A total of ten GPS instruments,which will help in collecting data from April 20 through satellite imagery, would be used for the initiative, department sources said.
Enlisted as one of the Wildlife Acts, the rare squirrel variety is mainly found in the dense forests of hilltop of Bhimashankar sanctuary near Pune.
A very timid animal, it prefers to reside in dense forests sheltering herself in a big nest on tree tops which is made compact using leaves.
Giant Squirrels looks like a cat with a long tail and is about three and half foot tall.An extremely agile creature and a mammal, Giant Squirrel can take a leap of about 20 foot as it jumps from tree to tree," Rajendra Nale, range forest officer who is in charge of the new drive.
The last census of the squirrels was done manually by locating their nests, indicated that about 1,200 of them still inhabit Bhimashankar although they are rarely seen, he said.
In addition to GPS systems, the forest officials would also press into service equal number of range finders (fitted with binoculars) and compasses as part of the Geographical Information System (GIS), he said. Read the full report here.
Source: Borneo Post.
