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| Project Giant Otter |
| Its status in the Noel Kempff Mercado National Park |
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Giant Otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) feeding in Noel Kempff Mercado National Park
Note: screen quality image (less than 300DPI)
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Noel Kempff Mercado National Park
Note: screen quality image (less than 300DPI)
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Project Giant Otter is a joint Belgian-Bolivian community conservation project working in collaboration with park rangers and indigenous Amazon people to assess at the status of the Giant otter in the rivers of Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, Bolivia. The fifteen-strong team will conduct the first in-depth study of the Parguá, Paucerna and Itenez rivers and large lakes, flanked by highly diverse habitats, home to the largest population of giant otter in the world. The team aim to build on the limited data collected on the population status, population traits and distribution patterns of the otters in the black and white water rivers of the 1,500,000 hectare National Park.
Databases will be used to develop GIS, which will include data on otter distribution, fish distribution, chemical water characteristics, river morphology, riparian vegetation structure, fishing activities and human settlements. These will help identify zones which should receive special conservation status and which will be protected and managed by Amazon indigenous communities. All factors that may affect the otter distribution, such as local control by Amazon tribes, human pressure by colonisation, commercial and subsistence fishing activities and deforestation of shores will be studied. Knowledge of the habitat preferences of the Giant otter by the local communities and how they perceive the Giant otter may serve as a baseline for the development of policies aiming at their protection.
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| Project leader: |
Paul Van Damme, Leuven University, Belgium |
| Contact details: |
paul.vandamme@bo.net |
| Project dates: |
8 August 2001 - 1 March 2002 |
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