Date:19/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/19/stories/2008091958302200.htm

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Kangaroo rat’s habitat in focus

A Giant Kangaroo Rat

FRESNO: Scientists plan to use satellite photographs to count Giant Kangaroo Rats, in the first-ever monitoring of an endangered species from outer space.

Scientists will examine images taken from the same satellite used by Israeli defence forces to find the circular patches of earth denuded by the rats as they gather food around their burrows. From that they plan to get the first-ever accurate population count of the rodents, a bellweather for the health of a parched plains environment.

By comparing the photos to 30 years of satellite images being released by the U.S. Geological Survey, researchers hope to understand how the population has fluctuated in response to climate change and as the arrival of canal water turned the arid San Joaquin Valley into a patchwork of intensely cultivated farms and forced Giant Kangaroo Rats to concentrate on higher ground. — AP