Following in the Tracks of the Greats

Ever wanted to be part of conservation of Namibia’s species? This is an opportunity for you to become a citizen scientist through field research that will help protect our carnivores.

The Large Carnivore Management Association of Namibia (LCMAN) has created a new app available for you to download on your phone, which you can use as both a guide for carnivore spotting and as a place for research data to be collected on Namibian carnivores.

99FM’s MYD Earth sat down with Dr. Louisa Richmond-Coggan, the Ecology Manager at the Cheetah Conservation Fund Namibia, to find out more about this exciting app, as well as how and why Namibians should be part of the fight to protect carnivores in our country.

Dr. Richmond-Coggan: “I am passionate about large carnivore conservation and how communities can live and thrive alongside carnivores.” Louisa explains that carnivores are critical to any ecosystem and the loss of carnivores in an ecosystem can have devastating effects on many other plants and animals in an ecosystem.

With regards to the app, Dr. Richmond-Coggan explains that, “the collected data will be used to create a national presence map for Namibia that will allow researchers to identify differences between protected and unprotected areas, human-wildlife conflict hot spots, long-term changes in carnivore populations and in turn where to target much needed conservation action and management.” What’s more, “the information will feed into key government departments such as the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, in order to inform carnivore conservation and management strategies across Namibia.”

The app is free to download and designed to allow anyone with a smartphone to contribute to the conservation of Namibia’s carnivore species.

To use it, you log your sightings as they occur and the app will upload the sightings when you have data or WiFi available, making it great for spotting in remote locations.

In addition, the app is a wealth of information about carnivores, so you can learn about the many different carnivore species in Namibia as you travel and spot.

To download the free carnivore tracker app, scroll down to the end of this page.

In 99FM’s MYD Earth show, Dr. Louisa Richmond-Coggan from the Cheetah Conservation Fund Namibia, shares with us how this app works and why it’s important.

Here are some of the areas covered :

• Why we need carnivores for an ecosystem to thrive
• Lesser known facts about cheetahs, leopards and other big carnivores
• The link between carnivores and the Namibian tourism industry
• How this new app works and why the Large Carnivore Management Association of Namibia needs your help

Take a listen to the MYD Earth show with Dr. Louisa Richmond-Coggan, here :

https://soundcloud.com/99fm/myd-earth-carnivore-tracker-app

For more information on the Carnivore Tracker, take a look at their website here : Carnivore Tracker
Find their Facebook page here : Carnivore Tracker

Click here to download the free Carnivore Tracker app for Apple : Carnivore Tracker App for Apple
Click here to download the free Carnivore Tracker app for Android : Carnivore Tracker App for Android