It's my great pleasure to share with you all that I was selected and enrolled  in Friends of Nature, Nepal (FON) annual wildlife research techniques training that was started from  31 October to 18 November.  We was total 13 participants from different academic fields; Forestry, Zoology, Environmental Science, Veterinary and Microbiology from Nepal.

 

Friends of Nature is a youth led non-governmental, non-profit making and non-political organization established in 2005 working in Wildlife research and Conservation sector in Nepal. It mainly focuses on motivating the youth in the field of wildlife. Its programs are directed towards coordination between the environment and wildlife.

 

The general objective of this training was to learn the basics of wildlife research techniques and to learn about the identification techniques of mammals, birds, herpetofauna and butterflies.

 

The training had two phases: 6 days Theory phase and 13 days field phase. The venue of theory phase was in Kathmandu, Nepal. During this phase, we had got chance to learned about:-

 

-Bird, herpetofauna, butterflies and Plant identification, status, research, techniques and conservation values in Nepal.

 

-Special project of Pangolin, Red Panda, vulture, fishing cat and camera trapping in Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal.

 

-GIS and R Basic

 

-Genetic in Wildlife research, Wildlife Research Design, Application of occupancy, scientific writing and Introduction to wildlife monitoring equipment's.

 

And at last day of the theory class, we had visited to Central Zoo, Kathmandu and Natural History Museum, Kathmandu.

 

It was 7^th day when we moved to Pharbat, Chitre Nepal for another phase of our training. During this phase, we had carried out the following wildlife field activities:-

 

-Mammals and herpetofauna research techniques related field were carried. Further, we had learned about Camera trapping techniques and identification of pugmarks, scats and other signs of mammals and identification techniques of Herpetofauna.

 

 

-Birds Identification and research techniques with the help of Spotting scope and Binoculars. Different identification techniques like coloration, body size, call were used. For the identification, field guide book “Birds of Nepal” was used.

 

 

-Learned about Wildlife photography.

 

 

-For the study of butterfly, Capture and Release Method was used. Net was used to capture species and after observing its characters it was released in its natural habitat. Beside this we also captured images of butterflies which was later identified.

 

-Daily review of different peer reviewed articles and newsletter related to wildlife and conservation and also had delivered its presentation and drama relevant to it.

 

- Key informant interview to access the socio-economic status of Chitre homestay followed by some secondary data.

 

In this way, we had happily finished up the training days. Though the field was little bit hectic but we mixed it with little fun too.

 

At last, my sincere thanks goes to Friends of Nature, Nepal for providing the opportunity to enroll in this Wildlife research Techniques Training, 2019 and all the supporting hands who had made our training fruitful.

 

 

Photo from : Friends of Nature(FON), Nepal

 

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