Wildlife Camera Trapping: Estimating the Abundance of Sumatran Tiger’s Prey in Way Kambas National Park

Abstract

Abstract The Sumatran tiger is one of the endemic species in Indonesia which has been driven to extinction. This species has been categorized as critically endangered by IUCN and as Appendix I by CITES. Loss of prey is one of the threats to the Sumatran tiger’s population. It is an essential factor to maintain the existence of the Sumatran tiger. The study aimed to reveal the abundance of the Sumatran tiger prey using the camera trap method in Way Kambas National Park where one of the Sumatran tiger’s habitats. Our study was conducted from March until August 2020. We used 16 Camera traps which were divided into 2 Sites, Resort Pengelolaan Taman Nasional (RPTN) Sekapuk and Way Kanan. We found five species of Preys. They are wild boar (Sus scrofa), Sambar deer (Rusa unicolor), pigtail macaques (Macaca nemestrina), red muntjac (Muntiacus muntjac), and Mouse deer (Tragulus kanchil). The highest number of abundance was Sus scrofa (63%), and the lowest number of abundance was Rusa unicolor (0,94%). Our findings concluded that the potential preferred prey was Sus scrofa and Muntiacus muntjac.