MOUNTAIN GORILLAS - Next@CNN

On CNN this Saturday 16th April at 3 p.m. ET and on Sunday 17th April at 5 p.m. ET, the show Next@CNN focuses on the mountain gorillas and also includes some interviews with tourists, Katie Fawcett, Director of Karisoke Research Center, and Clare Richardson, President and CEO of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.

KOMODO DRAGONS - Toledo Zoo "DRAGONS" exhibit

News from toledoblade.com about a new exhibit at Toledo Zoo, with a six-foot Komodo Dragon called Dante as its star attraction.

The zoo's "Dragons" exhibit, complete with a variety of live species and fantastical displays, cost $200,000 and has been a year in the making - though some of the zoo's curators have been anticipating it for almost a decade.
[...]
"It's the only animal I know that just stares you down, like you're a potential meal. It has no fear at all," said Andy Odum, curator of reptiles, looking as though he'd like to reach out and pet the beast, which is being rented from the Fort Worth Zoo for the summer.

KAKAPO PARROTS - Department of Conservation gets $24.6 million funding boost

More positive news from New Zealand's STUFF with this funding boost for their DOC.

The funding is part of the Government's Budget 2005 package. Mr Carter made the announcement on Codfish Island (Whenua Hou), off the coast of Stewart Island, yesterday where six kakapo chicks have hatched in the past month, lifting the kakapo population to its highest level in 30 years.

"I am confident (the Budget 2005 funding) will help ensure the kakapo population continues to grow," he said.

KAKAPO PARROTS - Kakapo sale cause concern

New Zealand's Stuff with this news.

The curiosity of a huge stuffed kakapo being sold by the New Zealand High Commission in London began with a cultural question mark and ended with queries over misleading advertising.

The kakapo - a 60cm 19th century bird which sold last month for about 9000 GBP ($23,700) - mentioned the New Zealand High Commission in London in the promotional catalogue.
[...]
Maori Party cultural affairs spokeswoman Atareta Poananga who said such "taonga", or treasures, should not be used for profiteering.

If they were to be moved at all, they should be repatriated to New Zealand.

RODRIGUES FRUIT BATS - A day as a zoo-keeper is animal magic

Chester Zoo is offering opportunities for people to become a Zoo Keeper for the day. And people are snapping up the chance to get up close and personal with some of the most exotic creatures on the planet. Selena O'Donnell found out more.

icCheshireOnline has this article about Selena's day working as a zoo-keeper.

As I'm led into the bat house by an enthusiastic Chris I'm struck by the lack of smell.

Chris explained: 'We've had all the wood chipping changed recently so the smell from the bat's urine isn't as strong as it was.'

As the hundreds of Seba and Rodrigues Fruit bats wait for their meal, Chris and I deal out their pungent breakfast by sliding feeding trays into wire holders dotted about the exhibit.

'You need to keep the trays as spread out as possible, otherwise dominant males will leave everyone else hungry,' said Chris.

MADAGASCAR THE MOVIE - Film raises tourism hopes

Madagascar hopes the upcoming DreamWorks Animation SKG film "Madagascar" will do for its tourism industry what "Out of Africa" did for Kenya's, tourism officials said Tuesday. DreamWorks is hoping for another hit with "Madagascar," a computer-animated film about four urban-dwelling animals who escape from a New York zoo.

Full report over at ABC News.

LEMURS - Half of Madagascar's lemurs are on the verge of extinction.

The Earth's most successful primates - humans - are on the brink of killing off nearly a quarter of their 625 cousin species, a report has said.

BBC News has more on this tragedy.

Of the four global regions inhabited by primates, the worst hit is Madagascar, where loss of habitat to traditional slash-and-burn agriculture has left some lemur species, such as Perrier's sifaka, stranded in tiny areas of the forest.

More than half of Madagascar's lemurs are on the verge of extinction.
[...]
"Amazingly, we've managed to get through the 20th Century without any primate species going extinct," Dr Mittermeier said. "I'd like to think this is partly because of better conservation efforts."