a Buddhist holy day under a full moon \u2014 is taking odd eating habits to a new level.\n <\/p>\n

\n While the other two tigers preyed on smaller ungulates (hoofed animals like cows and deer), one of Chantra\u2019s primary prey species is the hog badger<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n Researchers also found evidence of opportunistic snacking on soft-shell turtle and water monitors, the first record of this kind of prey for wild tigers in Thailand, said Somporn Pakpien, chief of the DPKY Wildlife Research Station, in an email.\n <\/p>\n

\n Chantra\u2019s undiscerning taste is just one of her many quirks. Despite leaving her mother\u2019s care first, she\u2019s smaller in size than her sister Pianporn, and her home range is just 24 square kilometers (9.3 square miles), less than half the size of her sister\u2019s.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cShe could be smaller because she\u2019s less selective; she just eats everything,\u201d says Pattanarangsan. Tigers with larger home ranges are likely \u201cmore selective,\u201d resulting in larger prey and a larger body size, which makes hunting for bigger meals easier, he adds.\n <\/p>\n

\n Chantra also has a kink in her tail, which in other cat species, can be an indication of genetic issues from inbreeding, says Pattanarangsan, adding that the implications of this in tigers is still unknown.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf we look at the whole population of 20 or 30 animals, we have quite a small gene diversity, so we should be concerned about this,\u201d he adds.\n <\/p>\n

\n As the team at DPKY-FC learn more about the tiger\u2019s eating habits, they\u2019re working hard to protect its habitat, too.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cOn the left side of the DPKY, mainly the Khao-Yai National Park, we call it the empty forest,\u201d because there are no tigers living there, says Pattanarangsan.\n <\/p>\n

\"Tiger<\/p>\n

\"Tiger<\/p>\n

\n The forest complex plans to conduct a threat analysis with a wildlife crime expert in the next few months to address other issues that may be limiting the tiger population, such as poaching of tigers or their prey, or the impact of infrastructure projects that bisect the habitat, like Highway 304 and a proposed dam, which Pattanarangsan believes poses a huge risk by enabling \u201ceasy access\u201d for hunters.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe can have a better understanding of what kind of threats are coming, and what to do,\u201d he says, adding that if the park can reduce the threat levels, \u201cthe prey population will be higher, also the tiger population will be higher.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n While the GPS collaring project is still in its early stages, Pattanarangsan is optimistic that the information gleaned so far can help the team at DPKY-FC focus their efforts to help tiger numbers grow.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn this first year, we\u2019re learning how to do it,\u201d he says, adding that they hope to get more funding to eventually \u201cunderstand the whole population.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deep in the evergreen jungle of Thailand\u2019s Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex (DPKY-FC), a spring-loaded trap is waiting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-309624","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}