A disturbing news is flooding our social media these days. Our Facebook newsfeed often flashes the news of the sixth mass extinction. Many of us consider ignorance is bliss and the curious ones take a peek into the news and forget it later.
The sixth mass extinction is no rumour unlike the 2012 doomsday theory. It has a scientific basis like the global warming. Yes, a mass extinction is not new to this Earth but what is unique this time is that a single species, humans, have triggered this extinction. Never in Earth’s history has one species brought about so much damage as humans have managed to do. Volcanic eruptions, deadly asteroid collisions and other natural disasters have been held responsible for past phases of extinctions. This time one single species, the Homo sapiens have ushered in the same effect of mass extinction on our planet.
An innumerable number of wild species are on the brink of being wiped out. All over the world, there is a hue and cry over the need of conservation of species by the naturalists. Besides the conventional methods of conservation, many individuals and groups are innovating new technologies and concepts to save the wildlife. This article enlists 10 such new and unconventional wildlife conservation tactics which is not yet widely popular but certainly gaining momentum.
1. Cat Scrunchies
The cat scrunchies bring a sigh of relief to the cat owners whose heart throbs in pain whenever their favourite pet brings home a bird kill for dinner. It is a bird conservation tactic which renders the unsuspecting birds safe from the sharp jaws of the stalking feline. In the United States alone, cats may kill around 3.7 billion birds annually. To save the birds, cats need to be adorned with the cat scrunchies. A study has shown that the number of birds killed by a cat exhibited an amazing 54% drop when the cat wore a cat scrunchie. So, what are these cat scrunchies and how do they work? The scrunchies are brightly colored neck collars fitted around the neck of cats. From being the 90’s accessory for decorating a woman’s hair, now, these scruchies have a more meaningful usage. Birds are usually unable to detect the dull colored, stealthy cat ready to pounce on them. However, they have excellent color vision and a cat adorned with a brightly colored cat scrunchie is easy for the bird to detect. Experiments have revealed that birds avoid coming to the ground in an area where a scrunchie wearing cat is present. Rodents, with a poor color vision, however, are still not spared as the scrunchie colors have no effect on them. This is good news for owners who want their cats to keep rodent numbers down while saving the birds.
2. Honeybee fences
Man-animal conflicts are on the rise. Elephants in Africa and India are constantly facing death at the hands of angry farmers when they enter and raid their crop fields. To avoid such conflicts, one method is working pretty effectively. The fear of an elephant of the honey-bee is well-known. No elephant would be happy if a stinging bee enters its long trunk. So, beehive fencing is an interesting technique used to ward off elephants from the farmer’s area. Here, beehives are strung between wooden poles at the boundaries of croplands. When an elephant approaches the area and bumps into a hive, the bees will be disturbed and start buzzing angrily and that will cause the elephant to flee the area. Not only that, studies have also revealed that the elephant will emit low frequency sounds that will warn other elephants to vacate the area. The method, thus, holds promise to save thousands of elephants from gruesome deaths as well as protect farmers from losing crops. An added advantage of beehive fencing is that honey-collection acts as an alternate source of income for the farmers and the bees act as pollinators enriching the vegetation of the area.
3. Painting Wind Turbines Violet
An alternative energy source, the wind turbines, also have a darker side. Millions of birds and bats die each year upon crashing against these turbines. The good news for bird conservationists is that the wind turbine related bird deaths can now be minimised by implementing a very simple and effective technique to counter the situation. Wind turbines are usually colored white or gray to avoid being an eye-sore for people residing in the area. Painting the wind turbine blades to violet may alter the insect behavior towards the turbines and repel insects from such turbines. This, in turn, will help save birds and bats which approach the wind turbines in search of the insects. The study was carried out by Ph.D. students of Loughborough University, UK, who tested the effect of a varied range of wind turbine blade colors on insects and found that insects are least attracted to the violet color.
4. Neuroconservation
“With neuroconservation, we can start talking about the science of dignity, compassion, and empathy.” says Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, a biomedical scientist and conservationist who has introduced the exciting new field of ‘NEUROCONSERVATION’ as a solution to present day wildlife conservation problems. It is fairly simple to comprehend. We are all an integral part of the biosphere where inter and intra dependency of species organically emancipate a symbiotic relationship. A relaxing weekend by the sea, a trek up the mountains or a nature trail in the forest heals our tired body and mind more than any synthetic medicine can do. We are all guided by our emotions (Ask the marketers! “They know how brands affect us emotionally.”). Every product we buy, every politician we choose and every decision of ours is guided by our emotions. For long, environmentalists have provided facts and figures related to environmental threats to raise awareness among the general mass. Here, it is only possible to convince people if Neuroconservationists start selling emotions. They can market and sell ideas of conservation. That is the root of neuroconservation. Influence the human brain with marketing strategies that directly benefit conservation policies.
