Yuan Lei is an EDGE Fellow working on one of the few remaining wild Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus) populations in China. In May he organized a survey expedition which aimed to identify which habitats are most important for wild camels.
The team spent 14 days in the desert in north-eastern China, and covered areas including the Jiashun Gobi, Aqike Valley, Kumutage Desert, and Aerjinshan Mountain.
Jiashun Gobi – in this are no wild camels were observed. The region does not have good vegetation availability and it is difficult to find water, so is likely to support only a very small population of camels.
Aqike Valley – Two wild camels were observed in the Aqike Valley, a decrease on last year’s survey which observed a large group of 16 camels. However, vegetation availability in this area is good, water more readily available, and there is little human activity.
Kumutage Desert – A large number of wild camel dung was observed along the north of this desert, some of which were fresh showing recent occupation by camels. This desert is located north of the Aerjinshan Mountain, and is an important migration route for wild camels. The Kumutage Desert covers a large area and offers sufficient vegetation to be an important resource for migrating camels. Vegetation most often grows low and in the sand dunes, between two dunes or on the leeward (downwind) side of a dune. This means that the site is not only a good place for camels to eat, but that they can also rest from the wind between the dunes while they eat.
North of Aerjinshan Mountain – Here the team observed 50 wild camels. The area was full of good vegetation for camels, and there are many water springs; numerous camel footprints were observed around the Kumusu spring. Luckily no recent human activity was observed, which can often reduce the quality of habitat for camels.
In total 52 camels were observed on this survey – over 5% of the estimated global population. The majority of camel sightings were at the Aerjinshan Mountain, while signs of recent camel presence were observed in the Kumutage Desert, causing the team to conclude that these two sites are the most important wild camel habitats surveyed.
The majority of other animals observed during the expedition were also seen in the Aerjinshan Mountain, including ten each of gazelle, argali and blue sheep, and one fox.
If you would like to support conservation work for unique and overlooked species, such as the wild Bactrian camel, then please become an EDGE Champion, or donate here.
EDGE Fellow John Konie recently wrote to give us the news that the President of Liberia had made a visit to Sapo National Park, where Konie is using camera traps to monitor the population of Endangered pygmy hippos (Hexaprotodon liberiensis), EDGE Mammal number 21.
Early last year pygmy hippos were photographed in Liberia for the first time by Konie and ZSL researchers who were training him in how to use camera trapping as a biodiversity monitoring tool. Her Excellency Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was reportedly excited by the images, and we hope that they encouraged her further interest in Sapo National Park.
President Sirleaf visited the headquarters of the National Park in Jalay’s Town on May 5th, en route to officially open the ‘Sinoe Dialogue’, a discussion forum amongst residents of Sinoe County (where Sapo NP is found) in neighbouring Bilibokree. During her visit to Sapo, the President met Forest Development Authority (FDA) rangers like Konie, and called on the people of Liberia to preserve the Park and protect the animals, as well as to halt prohibited activities such as illegal extraction of gold.
President Sirleaf has now formed a committee to ensure that people residing illegally within the Park boundaries relocate to outside the Sapo. There are an estimated 2,000 people living in camps inside the Sapo boundaries, which is not only illegal, but their activities often endanger wildlife and damage the environment that is meant to be protected by the Park. Illegal residents are causing pollution of rivers and hunt bushmeat, including many threatened species. Konie stresses that presence of illegal settlements is one of the greatest threats to Sapo’s environment, and said:
‘There is a need that people living in the park leave. Because, if they continue to live there, they will definitely destroy the forest, and thus; its bio-diversities which we are trying to protect and conserve for future generations to come.’
Furthermore, the President discussed with park officials the issue of the boundary extension; in 2003 an Act was passed to enlarge Sapo on the northeast and northwest sides beyond the river. This was done to ensure that the diversity of forest species is fully protected, especially those such as the pygmy hippo which are dependent on the river. However, boundary demarcation is yet to be carried out and there is still discussion about the park extension at the local level. President Sirleaf was concerned by this lack of action, and has assured the FDA that she would ensure that the discussion on the boundary extension is resolved.
Konie’s monitoring of pygmy hippos and other terrestrial forest species using the camera traps continues, and he recently sent us these images of his latest survey showing him setting up the camera traps, and the elusive species the cameras allow him to study.
