animalphiles

Singing dog pups among new zoo arrivals

Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield, Arizona, is now home to several new animals including New Guinea Singing Dog pups, a baby African Crested Porcupine, African Impalas, and a unique Saddle-Billed Stork, also from Africa, that stands about 5 feet tall. Some of the animals were recently born at the zoo while others arrived from other institutions.

Visitors can enjoy viewing the playful antics of the singing dog pups. They are just now old enough to explore the world outside their earthen dens under the watchful eye of their mother. 

The same is true for the young crested porcupine. 

With the arrival of impalas from Busch Gardens in Tampa, Wildlife World Zoo adds another species to its extensive, and in many cases, endangered hoofed animal collection. Impalas are medium sized gazelles that tend to form large herds, often mingling with other herding species such as zebra.  Males have long, lyre-shaped horns that are lacking in females.

Like the impalas, the saddle-billed stork is a new species for Wildlife World Zoo.  Named for a saddle-shaped shield at the base of their bill, these wading birds are found in tropical habitats. Their unusual bill is used to sift marshes in search of insects, fish and other aquatic animals.

Pint-sized possum, enormous rat share wilderness

A tiny possum and a giant rat are among the probable new species recently found in a remote Indonesian jungle. Scientists say the discoveries highlight the stunning range of biodiversity in New Guinea's Foja Mountains.

The Foja Wilderness is part of the great Mamberamo Basin, the largest unroaded tropical forest in the Asia Pacific region. As the global community searches for solutions to climate change, large untouched forested areas such as these will become more and more valuable as essential carbon sinks.

During the June expedition, the team documented two mammals, a Cercartetus pygmy possum, one of the world’s smallest marsupials, and a Mallomys giant rat, both currently under study and apparently new to science. They also recorded the mating displays of several rare and little-known birds for the first time.

"The giant rat is about five times the size of a typical city rat," said Kristofer Helgen, a scientist with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. "With no fear of humans, it apparently came into the camp several times during the trip." 

"It’s comforting to know that there is a place on earth so isolated that it remains the absolute realm of wild nature," said Conservation International Vice President Bruce Beehler, who led the expedition. "We were pleased to see that this little piece of Eden remains as pristine and enchanting as it was when we first visited."

Treasure trove of new species discovered in Ghana

From: Xinhauanet:
Scientists exploring a tropical forest in Western Africa have discovered two rare species of primates, eight new species of katydids, 17 rare butterfly species, wild birds such as the brown-cheeked hornbill and a critically endangered frog species.

The findings came from a 2006 expedition to Ghana's Atewa Range Forest Reserve (Atewa) led by Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Program and were presented in a report made public Thursday.

"While this forest has long been known to harbor a high number of species and to serve as an essential source of water for local villages and for Accra, it is only recently that the global importance of this reserve has been confirmed," said Okyeame Ampadu-Agyei, an expedition member in Ghana associated with Conservation International, which led the expedition. "We must quickly take action to protect the incredible diversity of Atewa for future generations and to prevent the extinction of the 36 globally threatened species that we know to live in Atewa."

The discoveries include a critically endangered frog species (Conraua derooi) whose presence in Atewa may represent the last viable population in the world, an unusually high 22 species of large mammals and six species of primates including two species that are of global conservation concern: Geoffroy's pied colobus (Colobus vellerosus) and the olive colobus (Procolobus verus).

Butterfly species found include the Papilio antimachus, which has the widest wingspan in the work. Also the Mylothris atewa, which is found nowhere else in the world and has been proposed as globally critically endangered.

From June 6 to June 24, 2006, a team of 22 scientists, post-graduate students and assistants from Ghana and abroad surveyed the 58,472 acre Atewa tract in south-eastern Ghana. The scientists found an intact forest ecosystem, which is unusual and significant for West Africa, where most forests are highly fragmented and disturbed.

