A massive occupancy monitoring programme has been initiated over the past 18 months to assess the persistence of lorises in over 100 of the remaining fragmented rainforest patches spread across south-western Sri Lanka. The principal threat facing the slender loris is habitat change, resulting from nearly two centuries of over exploitation for coffee, tea, rubber, and cinnamon. Combine with the facts that the species is endemic to central and south-western Sri Lanka, and is typically found in the southern “wet zone” of the island, up to the central “intermediate zone”, and the picture is bleak.
Fortunately, the ZSL EDGE programme is collaborating with University of Colombo and the Open University of Sri Lanka to bring conservation focus to this species and its remaining habitat. The overall programme is being monitored by the National Steering Committee on slender loris appointed by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resource, Sri Lanka.
A major objective of the project is to provide the first spatial data on loris species at this scale in Sri Lanka allowing questions regarding habitat use, forest preferences, and distribution to finally be answered. To focus attention and resources on this mammoth task, seven hypotheses were selected for slender loris occupancy monitoring:
1 - Loris occupancy is highest in lowland rainforest ecotype compared to sub-montane and montane, 2 - Loris occupancy is related to connectivity to other habitat patches 3 - Protected and managed areas have greater loris occupancy than gazetted but unmanaged and unprotected areas, 4 - Loris occupancy is highest in secondary forest compared to primary forest and agroforestry systems, 5 - Loris occupancy changes according to patch size, 6 - Loris occupancy is highest in forest with highest substrate connectivity than moderately connect and no connection; 7 – Different loris species has difference occupancy.
The first round of the occupancy monitoring programme for slender lorises was completed in March 2010. Nocturnal transect surveys (2km each) were repeated across some 115 forest patches in the wet zone and intermediate zone of the country – totaling over 1000 surveys!
The team are now beginning to process and interpret a huge amount of data, to reveal some of the secrets of loris life. One early success has been the rediscovery the virtually unknown Horton Plains slender loris (Loris tardigradus nycticeboides). Originally documented in 1937, there have only been four known encounters in the past 72 years. The rediscovery and capture by the team (working under the ZSL EDGE programme) has resulted in the first detailed physical examination of this sub-species.
The Horton Plains slender loris is evidently extremely rare and was only found after more than 200 hrs of nocturnal transect surveys in the known habitat. The red slender loris is a focal EDGE species, and the rarity of L. t. nycticeboides resulted in it being listed as one of the world’s 25 most endangered primates.
More results of the fieldwork will follow in the next blog………
EDGE mammal number 46, the remarkable golden-rumped elephant-shrew, is the Species of the Day!
Elephant-shrews (or sengi’s) are so-named because they have long, flexible trunks, and when you see them in action they are actually surprisingly elephantine! Funnily enough, recent studies show that elephant shrews are in fact more closely related to elephants than to the shrew and hedgehog family with which they had been traditionally associated.
The golden-rumped elephant shrew is the largest species in the group, at about the size of a small cat, with long spindly legs and, as its name suggests, a distinctive golden-coloured bottom.
Unusually for a small mammal, golden-rumped elephant shrews are monogamous, pairing with their partner elephant-shrew until one of them dies. Each pair has its own territory which they defend sex-specifically.
Threatened primarily by habitat destruction, the golden-rumped elephant shrew’s forest habitat has become highly fragmented, and most remaining areas are thought to be too small to support viable populations. The only sizeable areas of forest are under pressure from practices such as tree and pole cutting, and encroachment for agriculture. Elephant-shrews are known to shelter from predators in hollow trees. However, many of the trees favoured by the species are being removed by woodcarvers who supply the tourist industry with carvings of African wildlife. The removal of these trees mean less hiding places for the elephant-shrews, making them more vulnerable to predators – both natural and introduced (e.g. dogs).
The EDGE of Existence programme has supported a young Kenyan scientist, Grace Wambui Ngaruiya, through the EDGE Fellows programme. Grace assessed the status and population size (presence, distribution and abundance) of the golden-rumped elephant-shrew in the poorly known Boni and Dodori Forests on the Kenya-Somalia border. She also gathered critical data on the threat processes impacting the habitats and elephant-shrew populations in this region, one of the two major sites this elephant-shrew is found along with the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest further south.
