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Contributed Talk

Session: : Behavior: Migration And Movement 2

COS 161-1 - CANCELLED - GPS collaring, translocation, and release of a Vulnerable bearded pig during the African Swine Fever outbreak in Borneo

Wednesday, August 9, 2023
10:00 AM – 10:15 AM PDT
Location: B112
Abstract: Translocations have long represented opportunities for aiding animal dispersal, moving animals from human-wildlife conflict, bolstering wild populations genetically, and learning species-specific best practices for releases into the wild. Here we document a GPS collaring, translocation, and release of a semi-wild bearded pig (Sus barbatus) into a bearded pig sub-population depleted by the African Swine Fever outbreak in Sabah. The individual was the first male bearded pig to be GPS collared, and only the second bearded pig overall to be successfully GPS collared. We present lessons learned from this breakthrough event, and from our earlier collaring of a female bearded pig. Our results include a species-specific anesthesia protocol, GPS collaring guidance, and translocation considerations for the species. Additionally, we present the first GPS movement data collected on the species. Over multiple weeks of collaring for both the male and female bearded pig, the 95% utilization distribution for the male was 10.79 km2 [95% CI: 3.65, 21.73 km2] and for the female was 0.89 km2 [95% CI: 0.69, 1.11 km2]. Our results provide foundational data on bearded pig movement ecology for a historically nomadic species experiencing the effects of land-use change due to deforestation and oil palm expansion. Our findings also point to potential opportunities for management and research as bearded pigs recover from numerous local population collapses during the African Swine Fever outbreak in Borneo from 2020 - 2022.