Established as a national forest reserve in 1926, and since designated as one of Ghana's Globally Significant Biodiversity Areas, Atewa's importance has long been recognized because it contains the headwaters of three river systems, essential sources of domestic, agricultural and industrial water for local communities and many of Ghana's major population centers, including Accra.

In their final report, scientists called for the government to upgrade the area's protection status such as to a National Park, create a buffer zone around the park and develop a management plan that includes conversation measures and economic development strategies compatible with conservation goals.
Photo: copyright Piotr Naskrecki (CI)

Endangered anteaters saved from cooking

From AFP:
Thai Customs officers said Saturday they have rescued more than 100 pangolins and arrested three men attempting to smuggle the endangered animals to China, where they were destined for the cooking pot.

The pangolins (a type of scaly anteater), worth an estimated 29,400 dollars, were trapped in the Indonesian jungle and smuggled via Malaysia and southern Thailand.

All trade in Asian pangolins has been illegal since 2000. Their meat is regarded as a delicacy in China and their scales are believed to cure a wide range of ailments.

The three suspects were charged with two counts of possessing and smuggling endangered wildlife, which carry a maximum 10 years in prison.

The pangolins, which were all alive despite being hidden under layers of coconuts, would be handed over to the Royal Forest Department to be nursed back to health before being released into an appropriate habitat in Thailand.

Bears, other carnivores, at risk in Rockies

The southern Canadian Rockies are still home to the most diverse assemblage of carnivores in North America, but a new report released by the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada (WCSC) says booming development there could threaten them without careful planning and the implementation of conservation safeguards.

The report states that the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains –– between Banff National Park and Glacier National Park at the U.S. border –– are strategically important in maintaining broad ecological connectivity in the western mountains of North America. The predominant orientation of mountains and valleys there provides natural north-south movement routes for wide-ranging carnivores.  However, this natural connectivity is vulnerable to fracture by the transportation and development corridor along the Crowsnest Highway (Hwy 3), which runs mostly east-west across southern Alberta and British Columbia.

The report says that expanding human developments and associated activities may fragment carnivore populations into smaller and more vulnerable units, leading to less genetic mixing of individuals between populations, and restricted options for ecological and geographic shifts in response to climate change. The report concludes that secure habitat areas and connecting linkages need to be established to facilitate movements by these wide-ranging carnivores.

The report focuses on six species of wide-ranging carnivores – grizzly bear, lynx, badger, bobcat, wolf, and wolverine – representing a broad variety of ecological conditions. 

Scientific studies along other major highways in the region indicate that highways with high traffic volume strongly restrict carnivore movements and have the potential to fragment populations.  Grizzly bears are particularly vulnerable to these effects, with reproductive females being especially susceptible.  Trains running on railroads that parallel major highways have been a major source of mortality for bears.  However, perhaps the greatest impact of highways and major roads is the cumulative human activity and associated development that they have facilitated over decades.

Aiming to save Afghan wildlife

The Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society in cooperation with the United States Agency for International Development, the U.S. Embassy (Kabul), the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently provided training to the U.S. military in Afghanistan to help reduce illegal trade that threatens one of this nation’s most precious natural resources—its unique wildlife.  The training took place at the Bagram Airbase to educate the U.S. Army Post Office and customs personnel to prevent soldiers who may unknowingly purchase pelts from endangered species from attempting to ship them home as souvenirs and incur substantial financial and legal penalties for doing so.

Afghanistan is home to endangered snow leopards, Persian leopards, Marco Polo sheep and other unique wildlife protected by international laws and treaties.  However, skins, pelts and other animal parts from endangered species killed by poachers still regularly wind up in local markets and are sold to captive audiences, such as U.S. Coalition soldiers, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and the international development and reconstruction community who are unaware of what they are buying.

Hunting has driven the Caspian tiger and perhaps the Asiatic cheetah to extinction in Afghanistan.