To help conserve remarkable and overlooked species and to support young aspiring conservationists, please become an EDGE Champion or donate here.
I don’t know how but the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) figured out that it is my birthday today (17th June) and I suspect that’s why they decided to make the solenodon the “Species of the day” today.
Its all part of the IUCN involvement with the “International Year of Biodiversity” so please do check out and download the information which is available here (If your reading this after the 17th of June then go here). The whole of the last survivor’s team feel extremely privileged to have one of our species honoured in this way.
I’m off back to the UK for a while for mostly a holiday although I will also be doing a series of talks along with Sam Turvey during an exhibition of incredible images by some outstanding photographers from the Dominican Republic who have kindly donated their work (which will be on sale) to the project. It’s all part of our celebration of international year of biodiversity. For more information about the event in July click here and to book tickets go to http://www.londonapothecary.co.uk/special.php
The BBC coverage we have had this month has been truly amazing and has brought the work we are doing into the limelight. We cannot thank Rebecca Morelle and Simon Hancock from the BBC enough for all the hard work that they put into this. They are now officially honorary members of “The Last Survivors” team for life.
I mentioned in my blog in May that the rainy season appeared to be late this year but it has now arrived in earnest. It delayed some of our field work for a bit but Pedro managed to get out last week into Bahoruco to look for evidence of our two species in some tough to get to sites. Despite getting soaked for two days in a row they managed to get all the work done. While they were in the field they came across the remains of a solenodon, unfortunately it was mostly just bones so it is difficult if not impossible to figure out exactly what the cause of death was. There are quite a few to choose from unfortunately, dogs or poison to name two. Of course it may have been an entirely natural death – lets hope so!
One of the project partners, Dominican Republic National Zoo (ZOODOM) has had visitors from the UK. Namely Pam Broughton from the North Wales Bird Trust who runs a collaborative project doing research and trying to conserve the Ashy faced Owl (Tyto glaucops). This stunning bird is yet another of the amazing species that is only found on this Island. Since her return to the UK she has been spreading the word of our work while we in turn have promised to keep an eye out for any signs of all five owl species found here while we are out in the field. Potentially some of these owl species could be natural predators of solenodon! Pam has also managed to do some fund raising for us, thanks!!!
Cristina, who I told you about in my last blog, has done some amazing work while she has been out here with us. She has managed to interview about 250 people across nine communities near one of the national parks in just under two months. Her contribution to the project in terms of giving us some sturdy base line data on the level of awareness and perception of the two species will prove very valuable indeed.
We have continued to forge away in our efforts to form links with a variety of research and educational institutions in the Dominican Republic. These should be formalised over the coming weeks and will give us a base from which to make sure that the benefits of our work reach as wide an audience as possible. On that note, we will be joined by Rebecca Coe who is an educational officer from ZSL London Zoo for three weeks in August. We are looking forward to Rebecca’s arrival already, she will be advising and guiding our educational program aimed at kids and young adults.
Right, I’m off to pack but I’ll leave you in the very capable hands of Pedro and the rest of the team. I doubt I’ll be missed at all although I am already looking forward to returning in July to find out what has been going. I’ll no doubt not be able to resist check in on the blog to find out!
The smallest mammal in the world is EDGE Mammal number 49 and is today’s Species of the Day. This tiny bat weighs less than 2 grams. Its body is about the size of a large bumblebee, hence the common name “bumblebee bat”.
This bat constitutes the sole known representative of an entire family of bats (Craseonycteridae). It is thought to have last shared a common ancestor with other species around 43 million years ago, which is before the Himalayan Mountains had even started to form!
These bats roost at the back of small caves or remote caverns. Group size varies from as few as 10 individuals to as many as 500. At dawn and dusk the bats leave their caves for around 20-30 minutes to forage for food. The bats primarily use echolocation to hunt small insects on the wing, although they may also glean small spiders and beetles from plant leaves - the bumblebee bat has wide wings with long tips which allow it to hover like a hummingbird. The normal foraging range appears to be limited to an area of around 1 km from the roost site.