5. Texting Elephants
A collar with a GPS-enabled mobile phone sim card, fitted on the elephant’s neck is all that requires to prevent the elephant raiding a year’s harvest off the farmers’ field, thus saving the pachyderm from the farmers’ wrath. The technology works in an interesting manner. When an elephant approaches a virtual ‘fence’ whose location has been programmed into a sophisticated software, the sim embedded in the elephant’s collar immediately sends a message to the nearest forest rangers. The rangers rush to the spot to scare the elephants away from the piece of land. In this way both the farmers and elephants benefit from the new technology. Kenya was the first country to adopt this new technology. For example, a regular crop-raider elephant Kimani, residing in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, was saved from the wrath of farmers by using the texting method.
6. Wildlife Crossing Structures
Highway construction through wildlife territories is wreaking havoc on wildlife with an increased number of wildlife road-kills. To combat this destructive effect of highway construction, wildlife crossing structures are being built over or under the highways to act as artificial wildlife corridors. The Banff National Park of Canada sets one of the best examples of such structures. With over 20 overpasses and underpasses along the Trans Canada Highway, this park ensures safe passage for its wild inhabitants such as elk, deer, wolves, bear, moose and other creatures. Netherlands can also boast of more than 600 wildlife crossing structures. It also has the world’s largest wildlife overpass, the 50 metres wide and 800 metres long Natuurburg Zanderij Crailoo. Millions of animals are killed everyday on highways across the world and these wildlife crossing structures are one of the best solutions to check this carnage
7. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or Drone surveillance
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or drones, used in modern warfare, is now saving lives of wild animals. WWF has launched drone monitoring in many remote parts of Africa and Asia to save endangered species in these areas. Usage of drones is not limited to detecting poachers in forested lands but also help report cases of illegal fishing over the sea. The drones also helps generate census data on wild species or capture rare images of these species which help scientists to understand them further. For example, in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, a retired aircraft that was used in warfare, is now used to tally sand cranes in the region and in British Columbia, Canada, drones have already yielded pictures of whales in the oceans which could distinguish between healthy and malnourished whales and also show pregnant whales and ones likely to die. Drones also provide a ‘bird’s eye view’ of an entire ecosystem. It helps in assessing the health of the ecosystem. In Greenland, a national Geographic grantee uses drones to monitor vegetation and ice cover changes in caribou habitat over a period of time. Due to the high cost of drones, popularity of this effective means of conservation is still low but this technology definitely holds immense future potential.
8. Ecological Islands
Ecological islands or offshore islands are popular in New Zealand. Prior to human colonisation, the region thrived with native birds and small mammals. With humans came cats, dogs, mice and other predators/pests which along with human developmental activities thrust many of the native species towards the brink of extinction. New Zealand thus came up with an innovative idea to preserve all the native species in islands free of predators and pests and with limited public access. The water surrounding the island would act as a moat preventing invasion by non-native species. These islands would then re-transform to represent the land before colonisation and species unique to the region will thrive without any threat on these isolated, peaceful islands. Using this innovative concept, New Zealand has managed to conserve some rare plants and animals like the tuatara, Duvaucel’s gecko, wetapunga, and others. Many of these islands have been honored World Heritage Status. This concept of native wildlife species conservation is now gaining popularity in Australia and other countries worldwide.
9. Endangered Species Condoms
The Center for Biological Diversity, USA, has adopted an extremely creative approach to save wildlife – the Endangered Species Condoms Project. ‘Safe sex saves wildlife’ is the motto behind this project. The Endangered Species Condoms come in attractive wildlife themed packages, exhibiting various species like the polar bears, whooping cranes, monarch butterflies, sea otters, horned lizards and hellbender salamanders. “Fumbling in the dark? Think of the monarch” or ‘Before it gets hotter, remember the sea otter’ are some of the captivating slogans on these condom packages that remind the condom user of the world’s population boom before he gets into the act. During special events like Earth Day or World Population Day, a volunteer network distributes these condoms across the United States at concerts, bars, universities, farmers’ markets and other public venues and till now a whopping half a million packages of these Endangered Species Condoms have already been distributed. Thus, this is a fun and unique approach to break the taboo and get people talking about human population growth and wildlife extinction crisis.
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