Estimates of animal populations made by local residents and field scientists are similar.
Thais Morcatty had a problem. The ecologist at the Mamiraua Institute in Brazil needed to gather estimates of the populations of a variety of animals living in the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon for her research. But getting that information proved difficult.
“It takes a lot of work and a lot of money over a long time,” she said.
So she turned to an alternative method, which she hoped would give her information that was just as reliable as scientific studies — she asked the people who already live there. Read more in Inside Science.