There are thought to be around 2,000 bats remaining in Thailand. The status of the species in Burma is unknown. Although the species may be locally common in both countries, it has a very restricted distribution and is therefore vulnerable to a range of threats. Some populations declined following tourist disturbance of certain roost sites throughout the 1970s, collection for scientific purposes and the sale of bats as tourist souvenirs. Today, the main threat to the Thai population comes from the annual burning of forest areas near the caves.
EDGE has contributed to the conservation of this species through support of EDGE Fellow Piyathip Payapan. Piyathip’s project focused on questions about the specific characteristics of roost sites and roost caves that the bat requires and their behaviour while staying in the roost caves. This is critical for effective conservation because bumblebee bats spend more than 90% of their lifetime in roost caves.
Under her EDGE Fellowship, Piyathip investigated roost selection of the bumblebee bat and determined activity patterns and time activity budget for roosting activities of this species. Piyathip compared roost sites with non-roost sites and determined which specific characteristics (e.g. geographic location, elevation, position, direction etc) play the most significant role in determining roost selection. Roosting behaviour, activity patterns and activity budgets was determined by comparing roost sites with different levels of human disturbance, and recording activity using infrared-illuminated closed circuit television (IR-CCTV).
To support EDGE conservation projects, please donate here.
We were not expecting to write another blog until mid June but there is lots of exciting news that we want to share with you and so it warrants this special edition blog.
Cristina Fernandez Secades, a student from Imperial College, has joined the project. She has hit the ground running and has already had a very productive time interviewing people in villages located near one of the national parks. The Masters project she is carrying out has two main objectives:
1) to establish the level of predation that solenodon and hutia are suffering because of wild and domestic dogs;
2) finding out the tolerance of people to damage of crops/livestock from both endemic and introduced species before a response is triggered, in addition to assessing the type of response created (e.g. poison, traps, hunting, etc).
Arguably the most exciting news is that we have had a BBC reporter and cameraman accompany us for a week while we were carrying out field work. Their time out here coincided with a visit from Dr. Sam Turvey (Zoological Society of London; EDGE) and Dr. Richard Young (Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust) which meant the BBC were able to get the whole “Last Survivors” team in action. Various reports have been produced and will be shown on the BBC website, radio and TV.
The first report, entitled “Ghost hunters: On the trail of a ‘living fossil” is available on line from the BBC website here and you can watch the second report, entitled “The cave of bones: A story of solenodon survival” here.
I’ll post details of other reports and programs on here and on our facebook groups as soon as we know the links and time of showing – so keep an eye on this space!
You may have noticed the next bit of news already, namely the fact that the project now has its own logo. This eye catching logo was designed and donated by Ivan Mota from “Unknown”. We hope you love the logo as much as we do. This image will be representing us and will be used in all the material we produce in order to educate people and increase awareness of the endangered mammal species of the Caribbean.
We have made a major update on the website to enable all of you to track our progress on establishing the past and current distribution of the Hispaniolan solenodon and hutia. You can check out the map as it currently stands here. Don’t forget that this is a dynamic map that will be regularly updated so keep coming back to it to see where we have managed to find signs or even seen our two secretive mammals.
Finally, Joe Nunez-Mino will be back in the UK in July and will be giving a series talks along with Dr Sam Turvey. The Apothecary centre, where the talks are being held, will also be hosting an exhibition with a selection of photos from some very talented Dominican Republic photographers. These photos will not simply be about solenodon and hutia but also include photos of some of the other unique fauna and flora of the island along with photos of people and landscapes. The event is ticketed and photos will also be on sale with all proceeds benefiting the conservation project. For further details of the event and how you can get tickets please go to the Apothecary Centre website.
One bit of news from the field work that we’d like to share with you is the fact that this week we got a report of a solenodon family that had been cornered by dogs and captured by local villagers. Luckily, we were contacted on this occasion and after rushing to get to the remote area where the solenodon were, we were able to ensure their prompt release after checking that they were in good condition and had no injuries that may have impacted on their chances of surviving. The project will continue to try and make more people aware of these mammals at the same time as we learn more about them in order to reduce these sorts of incidents from occurring.
Another update coming soon with more details about the BBC visit along with Sam and Richards’s time in the Dominican Republic.