Meet The Lonely Dodo

Here's a new animation short produced by Aardman Animation for the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and their www.thelonelydodo.com site, with voices by Stephen Fry and Alister McGowan.

Video: Mark Carwardine Searches New Zealand for their Small Five

Douglas Adams Audio Reading

Courtesy of MarkCarwardineTumblr @MarkCarwardineT here's an audio account of Douglas preparing to go to Australia (to go check out the Komodo Dragon) by talking to an expert on poisonous animals there (who tells them they’re stupid for going).

Audio: xenophule: In honour of Douglas Adams’ birthday, I present to you my very favourite reading by him.... tmblr.co/ZKr6txiNji8L

I can't decide if I've heard this before or not.

Kakapo Breeding Inventions

In this Stuff article "Novel nature's little helpers", Nicola Toki relishes the inventions that have been used to aid the recovery of the Kakapo population.

First off the blocks has to be the "ejaculation" helmet. This helmet was covered in condom-like rubber dimples with the idea that perhaps some valuable sperm might be able to be collected. It wasn't particularly successful, but if you don't quite believe me and you'd like to see it for yourself, by all means head to the "Blood, Earth and Fire" exhibition at Te Papa. Along the same line of thought, a remote-controlled kakapo truck was built to try to attract kakapo males, but this too now lives at Te Papa.

How to Count Komodo Dragons

Head on over to NBCNews.com for an article entitled "How to Count Komodo Dragons". Answer?

With some cameras and the element of surprise. Camera traps are frequently used to take pictures and monitor populations of large mammals like tigers and leopards, but until now, they haven't been used often to count Komodo dragons ― the world's largest lizards ― or other reptiles and amphibians. Recent research suggests that they can and should be used to keep tabs on these animals, and that cameras may beat the physical traps currently used to monitor Komodo dragon populations.