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Caught on Candid Camera: Piglet Perspectives on Grassland Life
Found in the tall grasslands of the southern Himalayan foothills, the world’s smallest pig is also the rarest. Loss and degradation of the pygmy hog's habitat threatened to wipe out the species, but successful captive breeding and reintroductions have been boosting the wild population. This year, Durrell’s pygmy hog team have been trialling the use of remote camera traps to monitor the released hogs, and they’ve had some great results. Below we find out more…
In 2011, Durrell’s pygmy hog team began releasing hogs into the grasslands of the Orang National Park, establishing the third wild sub-population for this species. Earlier this year, the team travelled back to Orang on a quest to survey the park and track the hog’s progress, as well as to investigate the presence of other wildlife in the area.
The team installed a network of camera traps at various locations in the park. These are activated when an animal moves past, and are a great way to monitor wildlife without disturbing their natural behaviour.
Recently, the team headed back to retrieve the cameras and see what wildlife had been photographed. Excitingly, they captured several images of pygmy hogs including one female with several tiny hoglets. This is fantastic news, and shows that the hogs are breeding successfully.
However, these weren’t the only images captured on camera - we were also lucky enough to get a rare insight into the variety of life existing in this grassland, with the camera traps capturing fantastic images of rhino, tiger, hog deer, elephant, wild boar, monitor lizard, and swamp francolin. Below is just a sample of some of the incredible wildlife existing in this grassland.
In 2011, Durrell’s pygmy hog team began releasing hogs into the grasslands of the Orang National Park, establishing the third wild sub-population for this species. Earlier this year, the team travelled back to Orang on a quest to survey the park and track the hog’s progress, as well as to investigate the presence of other wildlife in the area.
The team installed a network of camera traps at various locations in the park. These are activated when an animal moves past, and are a great way to monitor wildlife without disturbing their natural behaviour.
Recently, the team headed back to retrieve the cameras and see what wildlife had been photographed. Excitingly, they captured several images of pygmy hogs including one female with several tiny hoglets. This is fantastic news, and shows that the hogs are breeding successfully.
However, these weren’t the only images captured on camera - we were also lucky enough to get a rare insight into the variety of life existing in this grassland, with the camera traps capturing fantastic images of rhino, tiger, hog deer, elephant, wild boar, monitor lizard, and swamp francolin. Below is just a sample of some of the incredible wildlife existing in this grassland.