M-STrIPES

M-STrIPES Latest News

Forest staff who are to be involved in the census of tigers and other wild animals at Anamalai Tiger Reserve will be using the advanced Monitoring System for Tigers: Intensive Protection and Ecological Status (M-Stripes/MSTrIPES) app.

About M-STrIPES

• The MSTrIPES (Monitoring System for Tigers: Intensive Protection and Ecological Status) is a software-based monitoring system created to assist patrol and protect tiger habitats. 
• It was launched by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) along with the Wildlife Institute of India in 2010.
• It is designed to assist wildlife protection, monitoring, and management of Protected Areas.
• The programme consists of two parts: an analytical engine with a central desktop software and an online analysis tool, and an Android-based mobile application that records field observations and tracks using real-time GPS.
• It uses Global Positioning System (GPS), General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), and remote sensing, 
  • to collect information from the field
  • create a database using modern Information Technology (IT)-based tools
  • analyze the information using GIS and statistical tools 
  • to provide inferences that allow tiger reserve managers to better manage their wildlife resources.
• Under MSTrIPES protocols, forest guards are expected to patrol their beats and record their tracks using a GPS, in addition to recording observations in site-specific data sheets.
  • Beat is the smallest unit of forest administration in India since British time and usually one forest guard is assigned for one beat.

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Key Facts about Anamalai Tiger Reserve

• It is located at an altitude of 1400 m in the Anamalai Hills of Pollachi and Coimbatore District of Tamil Nadu.
• It lies south of the Palakkad gap in the Southern Western Ghats. 
• It is surrounded by the Parambikulum Tiger Reserve on the east, Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, and Eravikulum National Park on the southwestern side.
• It is inhabited by six indigenous communities, viz., Kadar, Muduvar, Malasar, Malai malasar, Eravalar, and Pulayar.
• Vegetation: 
  • It supports diverse habitat types, viz. Wet evergreen forests, semi-evergreen forests, moist deciduous, dry deciduous, dry thorn, and shola forests. 
  • Other unique habitats like montane grasslands, savannah, and marshy grasslands are also present.
• Flora: The reserve is rich in wild relatives of cultivated species like mango, jackfruit, wild plantain, ginger (Zingiber officinale), turmeric, pepper (Piper longum), cardamom, etc.
• Fauna: The important wild animals of the reserve include: Tiger, Asiatic elephant, Sambar, Spotted deer, Barking deer, Jackal, Leopard, Jungle cat, etc.

Source: NIE