Journal of Environment and Health Science Journal of Environment and Health Science Journal of Environment and Health Science Journal of Environment and Health Science 2378-6841Ommega Online PublishersNew Jersey, USA2430Research ArticleA Survey on the Status of Pangolins By Camera Trapping in Deng-Deng National Park, Eastern Region, CameroonA Survey on the Status of Pangolins By Camera Trapping in Deng-Deng National Park, Eastern Region, CameroonMelle EkaneMaurice1Department of Environmental Science University of Buea Cameroon2Conservation Action Research Network CARN for the Congo Basin Central African RegionEditor* E-mail: melleekane@gmail.com
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
20192705201951JEHS-19-RA-243007022019210520192019Creative Commons Attribution LicenseThis is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Information on the distribution of wildlife species is important in prescribing sound management practices for a protected area Despite the efficiency and flexibility of modern camera-traps they cannot observe every species with equal precision For one it can be difficult to get an accurate count of population abundance Camera-trapping systems are not the only solution to wildlife research inventory but they are a useful tool in creating understanding on the presence and population of wildlife species especially the nocturnal animals in the wild Camera-taps offer a way to answer questions about wildlife population besides population density The determination of pangolins status was established in Deng-Deng national park by the use of camera-trapping system A total of 15 camera-traps 10 Cuddle backs and 5 Bushnells were set in order to confirm the presence of pangolins in the area These camera-traps were set in different locations of the national park area to record the presence of wildlife species especially the pangolins The retrieval of the camera-traps after a period of two months identified the existence of three species of pangolins giant ground pangolin Smutsia gigantean white-bellied pangolin Phataginus tricuspis and black-bellied pangolins Phataginus tetradactyla A total number of 41 pangolin images were caught by the cameras within the study period The results have shown that cameras mounted in the mixed liana forest area in the national park recorded the highest frequency of pangolin images 25 33 Also the swamp forest vegetation witnessed the least frequency of pangolin endemism 1 33 in the national park In addition the study revealed that the pangolin species distribution is significantly associated to forest vegetation type and the presence of human signs chi 2 22 675 df 14 P gt 0 05 fig 3 and chi 2 5 004 df 14 P lt 0 05 fig 4 respectively The use of wildlife camera-trapping system remains one of the best methods for pangolin population distribution survey in protected areas 10