Apologies to those of you who are waiting patiently for the next instalment of the Attenborough’s echidna blog. Our intrepid blogger, Jonathan is currently in Mongolia, helping Adiya and Uuganbadrakh set up their projects. Adiya aims to find out the main threats facing the Critically Endangered wild Bactrian camel, while Uuganbadrakh hopes to find out basic information about the poorly-known long-eared jerboa and assess its conservation status. Very little is known about the habits of this strange creature, or even how threatened it is, so we look forward to hearing the results of this important study next year. Jonathan is due back at the start of next month, so we’ll be able to see the next echidna blog then, as well as find out how the two Mongolian Fellows are getting on with their projects.
I learnt today that Ndeze the female gorilla orphaned by the Virunga National park gorilla murders last month is doing as well as can be expected. She is being looked after 24 hours a day by one of the park’s rangers. However, an adult female from the same family of gorillas was found dead by rangers last Thursday. Her infant, Ntaribi born on 26th January of last year, has not been found. Rangers say the one-and-a-half year old gorilla is unlikely to have survived for long without its mother. ZSL is one of the organisations fundraising to put the remaining gorilla families in the park under 24 hour protection. Visit the ZSL website or Wildlife Direct for more information or to make a donation.