According to Dr. Alex Dehgan, who runs the Wildlife Conservation Society's Afghanistan program (funded by the United States Agency for International Development), the training work is part of a larger campaign against wildlife trade in Afghanistan. The campaign includes advertisements, posters in airports, and educational materials for schools, along with editorials and newspaper articles for the Afghan and expatriate community.  Even many fur shops are now assisting WCS in the process, providing samples for genetic tests, and for training military personnel.

“The training that Wildlife Conservation Society and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently gave at Bagram Airbase for nearly all the U.S. Customs and Military Postal Service officials in Afghanistan went extremely well,” said Dr. Dehgan.  “The soldiers were very enthusiastic and dedicated to learning and started developing ideas among themselves to make this initiative successful.  The training has immediately paid off with the seizure of illegal skins, and WCS and the EPA are now working with the military to prevent the sale of endangered species skins so soldiers won't inadvertently lose their money due to unscrupulous merchants.”  The training was provided by Dr. Dehgan of the Wildlife Conservation Society and Clay Miller of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“We had a very informative briefing and hands-on session. The more people that we can bring awareness to on this issue, the better for everyone in the long run,” said U.S. Army Operations Sergeant SFC Thomas A. Lockhart.  “Many are not aware of what they are purchasing, and I have not met any Service Members that would knowingly traffic illegal animals and furs.”

The Wildlife Conservation Society and the U.S. Embassy are working to increase efforts to stop furs from being sold at U.S., ISAF, and Coalition airbases, and to train the Afghan customs officials as well.  WCS is currently the only organization conducting scientific conservation studies in Afghanistan in the past 30 years, and is working with the Afghan government to establish a network of parks and protected areas under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Bats, shrews, frogs and more

An expedition led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) to a remote corner of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has uncovered unique forests which, so far, have been found to contain six animal species new to science: a bat, a rodent, two shrews, and two frogs. The forested region—including the Misotshi-Kabogo Forest (formerly Mt. Kabobo)—and nearby Marunga Massif is located just west of Lake Tanganyika and has been off limits to scientists since 1960 as a result of continued instability in the area.

“If we can find six new species in such a short period it makes you wonder what else is out there,” said WCS researcher Dr. Andrew Plumptre, director of the society’s Albertine Rift Program.

The forest survey was conducted between January and March of 2007, and included participants from WCS, the Field Museum in Chicago, the National Centre of Research and Science in Lwiro, and the World Wildlife Fund: the global conservation organization (WWF).

In spite of the conflict and related degradation in the area, the survey team found that some 1,000 square kilometers have remained intact, from the shores of Lake Tanganyika up to elevations of 2,725 meters above sea level. In addition to the new animal species, the survey found that the region of gallery forests and woodlands is extremely rich in biodiversity, containing a number of large mammals such as chimpanzees, bongos, buffalo, elephants, leopards, several types of monkey including a subspecies of colobus only found here, and others, although most of these large-bodied species were found at low densities, probably due to poaching. The survey also found a high diversity of birds, reptile, and amphibian species.

The expedition may also yield a number of new plant species; survey botanists were unable to identify some 10 percent of the collected samples, which will be sent to specialists in the near future. “Given the findings with the vertebrates, it is likely that some of the plants will represent new species as well,” said Ben Kirunda of WCS’s botanical team.

“The forest has been isolated from much of the Congo Forest block for at least 10,000 years and as a result contains some new interesting species,” said WCS researcher Deo Kujirakwinja, one of survey’s participants. “There is a real need to protect this forest and carry out more research in the area.”

The Democratic Republic of Congo has experienced unrest—especially in the biodiversity-rich eastern part of the country—since the 1960s, when Laurent Kabila, father of the current president, set up a base of operations in the Misotshi-Kabogo forests in his attempt to overthrow the regime of Joseph Mobutu, former president of the country (then called Zaire). Kabila succeeded in becoming president himself in 1996, the same year which plunged the region into a state of civil war. As a result, the region has been off limits to conservationists until recently.

Human impacts to the region are currently low, with gold mining on a minor level being the most substantial threat. Further, survey members who met with the leaders of local villages have found that most are supportive of turning the region into a protected area.