Hopefully the President’s visit will result in positive benefits for the wildlife of Sapo National Park, and of course the unusual and remarkable pygmy hippopotamus.
If you would like to support projects including Konie’s critical monitoring of pygmy hippos, then please become an EDGE Champion, or donate here.
The yellow-tailed woolly monkey (EDGE Mammal number 79) is one of the largest and rarest New World monkeys. It is only found in the tropical forests of the western slopes of the Andes Mountains in north eastern Peru. In 1999 it was thought that only 250 individuals still survived in the wild. The species is listed by the IUCN as Critically Endangered and features on the current list of the world’s top 25 most endangered primates. In fact, this species is so rare that many people thought it was extinct until it was rediscovered in the mid 1970’s by a team of Peruvian and American biologists.
So little is known about this species that there is still debate as to whether it is of the same genus as the other woolly monkeys, Lagothrix, or whether it is the only representative of another genus altogether, Oreonax. The forests where the yellow tailed woolly monkey live have among the highest deforestation rates in Peru and it is estimated that half of its limited habitat has been lost in the last 25 years.
Since 2007 the British NGO Neotropical Primate Conservation has been working in the Amazonas and San Martin departments of Peru to try and bring this species back from the brink of extinction. Working together with the Natural History Museum of San Marcos University in Lima and the National University of Amazonas the work has focused on increasing knowledge of the yellow tailed woolly monkeys’ actual situation. This includes finding out which areas are most critical to its conservation and what actions are most needed in these areas.
So far the project has instigated native species reforestation programs with the construction of six nurseries to try and increase the species habitat and reduce pressures on the remaining area of forest. Also, environmental education programs for school children and adults have begun, with Peruvian university students and international researchers voluntarily teaching the importance of conservation in some of the remotest villages in the region.
Aside from this, the project is trying to develop sustainable economic alternatives for the local people to replace the current illegal logging and cattle ranching which forms the main income in the area. Alternatives being developed include eco-tourism, the sale of handicrafts and the cultivation of shade grown agriculture which leaves the forest intact.
The final aim of the project is to create a network of reserves and protected areas in the region to ensure the survival of the species. This network will include the formation of a group of local institutions responsible for ensuring the reserves receive on the ground protection and supervision, and not just stay on paper. The first reserve application is set to be made to the national government in the next few months; this reserve will encompass 3,000 ha of primary cloud forest on the border of Amazonas and San Martin. Another area of 10,000 ha has already been set aside as a reserve by local people to the north and several other potential reserves have been identified.
The yellow tailed woolly monkeys’ survival is important, not only as it is one of the most charismatic of our closest relatives, but as it inhabits forest which is home to many other endangered species which will also benefit from the creation of new reserves and other conservation work.
More information can be found at www.neoprimate.org, including regular news blogs and details on how you can help, support and volunteer on this project.
Sam Shanee, Neotropical Primate Conservation.
My Name is Dorine Mkaluma Ngeti. I pursued Bachelor of Science Environmental Science in Egerton University, Kenya. I have worked with the East African Wild Life Society (EAWLS) Office in Taita for a period during which I was involved in several activities on biodiversity conservation that bring direct benefits to the community – such as nature-based enterprise like butterfly farming, bee-keeping, and sericulture (silkworm rearing) projects, whose aim is the conservation of the natural forests by providing alternative sources of livelihood while generating support and a positive attitude towards their conservation among others. I was also exposed to issues related to community-based development as all the activities revolved around conservation and the community.
Fig1: Demonstration of butterfly surveying session in Mbololo forest which contains some of the largest Indigenous trees in Taita
Other activities include forest connectivity modeling during which period a workshop was held to discuss the recommendations obtained from the model for Taita hills forests. This was all aimed at enhancing the survival of the endangered plant and animal species prominent among them being the Taita thrush (Turdus helleri). Studies on this bird had shown that the sub-population in Chawia forest had experienced a genetic-bottleneck due to isolation and degradation of its habitat, and its long-term survival depended on the creation of stepping stones or corridors between the forest patches where the other sub-populations are. I was also involved in the pilot study on developing a strategy for increasing indigenous tree cover on the farms through the domestication and commercialization of African plum trees (Prunus africana). An extract from the bark from this tree is used in the manufacture of drugs for the treatment/management of prostate cancer in men.
