African Bushmen Track Wildlife with PDAs

Aug. 1, 2007 — In Africa, one might expect to see a lion with a fresh kill, a baboon with a toothy grin, or an elephant with its herd. But a Bushman with a PalmPilot? It's possible.

Expert hunters and gatherers such as the Bushmen, the indigenous people of the Kalahari Desert, are being equipped with smart phones with special software for tracking plants and animals. Called CyberTracker, the free program combines a database of icons of animals and plants with GPS software to allow people who cannot read or write to record complex information.

Conservationists use the information to create maps and charts of animal movements and feeding habits, which can help improve environmental research and park management.

"CyberTracker has therefore resulted in new discoveries that would not otherwise have been possible," said Louis Liebenberg, a conservation scientist who developed the software with programmer Justin Steventon.

In Odzala National Park in the Congo, CyberTracker data has shown how the ebola virus has killed more than 80 percent of lowland gorillas in some areas. Other species, such as the duiker and bushpig, were also killed by the virus, Liebenberg said.

Although Cybertracker is being used mostly to survey wildlife and habitat, the software can also be customized to other purposes. For example, it's being used in post-tsunami Sri Lanka to track humanitarian relief, in South Africa to manage pests on orchards, in Canada to monitor pollution and water quality, and in Gabon to track eco-tourism trends.

"We have had more than 30,000 downloads in more than 75 countries," said Liebenberg.

The CyberTracker screens serve, essentially, as an electronic field guide. The main screen shows a list of icons along with simple text indicating general choices.

For example, the screen may show an icon of a bird, reptile, hoof or paw print, plant or four-legged animal. If a Bushman sees a rhino, he would first click the hoof print icon. A new screen of icons would list a variety of possible animals the hoof could belong to.

Clicking on the rhino icon would take the Bushman to a screen of icons for possible rhino activities, such as eating, running, or drinking water. Another screen would allow him to enter the number of rhinos he saw.

Location information comes from a GPS signal the PDA receives via satellite. The tracker can later download the data to a computer using a wireless connection between the handheld device and a PC. (A future version will be able to send data from the field via a cell phone network.)

The information uploads into the main database for analysis and viewing in tables, graphs or maps.

A map can be generated, for example, to show what areas the person covered; a graph can show the number of observations, distance covered, and time spent on patrol each day.

"Having a park of almost two million hectares (five million acres) makes it very difficult to survey all areas. However, with this system in place, research and monitoring can be done on a daily basis during routine patrols," said Sandra Mac Fayden, a remote sensing analyst at Kruger National Park in South Africa, where the CyberTracker system is in place.

Liebenberg and Steventon are hoping to develop a Web-based version of CyberTracker as soon as funds become available. "I am confident that in 50 years every national park in the world will be using it," said Liebenberg.