“The survey has found that the Misotshi-Kabogo region is biologically important enough to conserve in the form of a protected area,” said Dr. James Deutsch, director of WCS’ Africa Program. “Since few people live there, it would be relatively easy to create a park while supporting the livelihoods of people who live in the landscape.”

Ferrets faring better

Black-footed ferrets are making a comeback in Wyoming.

The once endangered black-footed species is repopulating its Wyoming homeland, according to researchers led by Martin B. Grenier of the University of Wyoming.

The last seven known ferrets of this type were removed from the wild in 1987 and placed in a captive breeding program. They have produced 4,800 juveniles, many of which were returned to the wild.

At first they continued to suffer losses and extinction seemed likely when they were down to five animals, but by 2003 the wild population had grown to 52 ferrets and researchers estimate the current wild total at more than 200.

Arctic animals get a new refuge

A new nature reserve has been approved for Vaigach Island in the western Russian Arctic.

The new 243,000-hectare nature reserve will help protect threatened arctic species such as polar bears, Atlantic walrus, white-beak loon, and one of the region's largest mass nestings of waterfowls.

The island is surrounded by the Barents and Kara seas and its coastal waters are frequented by a number of marine mammals including Atlantic walrus, grey seal, harbour porpoise, bottlenose dolphin, humpback whale, northern blue whale, northern fin whale and sei whale. In recent years the numbers many of these species has become unstable.

WWF assisted in the creation of the nature reserve, which took two years to complete. It is hoped that the new protected area status will help protect the island from increasing industrial development in the region.

Prey loses fear when predators disappear

Are Asian elk hard-wired to fear the Siberian tigers who stalk them?  When wolves disappear from the landscape, are moose still afraid of them?

No, according to a study by Wildlife Conservation Society scientist Dr. Joel Berger, who says that several large prey species, including moose, caribou and elk, only fear predators they regularly encounter.  If you take away wolves, you take away fear.  That is a critical piece of knowledge as biologists and public agencies increase efforts to re-introduce large carnivores to places where they have been exterminated. Berger’s study is published in the latest issue of the journal Conservation Biology.

The study compared the behaviors of four species of prey animals in three different prey situations:  Locations where native predators still exist. (Eastern Siberia, Boreal Canada and Alaska), locations where the top predators no longer exist. (the polar islands of Greenland and Svalbard, Norway) and locations where native predators have been re-established after once being extinguished. (Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks).

To test reactions of animals living without their traditional predators, Berger played recordings of wolves and tigers and chronicled their reactions.  As expected, in the absence of predators, the elk, moose, bison and caribou did not show the kind of vigilance, clustering behavior and flight observed in the same species living with wolves, bears or tigers.   For example, elk in the mountains of Siberia -- who subsist alongside tigers, wolves and bears -- responded five times faster to the recordings than did elk in Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado) where major predators have been absent for some 90 years.

The goal of predator re-introduction isn’t simply to save a species; it is to restore the natural functions of wild places.  When the predator-prey relationship comes back into balance, impacts ripple through the system.  For example, when wolves returned to the Yellowstone region, they caused a cascade of events including a change in elk distribution, more wariness in moose, and a change in coyote densities.  By contrast, where wolves and grizzly bears were lost, migratory birds including warblers and hummingbirds were less abundant because moose over-browsed vegetation used by these migrants.            

“It is not just changes in climate or disease may alter our big remote wild landscapes, but so do the actions of conservationists and public agencies by restoring ecosystems to bring native carnivores back to where they once thrived.” said Dr. Berger.These findings come at a time when, after more than $23 million was spent to re-establish wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains, the animals are to be down-listed from federal protection.  The states of Wyoming and Idaho have already proposed plans that would allow for as much as 85 percent of these once-protected wolves to be killed.  So even as the goal of re-instilling fear of predators in prey species has been successful, the question remains whether enough wolves will be left to maintain the larger goals of natural function and balance, according to Dr. Berger.