Another Wildlife Animal Sighting During Loris Observation
Slow loris observation is an activity that we always do every night for six days in a week. We conduct observation from 5PM until 11PM for the 1st shift and 11PM until 5AM for the 2nd shift. For the first shift, we wait until the lorises wake up and then we start collecting data, and for the second shift we will do observation until the lorises enter their sleepsite. During observation or when we are walking to the lorises locations, sometimes we find another eyeshine that doesn’t belong to a loris. If the eyeshine is not a loris’ eyeshine, then what are they?
In an agroforest such as here in Cipaganti, there are several nocturnal animals that we can spot. If we meet wildlife other than lorises, we need to take the GPS points for them and record data about them, such as what species it is, how many of them, what are they doing and many more. We need to write the information as detail as possible because they are precious!
Based on 2021 wildlife sighting data, we have seen 59 nocturnal animals; 40 are mammals and 19 of them are birds. Nocturnal mammals are the Javan palm civet (Paradoxurus musangus javanicus), the Sunda leopard cat (Prionailurus javanensis) and the small Indian civet (Viverricula indica). For nocturnal bird taxa, all the sightings are owls such as the Sunda scops owl (Otus lempiji), and the Javan frogmouth (Batrachostomus javensis).
There are 27 encounters of the Javan palm civet, they were found alert or freezing in bamboo patch and trees, some of them were found walking on the ground and there is one sighting of a Javan palm civet travelling using waterline. The Javan palm civets were mostly found in habitats like bamboo patch, tree plantations or coffee fields. While the sighting of small Indian civets were only 3; they were seen on the ground, usually dazzled by our presence and fled. The sightings were in potato field and ungrazed land. Uniquely, the sighting of the small Indian civets were on the same day! The sighting of two individuals were just 10 minutes after the first one, and the two individuals were an adult and a juvenile.
Sunda leopard cats were observed 10 times, and all of them were found on the ground, some were alert and looking at the observer, some exploring and fleeing when they meet us and there is also a sighting of a Sunda leopard cat licking its front left leg and was vocalising (meowing). The sighting of Sunda leopard cats were in habitats such as labu plantations, thicket and farms.
For the bird taxa, there are four encounter of the Javan frogmouth, they were all alert in trees; six encounters of the Sunda scops owl, they were also found sitting alert in the trees or bamboo patches and some of them were vocalising. Nine unidentified owl species were observed, some of them were alert and some of them were vocalising, they were observed in trees within habitats such as labu plantations and river banks.
It is interesting to see the eyeshine of wildlife other than lorises’ eyeshine in the agroforest study area. Even though it could mean that the habitat fragmentation due to the crops and other plantations allows us to observe them more easily, it could also mean that this agroforest can fulfill the basic needs of the species listed above. Many more interesting animals can also be seen in our camera traps! But that is another story of our village Cipaganti.-
Penampakan Satwa Liar Lainnya Selama Observasi Kukang
Pengamatan kukang merupakan kegiatan yang selalu kami lakukan setiap malam selama enam hari dalam seminggu. Kami melakukan observasi dari jam 5 sore sampai jam 11 malam untuk shift 1 dan jam 11 malam sampai jam 5 pagi untuk shift kedua. Untuk shift pertama kita tunggu sampai kukang bangun lalu kita mulai pendataan, dan untuk shift kedua kita akan melakukan observasi sampai kukang masuk ke tempat istirahatnya. Selama observasi atau saat kita sedang berjalan menuju lokasi kukang, terkadang kita menemukan cahaya mata lain yang bukan milik kukang. Jika kilauan mata itu bukan kilauan mata kukang, lalu apa itu?
Di agroforest seperti di Cipaganti ini, ada beberapa hewan nokturnal yang bisa kita lihat. Jika kita bertemu dengan satwa liar selain kukang, kita perlu mengambil titik GPS untuk mereka dan mencatat data tentang mereka, seperti spesies apa, berapa banyak, apa yang mereka lakukan dan banyak lagi. Kita perlu menulis informasi sedetail mungkin karena itu sangat berharga!
Berdasarkan data penampakan satwa liar tahun 2021, kami telah melihat 59 hewan nokturnal; 40 adalah mamalia dan 19 di antaranya adalah burung. Mamalia nokturnal adalah musang jawa (Paradoxurus musangus javanicus), kucing macan tutul sunda (Prionailurus javanensis) dan musang kecil india (Viverricula indica). Untuk taksa burung nokturnal, semua penampakan adalah burung hantu seperti Sunda scops owl (Otus lempiji), dan kodok jawa (Batrachostomus javensis).
Luwak jawa ditemukan sebanyak 27 kali pertemuan, ditemukan dalam keadaan siaga atau membeku di rerumputan bambu dan pepohonan, beberapa diantaranya ditemukan berjalan di tanah dan ada satu penampakan musang jawa yang sedang berjalan menggunakan garis air. Luwak jawa kebanyakan ditemukan di habitat seperti petak bambu, perkebunan pohon atau ladang kopi. Sedangkan musang india yang terlihat kecil hanya 3 ekor; mereka terlihat di tanah, biasanya terpesona oleh kehadiran kami dan melarikan diri. Penampakan itu di ladang kentang dan tanah yang tidak digembalakan. Uniknya, penampakan musang kecil India itu terjadi di hari yang sama! Penampakan dua individu hanya 10 menit setelah yang pertama, dan dua individu adalah orang dewasa dan remaja.
Kucing macan tutul sunda diamati sebanyak 10 kali, dan semuanya ditemukan di tanah, ada yang waspada dan melihat ke pengamat, ada yang menjelajah dan melarikan diri saat bertemu dengan kita dan ada juga yang melihat kucing macan tutul sunda menjilati bagian depan kirinya. kaki dan bersuara (mengeong). Penampakan kucing macan tutul sunda berada di habitat seperti perkebunan labu, semak belukar dan peternakan.
Untuk taksa burung, ada empat pertemuan dari mulut kodok Jawa, mereka semua waspada di pepohonan; enam pertemuan burung hantu sunda, mereka juga ditemukan duduk waspada di pohon atau petak bambu dan beberapa di antaranya sedang bersuara. Terpantau sembilan jenis burung hantu yang tidak teridentifikasi, beberapa di antaranya waspada dan beberapa di antaranya bersuara, mereka diamati di pohon-pohon di dalam habitat seperti perkebunan labu dan tepi sungai.
Sangat menarik untuk melihat sorot mata satwa liar selain kukang di area studi agroforestri. Meskipun dapat diartikan bahwa fragmentasi habitat akibat tanaman pangan dan perkebunan lainnya memungkinkan kita untuk mengamatinya dengan lebih mudah, namun dapat juga berarti bahwa agroforestri ini dapat memenuhi kebutuhan dasar spesies-spesies tersebut di atas. Banyak hewan menarik lainnya juga dapat dilihat di jebakan kamera kami! Tapi itu lain cerita dari desa kami Cipaganti.-
