Program

15/09/2022

Territorial Behaviour Enables the Monitoring of Wolf and Jackal Population Status

This workshop, intended for secondary school students and adults, presented the problem of the monitoring of threatened wolf species and golden jackals. The monitoring of animals is particularly important in threatened species, such as wolves, and for species expanding to Slovenia due to changed environmental conditions, such as the golden jackal.

19:00

Biological Center of the Biotehnical Faculty, Večna pot 111, Ljubljana

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Monitoring populations is an essential part of modern wildlife population management. A workshop on this topic was conducted by Hubert Potočnik, PhD, of the Biotechnical Faculty (Department of Biology, Chair of ecology, Group for animal ecology).

The main aim of the workshop and of population monitoring is to acquire data on populations’ geographic extent and numbers. In species such as the wolf and golden jackal, this can be done by utilising their territorial behaviour – their marking of territory through sound, i.e. howling.

The method of monitoring by provoking howling is based on the territorial response of wolves and jackals to a simulated “intruder”, who imitates howling and thus provokes sounds in territorial specimens. For monitoring to be successful, it requires the involvement of many qualified participants.

In this context, a mode of data collection called citizen science is increasingly important; such collection of scientific data involves individual volunteers or interest groups.

As part of the European Researchers’ Night, we thus conducted an educational course intended for both adults and secondary school students, presenting theoretical backgrounds and a practical display of the animal monitoring method, which could enable their subsequent participation in national wolf population status monitoring schemes.

Coordinator: Hubert Potočnik, PhD, Biotechnical Faculty