Individual species monitoring.
FIT can be used to census, that is to estimate numbers of individuals in a population, or sub-population of unknown size. This can be done by developing a footprint collection protocol (using an established method of sampling) specific for the area in which the census is to be undertaken.
Within this scenario, individual animals can also be linked to their individual footprints, by actually sighting the animal and making that link once. Once this has been achieved, and a library of footprints developed for the population, FIT can be used at regular intervals, to continue to monitor the population. If FIT is used in conjunction with anti-poaching routines, or alongside another monitoring method (for example in conjunction with camera-traps ) it can often be implemented at very low cost and with little extra effort.
Young animals often accompany their mothers until they are independent. If footprint monitoring is done frequently, as young animals appear in a population their prints can be collected alongside those of the (known) mother, and thus the database kept up to date.
Social groupings of animals can also be assessed using FIT. In our white rhino work in Namibia it became clear that large social groups headed by a dominant adult female would change from time to time, and, once the group footprint library had been established, the individuals in the group could be identified using careful tracking observations to ensure that the tracks had been made at the same time.