KINABATANGAN: Researchers here have fitted a female reticulated python with a satellite unit last week near Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) here in a bid to learn more about the reptile's life in the wild.
The project, which is a collaboration between DGFC and Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD), saw PhD student Richard Burger attached to the centre and Malaysian wildlife veterinarian Dr Laura Benedict from SWD's Wildlife Rescue Unit leading the collaring operation.
DGFC director Dr Benoit Goossens in a statement here, said this was the first time that a reticulated python was fitted with a satellite unit.
"The reticulated python is the longest species of snake in the world, widely kept in zoos and as popular pets throughout the world, yet we know so little about them in the wild.
"Large pythons are very difficult to study as they are very secretive and camouflage experts, so it is very hard to find them in dense forests.
"This is why we currently have no idea of their population size or density. By attaching a Global Positioning System (GPS) device we can begin to discover the secrets of how these enigmatic animals behave in their natural habitat and this is vital in making management decisions about the species in the future,” added project leader Burger.
Benedict meanwhile revealed that the snake was nicknamed Pilat (meaning ‘scar’ in Dusun) and weighed 11.3 kilogrammes while measuring 3.63 metres, where it was kept three days for monitoring after its capture before successfully released where it was initially caught near the centre.
"The GPS tag weighed 145 grammes and was affixed to the tail, so that it does not interfere with vital organs or movement.
"As the tag is smaller than the diameter of the snake’s body, any gap that the python moves through should in theory be large enough to allow the unit on the tail to pass through as well, without getting caught in the undergrowth," added Benedict.
SWD assistant director Dr Sen Nathan in the joint statement revealed that wild reticulated pythons are heavily exploited particularly in Peninsular Malaysia and Indonesia as their skins are considered a valuable commodity.
He said pythons are listed under Appendix II of CITES and Schedule 2 of the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997, meaning it was illegal to kill pythons without an official license.
"This trade has seen rapid expansion in recent years.
"Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) allows a quota of skins to be exported each year, but there is also a great deal of illegal leather trade activity that occurs and an unknown number of animals are also killed out of fear or for meat.
"We cannot continue to remove hundreds of thousands of animals each year from their natural habitats if we don’t know anything about their ecology or population size; continual monitoring is essential for any species that is harvested in this way," added Nathan.
He reminded that it was important the trade remains at a sustainable level so communities can continue to reap the financial benefits that the skin trade brings without causing the species to become endangered through a combination of over-harvesting and habitat loss.