{"id":786,"date":"2009-09-11T16:16:29","date_gmt":"2009-09-11T10:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/?p=786"},"modified":"2009-09-11T16:16:29","modified_gmt":"2009-09-11T10:16:29","slug":"mapping-the-small-mammals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/11\/mapping-the-small-mammals\/","title":{"rendered":"Mapping the small mammals"},"content":{"rendered":"

A five-day training course for field forestry officials in Lobesa to address lack of data<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/em>Although Bhutan has nearly 200 species of mammals, there is no ecological information on their status – population, distribution and threats, especially for small mammals. Small mammals consist of bats and rodents, which form the most diverse order of mammals.<\/span><\/p>\n

To address the absence of data, the forestry department, together with various international environment conservation agencies, is conducting a five-day training course for field forestry officials in Lobesa.\u201cSmall mammals are very important, because they form the basis of the food chain,\u201d said chief forestry officer (CFO), Dr Sonam Wangyel Wang. \u201cThey are also more responsive to environmental changes,\u201d added the CFO, \u201cwhich made them especially vulnerable to extinction.\u201d
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been more concerned with bigger mammals, perhaps, because they\u2019re easily visible,\u201d said nature conservation division\u2019s (NCD) Sonam Choden on animal conservation policies in Bhutan. \u201cWhat we don\u2019t realise is small mammals are equally important,\u201d she said. \u201cThey play a very important ecological role.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NCD officer pointed out that bats, which make up 33 percent of mammal species in Bhutan, have an important role in the environment as seed dispersers and pollinators. Bats also consume several insect species that can destroy local crops.<\/p>\n

Currently, they are 65 species of bats recorded in Bhutan, of which nine species are fruit bats and 56 are micro-bats. Bhutanese bats are found mostly in the subtropical and temperate areas of the country.<\/p>\n

There are 40 species of rodents, constituting 20 percent of mammals, recorded in Bhutan. Rodents are rats and mice, porcupines, squirrels and voles.<\/p>\n

Field officers are being trained in techniques, such as observing traces of small mammals, to collect information that will form a comprehensive database on small mammals in Bhutan. The field officers will also be trained to trap small mammals for recording data. Not all the animals will be released back into the environment. \u201cThey\u2019ll be the forefront of this project,\u201d said Dr Sonam.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless we know what species we have, we\u2019ll never know which of them are potentially threatened,\u201d said CFO Dr Sonam. \u201cOr even when we\u2019ve already lost them.\u201d On whether any of the small mammal species in Bhutan were currently threatened with extinction, the CFO said, \u201cWe can\u2019t answer this question, since we don\u2019t know even know what we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deforestation, use of chemical fertilisers, urbanisation and industrial activities were some of the contemporary threats faced by Bhutanese small mammals, said the CFO.<\/p>\n

The training is being provided and funded by the South Asian branches of Chiroptera conservation and information network and Rodentia, Insectivora and Scandentia conservation.<\/p>\n

By Gyalsten K Dorji <\/em><\/span>
\nSource: Kuenselonline<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A five-day training course for field forestry officials in Lobesa to address lack of data Although Bhutan has nearly 200 species of mammals, there is no ecological information on their status – population, distribution and threats, especially for small mammals. Small mammals consist of bats and rodents, which form the most diverse order of mammals. … Continue reading Mapping the small mammals<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[205,481],"class_list":["post-786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","tag-bhutan","tag-environment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}