Our EDGE Fellow John Konie monitors the pygmy hippopotamus and other threatened mammal species in Liberia. He has sent us the following information about Sapo National Park, where he carries out his monitoring work:
Sapo National Park, Liberia’s first national park, is under serious threat from poachers. Quite recently, about 27 bodies of various animal species were confiscated by rangers from a meat trader within a town located near the park. Hunting and mining are order of the day by poachers within and around the park; thus, posing serious threat to biodiversity of the park.
Despite these threats, bio-monitoring and camera trapping programmes are succeeding. In recent times, camera trapping was done in one zone of the park. Various species of duikers and other interesting animal species’ photos were captured.
According to rangers assigned with the park, during their regular monthly patrols, tracks and faeces of pygmy hippo are often seen, and hippos are occasionally seen.
During the bio-monitoring exercise in May of this year, we were fortunate to have seen zebra duiker, Jentink’s duiker, bongo, chimpanzee, pygmy hippo and different monkey species.
Indeed, the park is home to important animal species that need serious conservation attention, especially the pygmy hippo.
If you would like to support John Konie’s pygmy hippopotamus monitoring work in Sapo National Park, please click here.
Three top ranking Australian EDGE species have been given a fighting chance for survival following the Victorian government’s landmark decision to set aside 75,000 ha of forest for their protection.
 Leadbeater’s possum (54th on the mammal list), the long-footed potoroo (70th on the mammal list) and the Baw Baw frog (25th on the amphibian list) are three of Australia’s most iconic endangered species.
Announced yesterday, the plan includes a 30,000-hectare reserve in central Victoria for the possum, 40,000 hectares in East Gippsland and the state’s north-east to protect the long-footed potoroo, and 5500 hectares to protect the most significant habitat of the Baw Baw frog.
“This package is a powerful way of protecting the habitat of endangered species and ensuring their future protection,” Environment Minister Gavin Jennings said.
Environment groups have welcomed the announcement by the Brumby government and the Department of Sustainability and Environment for Victoria’s only native marsupial and amphibian species. The 75,000 hectares of reserves lifts protection for the species against extinction drivers such as woodchipping, fire management and feral animals.
In some cases, these reserves have taken a decade to design but it’s been worth the wait to get it right’ said Sarah Rees, Director of MyEnvironment.
The tiny nocturnal Leadbeater’s possum is endemic to Victoria, and is one of the state’s faunal emblems. The species’ relies on mature trees, such as the mountain ash, which can take up to 200 years to grow. These trees contain hollows in which the possums make their nests. Populations of the species have declined rapidly as a result of the loss of mature trees to logging, wildfires and other forest disturbances.
 The endangered long-footed potoroo, also known as “rat kangaroo”, plays an important role in its forest ecosystem, helping to disperse the spores of the underground-fruiting fungi on which it feeds. These fungi have developed a symbiotic relationship with the shrubs and trees of the forest, maintaining their health by supplying nutrients and helping to prevent disease. Previously, most of these rabbit-sized marsupials occurred within timber production forest.
 The Critically Endangered Baw Baw frog is Victoria’s only native amphibian. It has all but disappeared, with the population falling to just 250 individuals from a wild population of over 10,000 in the 1980s. Although the causes of the decline are still unclear, protecting the species’ habitat is a step in the right direction to ensuring the little frog has a future.
 “Now that the reserve system is finalised we hope our State Government will turn its attention and further resources to the other critical actions that need to be done to preserve this endangered species and all of the other forest species it shares its habitat with for future generations” said Sera Blair, president of Friends of the Leadbeaters Possum group.
“The biggest threat for these and other endangered species is now climate change. What these species need now is the protection of all old growth forests from woodchipping”, said The Wilderness Society’s Victorian Campaigns Manager Gavan McFadzean.
“Forest protection against these threats will help secure their future. It’s not just about protecting animals, these areas are also our water supply catchments and carbon stores”, said Sarah Rees.
“The practical action by the Victorian government to protect our faunal emblem offers a sensible approach to the management of species under fire and provides for the continuation of ecosystems that enable us to live such producing water, oxygen, rain and climate regulation”.
“These new forest reserves are also critically important habitat for endangered animals like native owls, fish and gliders. Our frogs inhabit healthy water catchments, our ground and tree dwellers like the long-footed potoroo and Leadbeaters possum, require multi-aged forests that are still under threat from logging in eastern Victoria”.
Future actions required include linking protected forest patches and fundraising for monitoring the effectiveness of these mitigation efforts. For more information please contact Sarah Rees (sarah@tcha.org.au).