The exposure I received from this opened my eyes to the possibilities and opportunities in the conservation world towards improving the lives of the community while contributing towards environmental conservation. The work being carried out by EAWLS was contributing directly at the local level towards the achievement of the first and the seventh Millennium Development Goals – Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and Ensure environmental sustainability, respectively.
Fig 2: Collection of food plants for the pilot study of the papilio species of butterflies
Am now working in Taita Taveta Wildlife Forum (TTWF) where the efforts are geared towards the conservation of the Critically Endangered Caecilian in Sagalla, the activities to be carried out are very much related to what was being undertaken in Taita hills by EAWLS. Currently, the office is involved in the preparation of three Participatory Forest Management Plans covering five forest patches as a preparatory step towards their rehabilitation to indigenous forest cover. They are also involved in the preparation of Sub–Catchment Management plans and formation of Water Resource Users Associations for all the sub-catchment areas identified in Taita District and their implementation. This involves the implementation of Lower Voi river/Sagalla Sub-catchment management plan. Several Awareness creation meetings have been held where sensitization messages which include the need to conserve the catchment areas and the environment, biodiversity conservation aspects, provision of community participation in the water and forest acts, tree nurseries and tree planting are discussed. There is also sensitization on tree seedlings production where the nurseries will be identified after the public meetings in Sagalla location which is the main target area for restoration of Sagalla Hill with a view to creating a sustainable future for the Critically Endangered Sagalla caecilian (Boulengerula niedeni).
Fig 3: Sagalla caecilian (Boulengerula niedeni)
Soil erosion and the large stand of exotic Eucalyptus trees are the major impediments to the long-term survival of the Sagalla caecilian and the future of this species therefore rests in the reduction of soil erosion and replacement of existing Eucalyptus with indigenous trees, providing a permanent reserve for this Critically Endangered amphibian. Stabilization of soil can be made through better agricultural practice and strategic forested patches.
This would therefore give me a very strategic opportunity to further develop or build my skills in environmental and biodiversity conservation with community as the centre of focus. Being a local person, it also gives the challenge to ensure that I contribute towards the conservation of the environment in Taita District and more so to ensure these unique organisms continue to persist. I would therefore ask for your support towards implementation of this project.
The Christmas Island pipistrelle has less than 6 months to live unless taken into captivity immediately to set up an emergency captive breeding programme for future re-release.
This unique bat is one of the world’s smallest mammals, with 3cm wings and weighing just 3 grams (0.1 ounce). Christmas Island is said to be of ‘immense scientific value’ due to its high proportion of endemic species, its flora and fauna having been isolated for many millennia. All five of its native mammals are endemic to the island, but three have already been lost to extinction following human settlement and the introduction of alien species. The other two, the Christmas Island flying-fox Pteropus melanotus natalis and the Christmas Island pipistrelle Pipistrellus murrayi, have both suffered severe declines. The Australian Bat Society has issued the stark warning above in the hope that the government will fund their proposed emergency rescue programme, which needs to go ahead within the next three months in order to save the species.
The Christmas Island pipistrelle is the island’s only insectivorous bat, so its loss is likely to impact this delicate and ancient ecosystem. Common across the island as recently as the 1980s, it took a 99% nose dive in numbers between 1994 and 2006. There may now only be twenty individuals left, and the only known remaining communal roost has just four individuals. Its habitat and food source remain abundant, and no evidence of disease has been found so far. The most likely cause of this decline is thought to be predation by introduced non-native species such as the common wolf snake, feral cat, giant centipede and black rat, and the risk of there being so few individuals left that it is impossible to catch them for captive breeding is growing by the day.
Recent genetic research on museum specimens of the island’s two extinct native rodents, Maclear’s rat Rattus macleari and the bulldog rat Rattus nativitatis, found that they had been infected by a disease introduced to the island with the arrival of black rats from European ships. The Christmas Island shrew Crocidura attenuata trichura was ‘extremely common all over the island’ in 1900, but its distinctive shrieking call had almost vanished by 1909, and in the past half-century it has only been reported twice. Australian mammalogists consider that the invasion of the yellow crazy ant is responsible for ‘driving the last ecological nails into this shrew’s very small coffin’.
Links:
-The Australian Bat Society’s report can be viewed here
-The scientific paper documenting the extinction of the Christmas Island rat Rattus macleari can be viewed here
-NASA satellite imagery can be viewed at the Visible Earth website