I am happy to welcome our newest EDGE Fellow, Buuvei, who will be researching the saiga antelope in Mongolia. Buuvei sent the following information to introduce himself:
Hello! My name is Bayarbaatar Buuveibaatar (Buuvei). I have been working at Mammalian Ecology Laboratory, Institute of Biology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences (MAS) as wildlife biologist since May 2005.
I received my Master’s degree from National University of Mongolia and I completed my master thesis on migration and conservation of the Mongolian gazelle. During my research career at MAS, I have been involved in several international projects targeted on a variety of species from those as small as pollinators to the Asiatic wild ass.
Buuvei with domestic camels
Currently, I am engaged in a Mongolian saiga conservation project funded by the Wildlife Conservation Society. The Saiga Antelope (Saiga tatarica) is a migratory species and is found in the semiarid environment of Central Asia, in Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia. The Mongolian saiga is a unique subspecies that has been long isolated from the more numerous populations by the Altai Mountains. They occur at low densities but across a wide area of the western Mongolian Gobi steppe-desert. The climate of Gobi desert is strongly continental and arid, characterized by a cold winter (to -45 °C), dry, windy springs, and relatively wet, hot summers (to 40°C).
Winter habitat of the Mongolian saiga
The Mongolian saiga has declined dramatically in recent years. Estimates just a few years ago put the total population at less than 1,000 animals. The major factors limiting saiga populations include harsh winter, poaching, livestock related pasture degradation and predation including that by domestic dogs.
Newborn saiga calf
Saiga antelope is 62nd of the top 100 EDGE mammals. I have received an EDGE Fellowship grant to work on saiga conservation and goal of my study is to determine the impacts of domestic dogs on Mongolian saiga. I will use different methods to reach the goals. First, local herders will be interviewed to clarify issues about dog-saiga interaction. Secondly, to understand effect of free-roaming dog on recruitment and abundance of the saiga population, we will establish transect lines within saiga range.
To support Buuvei’s conservation research on the saiga antelope in Mongolia, please click here.
This Friday is the deadline for entries for the British 10k London Run!
ZSL are looking for runners to fill the last few charity places left for entries into the British 10k race, and all money raised will go to raising awareness of EDGE species and supporting their conservation.
The run follows a great route through central London, starting at Hyde Park Corner before taking runners past St Paul’s Cathedral, the London Eye, the Houses of Parliament and many more famous sites.
The event takes place on the 6th July and the deadline for entries is this Friday, 27th June. We ask for a ÂŁ25 registration fee and then any sponsorship monies you raise goes towards the EDGE project, working to conserve forgotten species such as the pygmy hippopotamus, Chinese giant salamander and slender loris.
We would greatly appreciate your support, either through taking part yourself, or encouraging friends and family who may be interested in running for EDGE to get involved.
For more information and to register, please contact Lucy Cannock, or click here.
If you are taking part in any event raising money for EDGE you can become an EDGE Champion - sign up here.
Alternatively, to support the EDGE conservation programme, click here.
Earlier this year our Mongolian EDGE Fellow working on the Bactrian camel, Adiya, and John Hare from the Wild Camel Protection Foundation (WCPF) visited the Zakhyn Us captive breeding centre. John sent us this update on the captive breeding programme:
There were four successful births to the wild Bactrian camels at their captive breeding site at Zakhyn Us, Mongolia, this year. The calves are strong and are now over two months old. And what is even better is that three calves are female and one is male, which is the ratio we hoped for.
When the captive wild Bactrian camel breeding programme was started in 2004, there were 12 wild camels. Four years later there are 21. It takes twice as long to build up a camel herd than it would a herd of horses or cattle, for example, because the gestation period is long, at 13 months. Therefore the build up has been maintained at a successful rate and we are pleased with progress.
This increase in captive wild camel numbers has meant that we can now start investigating a site for the initiation of a release programme. We found a potentially suitable site in the Great Gobi Specially Protected Reserve B where the wild Prjewalsky (takhi) horse is currently being released. The administrators of the wild horse programme have no objection to working with the Wild Camel Protection Foundation (WCPF) and the area appears to be suitable, apart from the presence of a number of wolves.
~So this is all good news from Mongolia
The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) will be supporting the WCPF to further develop and strengthen the captive breeding programme. Both organisations hope to work with the Mongolian government and other local organisations to undertake a full feasibility study on the proposed release site and build a strategy and guidelines for camel reintroduction.
If you would like to support Bactrian camel conservation, please click here.